By Kenneth Friedman: Shawn Porter is picking Terence Crawford to beat Errol Spence Jr. for when they face each other. Porter (30-3-1, 17 KOs), who just lost to Spence by a 12 round split decision last September, believes that WBO welterweight champion Crawford (36-0,27 KOs) has too much talent for Errol to deal with when they face each other.
Porter, 32, believes that he should have had his hand raised in the Spence fight, and he’s still a little upset about the way the contest was scored by two of the judges. Spence knocked Porter down in the 11th round to cement his victory.
Porter is now trying to get a fight against Crawford, and he sees that as a colossal pay-per-view match on the same level as the recent heavyweight rematch between WBC champion Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury.
Porter picks Crawford over Spence
“‘Spence vs. Crawford?’ I got Crawford because I think he’s the better boxer, and I think Crawford has got more in his arsenal,” said Porter on social media. “Of course, it’s a bias opinion as well because I am friends with Crawford. But even taking that out of the equation, I think Crawford can do a lot.
“I think he’s a problem for anybody out there getting in the ring with him. But talking about a fight between Spence and Crawford, I think Terence Crawford wins that fight,” said Porter.
Spence’s punching power, size, and pressure style of fighting will make it difficult for Crawford, who is a lot thinner. While Crawford moved up to 147 a couple of years ago in 2018, he’s yet to face any of the lions in the division. He’s had only four fights at welterweight against these fighters:
- Amir Khan
- Jose Benavidez, Jr.
- Egidijus Kavaliauskas
- Jeff Horn
It’ll be interesting when Spence and Crawford get a chance to fight. Crawford is getting so much credit from the hardcore boxing fans, many of which rates him as the #1 fighter at 147. The truth of the matter is, Crawford hasn’t fought the level of opposition to show whether he’s for real or just the product of 12 years of soft match-making.
Spence’s victory over Porter is far better than any of Crawford’s past wins. Up until now, the best name on Crawford’s resume is Amir Khan, and he didn’t look that great against him.
Fans won’t get the opportunity to see for themselves who the better fighter is between Crawford and Spence until at least 2021 at the earliest. The global pandemic has boxing locked down until further notice. When it does return, Spence will be looking to face Danny Garcia or Manny Pacquiao.
It’ll be a good thing if Porter can fight Crawford soon, as fans will be able to compare Terence to Spence against a familiar opponent.
Shawn hoping for Crawford clash
“I’m not sure when that fight is going to happen,” said Porter on social media about a fight between him and Crawford. “As far as I know, every match is on the table, especially right now, where everybody is going to need to reset.
“Shawn Porter doesn’t duck anybody. If it happens to be Bud, that will be a conversation that he and I are going to have. We were going to get together just before the quarantine occurred. We didn’t know this was going to happen, but we were getting along. I don’t know what was going to be said and done.
“But there’s still light in that tunnel for those who want Shawn Porter vs. Terence Crawford. I do agree that Terence needs a real opponent. Terence’s last fight was against a guy [Egidijus Kavaliauskas] that was from Australia [editor’s note: Kavaliauskas is from Lithuania].
“People were criticizing him for that. In my mind, it’s still a good fight for you against a good fighter, and anything can happen. Terence hasn’t been a multi-time world champion by accident,” said Shawn.
It’ll be up to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum if he wants to put Crawford in with Porter. Right now, Arum appears more interested in matching Crawford against Kell Brook rather than Porter. It could be that Porter’s fighting style is a bad one for Crawford.
Top Rank will likely play at safe with Crawford until they can put together a fight between him and Spence. That means Porter probably won’t be given a chance to face Crawford because it would be too risky of a battle for the Nebraska native.
Porter wants pay-per-view fight with Crawford
“When you talk about Shawn Porter, I think I’ve separated myself from the rest of the welterweight division in terms of preparation and being able to contend with everybody that’s out there.
“I’ve never had a fight, win, lose or draw, where the fighter got the best of me and outclassed me, outworked me and out-everything me for an entire battle. That has never happened, and it never will happen. Yes, I think Terence has never been in the ring with anyone like me.
“The truest of tests out there is Shawn Porter. Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury 2 was crazy, and that’s something I think me and Terence Crawford can do. Myself and Terence Crawford, that night, it had me thinking about it. This might happen because I need a night like this on my resume,” said Porter.
Crawford vs. Porter won’t be a big pay-per-view fight, unfortunately. Spence-Porter didn’t bring in substantial pay-per-view numbers on Fox, so it’s hard to imagine Crawford-Porter bringing in significant numbers.
It would be a good idea for Top Rank to wait until the economy in the U.S rebounds before they try and peddle a pay-per-view fight between Crawford and Porter to the fans. Unless Top Rank wants to insist on putting that fight on PPV in 2020 or 2021, they should wait until 2022 before staging it. By that point, boxing fans will hopefully be doing well financially and won’t mind paying $80 to see Crawford vs. Porter.
