By Allan Fox: Andre Ward is predicting the Terence Crawford vs. Shawn Porter fight won’t be going the distance on November 20th when the two battle it out on pay-per-view at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
Ward isn’t saying who he believes will be the one that gets knocked out in this fight, but given his high praise of WBO welterweight champion Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs), who he rates as the #1 pound-for-pound best in boxing, it’s not difficult to imagine that he’s secretly picking him to get the KO win.
Former IBF/WBC 147-lb champion Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs) has never been knocked out before, but he’ll be coming off a 15-month layoff when he challenges Crawford as the WBO mandatory on November 20th.
Ring rust could be a problem for Shawn
Porter has been out of the ring for a long time, and his last fight came against Sebastian Formella, a fringe contender with no power.
In Porter’s two fights before that, he didn’t look great in losing to Errol Spence Jr. in September 2019 and beating Yordenis Ugas by a questionable 12 round split decision in March 2019.
“I’m happy to see them get paid, and I’m looking forward to a great fight,” said Andre Ward to Fighthype in talking about the Crawford vs. Porter fight.
“This fight is going to be different. Some fights when you sign them, you just know, this one is going to be different.
“This is going to be a tough fight where I got to be on point, or I could lose this fight or get knocked out.
“You’ve seen Shawn box, even though he’s not known for boxing, and you’ve seen Shawn press forward and brawl.
“You’ve seen Bud stand there and fight and exchange, trying to get his shots through. I think it’s going to be ebbs and flows and back and forth. I don’t see this fight going the distance.,” said Ward on the Crawford vs. Porter fight.
Crawford is looking hard to beat right now, and he might have too much left in the tank for the ring rusty Porter to handle.
If Porter takes the fight to the inside, he might go the distance with Crawford, and it’s doubtful that he’ll win.
We already saw Keith Thurman beat Porter by using movement in their fight in 2016, and Crawford can do the same thing. Porter also lost to Kell Brook in 2014 in a 12 round majority decision.
