Shawn Porter vs. Sebastian Formella on August 22 on PBC on Fox

By Boxing News - 07/27/2020 - Comments

By Matt Lieberman: Shawn Porter will be fighting next month against #9 IBF welterweight contender Sebastian Formella on August 22 on PBC on Fox. The location is still to be determined.

Porter, 32, will be heavily favored against the fringe contender Formella. There’s a vast difference in talent and experience between the two. The 33-year-old Formella has yet to face a world-class fighter during his six-year pro career, and he’s going to have problems taking a step up to this level.

Formella will be the first fight back for former IBF/WBC 147-pound champion Porter (30-3-1, 17 KOs) since his loss to Errol Spence Jr on September 28 last year in Los Angeles, California.

Porter needs a confidence booster, and Formella serves the purpose for him to get an easy win. ‘Showtime’ Shawn Porter needs to put some wins together so that he can get another title shot.

Also, he wants to avenge his loss to Spence, as well as fight WBA champion Manny Pacquiao and WBO champ Terence Crawford. None of those fighters are available right now. But if Porter keeps winning, he’ll eventually get another title shot soon. He’s currently ranked #1 WBC and #10 IBF.

It’s a questionable move for PBC to schedule Porter vs. Formella on August 22, because that’s the same date these fights will be taking place:

  • Eleider Alvarez vs. Joe Smith Jr
  • Dillian Whyte vs. Alexander Povetkin

Porter taking a tune-up

You can’t blame Porter, 32, for taking on the little known German fighter Formella (22-0, 10 KOs) being that he just came through a war with Errol.

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That fight was quickly the toughest of Porter’s 12-year pro career due to Spence brawling with Porter from the opening round.

Initially, Spence tried to box Porter. But he was unable to do so because of the pressure was putting on him. Porter went after Spence and made him stand and fight him. Porter thought he could wear Spence down as he’d done with many of his other opponents, but Errol proved to have too much power, toughness, and youth.

Spence beat Porter at his own game by getting the better of him at close range with his body shots and uppercuts. In the 10th, Spence sealed the deal by knocking Porter down with a left hook to the head.

Mike Coppinger broke the story on the Porter vs. Formell fight. A possible match on the undercard is Alfredo Angulo (26 7, 21 KOs) vs. former IBF super-middleweight champion Caleb Truax (31-4-2, 19 KOs).

Image: Shawn Porter vs. Sebastian Formella on August 22 on PBC on Fox

Porter will need to use his wheels to go after Formella, as he’s not going to stand and brawl with him the way Spence did. Formella isn’t a puncher, and his trainers will make sure that he stays on his bike the entire fight.

Shawn needs to adapt his game

One thing that Porter’s fight against Spence showed is he’s too one-dimensional, dependent on mugging his opponents on that inside. When that fails tow rok for him, he struggles. We saw in Porter’s losses to Kell Brook and Keith Thurman that he has problems against boxers.

We also saw that in Porter’s controversial 12 round split decision win over Yordenis Ugas last year in March 2019. Ugas outboxed and out-brawled Porter, but two of the judges gave it to him. The third judge was the only that seemingly was watching the fight with him scoring it 117-111 for Ugas.

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Formella’s best wins

  • Roberto Arriaza
  • Thulani Mbenge
  • Betuel Ushona
  • Ilias Essaoudi
  • Angelo Frank

Sebastian Formella has beaten some excellent European level fighters, but he hasn’t cut his teeth yet against the world level guys. On August 22, Formella will be taught the hard way in a sink or swim contest against the highly talented Porter.