“Thurman or Spence? I think Spence because Thurman has been out of the ring for too much, and I don’t think he’s the same fighter when I fought him,” said Porter in picking Spence to beat Keith Thurman.
Considering that Thurman just lost to 41-year-old Manny Pacquiao last July, the odds of Spence beating Thurman are high.
Canelo and Golovkin closely matched
“‘Does Canelo KO GGG in the trilogy?’ I don’t know. I feel like in the rematch, I was watching the same fighter, and I feel like they were in a mirror fighting each other. They were moving the same, throwing the same precise punches, hitting each other with the same punches. I feel like Canelo won the second fight, but I think it was by that much.
“And I feel like, in a lot of ways, Canelo put himself at the same level as GGG in the rematch. I feel like Canelo is faster, he’s more energetic, and I feel like he’s boxing better than GGG. But I don’t feel like he showed in either fight. Both fights were very close, and I think I had GGG winning the first one, and Canelo winning the second one,” said Porter.
Golovkin lost the rematch with Canelo Alvarez in 2018, but it was close enough to be scored a draw. A lot of people believe that Canelo will knockout GGG in the trilogy match due to the last performance by Golovkin against Sergiy Derevyanchenko. Canelo doesn’t have the same engine as Derevyanchenko does, and it’s going to be a lot harder for him to work hard enough to knock out GGG.
Golovkin and Canelo could be fighting in September if boxing has resumed by that point.
“‘AJ or Fury? Who do you have winning?’ Fury. I think Fury is the best heavyweight in the world. Again, I can’t wait for the trilogy with Deontay Wilder. I’m a big fan of Deontay as an athlete and as a person. I don’t think there’s anyone else that can contend with Fury, in or out of the ring but Deontay Wilder. AJ does not beat Fury out-boxes him, Fury frustrates him and wins in a decision,” said Porter.
WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury looks like he’s the best in the division right now. Anthony Joshua already lost to Andy Ruiz Jr., and he’s going to have problems with Fury’s boxing skills.
Porter talks about Spence fight
‘You hating on Spence.’ I do not hate on Spence. I’m me. The question is, ‘who wins, Terence Crawford or Errol Spence?’ I said, who I thought wins the fight, and then I supported my answer. That’s not being a hater. And that’s giving my opinion, and then Errol Spence is saying that Shawn Porter just be talking. That’s what FOX pays me to do, so that’s one blessing.
“And the other part of it is, I don’t do any live videos, I don’t call anybody out, and I don’t do anything like that. I did something fun a long time ago in calling out Danny Garcia, but aside from that, how do I talk so much? Oh, when I’m on TV getting paid to speak. Thank you.
“I hate it because Spence clipped me.‘ First of all, I said congratulations after the fight. What more do you want me to say? I said he caught me with a big punch, but for the majority of the battle, I was on his a**. For the majority of the fight, I had him.
“You cannot doubt that. This is why people don’t do live videos because everybody is coming at you. It makes sense. That means it’s time for me to go,” said Porter.
Spence got the better of Porter while fighting his with his brawling style. The body shots that Spence landed the entire fight took a lot out of Porter, and he got worked over in the championship rounds.
Porter had his trunks pulled up high in what appeared to be a move to limit Spence’s body punching. It didn’t work. The referee let Spence hit Porter on the belt-line the entire fight due to his trunks being pulled up so high.
Spence said last week that when he fights Porter in the rematch, he’s going to box him and not slug-like previous time. It’s going to be much tougher for Porter if Spence boxes him because he doesn’t do well against boxers. Yordenis Ugas and Kell Brook both got the better of Porter when they boxed him.
Crawford vs. Charlo unlikely to happen
“‘Who do you think is the future at 147?’ I don’t know. I’ve been so wrapped up in the big names in the division. I don’t know who’s coming up next. I take that back—the kid from Philly called ‘Boots [Jaron Ennis (25-0, 23 KOs)]. There’s a fighter from Philly, an exciting and undefeated young kid. He’s still in that prospect stage.
“I don’t know if he has any kind of interim title or something like that. But he’s the next big thing at 147. Jaron Ennis is the next big thing at 147. The guy is slick. I’ve known his family for a long time, and he comes from a boxing background. He grew up with gloves on. He is the next thing at 147.
“‘What about Bud and Jermall Charlo?’ That’s at 160. ‘Who do you got at a catchweight?’ I don’t think there’s going to be a catchweight there for them. And I don’t believe that they would do that,” said Porter.
It looks like Porter has Jermall Charlo mixed up with Jermell Charlo. That’s the guy that Crawford had worse with this week. Jermell holds the WBC junior middleweight title, and it would be easy to put together a catchweight fight at 150 against Crawford.
