By Chris Williams: Shawn Porter isn’t giving up on his goal of getting a fight against Terence Crawford despite his promoter Bob Arum showing zero interest in making that contest happen.
If the $1 million lowball offer wasn’t a big enough hint, there was no interest on Arum’s part in letting Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs) anywhere near Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs), then I don’t know what is.
Arum wants to finally get the big mega-fight put together between IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr and Crawford, but it’s not looking good on that end.
“It’s Terence Crawford,” said Porter to AK & Barak Show when asked what fight that he absolutely wants.
“I’ve not given up on that fight. I’ve had conversations with my dad, ‘Go get that fight, that’s the fight for me.’ So my dad’s working.”
Chris Williams believes that Arum wants no part of letting Porter anywhere near Crawford until AFTER he matches him against Spence.
The reason why is obvious. Porter’s fighting style is all wrong for Crawford, who can’t fight on the inside, and he marks up easy.
If Porter were to fight the aging 33-year-old Crawford, he could do the same thing to him that he did against Paulie Malignaggi in 2014 in stopping him in the fourth.
Porter smothered Malignaggi’s offense, forcing him to battle at close quarters. Malignaggi had no clue how to fight Porter with him leaning on his chest, and he was quickly extinguished.
Crawford was a high school wrestler, but he’s not strong enough to handle being mauled by Porter for 12 rounds. It would end badly for Crawford, and it appears that Arum suspects the same thing.
That’s why Arum is not going to let Porter anywhere near his golden goose before he fights Spence. After that, Arum will likely throw Crawford to the wolves and let him fight Porter because he’ll likely have already lost to Spence.
The pound-for-pound mess they’ve been talking about regarding Crawford will implode, and he’ll be just another aging fighter who was exposed when he finally fought an elite fighter after 13 years as a pro.
The only that Porter will get a title shot against Crawford is if he goes the mandatory route with the World Boxing Organization. But if Porter goes that route, Crawford will be entitled to a 75-25 split of the loot.
With the big money that former IBF welterweight champion Porter, 33, made in his fight against Spence on Fox Sports pay-per-view in September 2019, he’s probably not going to be too excited at the prospect of getting a 25% cut against Crawford.
In terms of popularity, Porter probably deserves at least a 50-50 split against Crawford, but given that he’s the champion, 55-45 would be fair.
Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) is interested in facing newly elevated Yordenis Ugas for a chance to capture his WBA ‘Super’ welterweight title that was just given to him by the World Boxing Association.
This is the strap that previously was held by the inactive Manny Pacquiao, who stripped of his title by the WBA last week after he sat on the strap for a year and a half without ever defending it.
The WBA made a good move in taking Pacquiao’s title and giving it to Ugas, who is more than willing to put it to good use against the unbeaten Spence.