Shawn Porter confident Terence Crawford fight happens

By Boxing News - 09/13/2021 - Comments

By Max Shramm: Former IBF/WBC welterweight champion ‘Showtime’ Shawn Porter is optimistic that negotiations with WBO champ Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford will result in a fight getting made between them before the end of the year.

Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs) says his promoters are still working hard behind the scenes to get the deal done with Top Rank, the promotional company that Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) under.

If they don’t get a deal done, a purse bid will occur, and it’ll come down to which company comes up with the winning bid. Either way, Porter, 33, is confident he will be fighting Crawford at some point this year.

“It’s more than a rumor that fight better happen. We have purse bids soon. My promotional team and his promotional team are still trying to come to an agreement. So it probably will happen,” said Porter to Behind The Gloves.

Crawford to face his first A-level opponent

It will be interesting to see how Crawford reacts in facing the first A-level fighter of his 13-year professional career. Top Rank has done an admirable job of keeping Crawford shielded from harm by matching him virtually his entire career against B & C-level lesser foes.

Image: Shawn Porter confident Terence Crawford fight happens

That’s not a knock on Crawford. It’s just the reality of the situation. For whatever reason, Top Rank has been VERY careful with the type of opposition they’ve been the Nebraska native in with.

When you see the type of match-making that’s been done for Crawford, it’s generally a red flag that his promoters have seen something from him over the years that has made them distrustful of putting him in against A-level opposition.

Crawford’s best opposition during his 13-year career:

  • Yuriorkis Gamboa
  • Viktor Postol
  • Jose Benavidez Jr.
  • Jeff Horn
  • Ricky Burns
  • Raymundo Beltran
  • Felix Diaz
  • Briedis Prescott
  • Kell Brook
  • Amir Khan

Those are all B-level fighters, some of which were A-level at one point in their careers but were badly faded by the time Crawford fought them.

For example, Brook, Gamboa, and Burns were A-level fighters during the zenith of their respective careers, but they were old relics by the time Crawford fought them.

Out of the many fighters Crawford has fought as a pro, Viktor Postol is the best and was in his prime when he fought him. Postol is a B-level fighter and was never quite good enough to be an A-level guy.

To make a long story short, we don’t know how Crawford will react to facing Porter because his resume is too thin when fighting quality opposition.

There’s nothing on Crawford’s weak resume that would give fans a hint of how he’ll do against Porter. However, there is an excellent chance that Crawford could spoil for 12 rounds by running, holding, and playing it safe against Porter.

We saw Crawford do that before when he fought Burns, Beltran, Postol, and Diaz. