Shawn Porter motivated for Terence Crawford fight

By Boxing News - 08/01/2021 - Comments

By Matt Lieberman: Shawn Porter is pleased about the news of the WBO ordering the title fight between him and champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford last week.

Now it’s a waiting game to see if Crawford and his promoters at Top Rank will agree to take the fight with Porter. If not, Crawford will need to vacate, or he’ll be stripped of his title by the World Boxing Organization.

There are now less than 30 days for the Crawford vs. Porter fight to be negotiated before a purse bid is ordered. That’s something that Crawford’s promoters at Top Rank likely want to avoid, as they need to supply quality fights to ESPN.

They already lost out on the Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos Jr fight when that match went to a purse bid. With that said, you can’t blame Top Rank promoter Bob Arum for not wanting to overpay for a non-marquee fight like Teofimo-Kambosos Jr. That fight is the equivalent of a white elephant.

It’s a different story with the Crawford vs. Porter fight because that’s a match-up that boxing fans will want to see.

However, it’s also a risky fight for Top Rank because Crawford has brought in low PPV numbers in his only two fights during his career in which fans had to pay to see him against Viktor Postol and Amir Khan.

You can’t get a clear picture of whether Crawford can sell fights based on his matches on PPV against Postol and Khan, considering those are guys that Errol Spence Jr would have likely done poor numbers against as well.

Porter already imagines how huge the crowd will be for the event against the unbeaten WBO 147-lb champion Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs).

For the boxing fans questioning whether Porter (31-3, 17 KOs) will take the fight, he sounds very motivated to challenge Crawford.

Shawn Porter waiting on Crawford

“I’m very transparent. I can’t say too much about the fight, but we are going to say that we are happy to see the announcement,” said Shawn Porter on his Porter Podcast in reacting to the WBO ordering Crawford to fight him.

YouTube video

“We, me and myself and my dad were surprised by the announcement,” porter continued about the WBO’s decision to order the Crawford fight.

“While I’m texting you, he’s calling me, and we’re just kind of in the space right now like ‘Wow, I didn’t see this coming. This is a pleasant surprise. At this point, it’s just a matter of time, I think.

“I don’t know what day he’s [Crawford] on. Would it be 26 of accepting [the match]. What did they say? He’s got 30 days to accept the fight or something like that? I didn’t think who initiated this about who needed it to be,” said Porter.

Hopefully, Crawford agrees to the fight so that fans can see how well he fares against Porter. This match will give the boxing public a chance to compare Crawford to Errol Spence, as the latter fighter struggled to beat Porter in their fight in September 2019.

If Crawford can do a better job of defeating Porter than Spence did, it would show the boxing public the better fighter between them.

Porter: This is exactly where I wanted to be

“I just think more than anything I’m grateful to see something like that happen,” said Porter about the WBO ordering him to challenge Crawford for his 147-lb title.

Image: Shawn Porter motivated for Terence Crawford fight

I don’t think I can get a bigger crowd than this,” Shawn Porter said about his projection that his fight with Crawford would attract a huge crowd.

“I don’t think the world can be any more excited about what I’m doing in boxing more than they are about this.

“I think the news was awesome when I heard it, and getting everybody is talking about it right now.

Everybody is excited about me and Terence, the fight and the WBO and all of that. I think this is exactly where I wanted to be in boxing, what is happening right now.

“I don’t think the sport of boxing is dying, and I think there are moments like this that keep it more than alive.

“I love commentating, I love what I do, and I love being on TV and all that, but a lot of the people think I retired and all that,” said Porter. “So, I let everybody know,” said Porter.

This fight could make up for Porter’s losses to Kell Brook, Errol Spence Jr, and Keith Thurman. Those were three times Porter stepped up against elite fighters, and he wasn’t good enough to get the wins.

If Porter can beat Crawford, he can use the win to set up a massive pay-per-view clash with IBF/WBC 147-lb champion Spence in 2022. That would earn Porter a massive payday, and it would help cement his legacy in the sport.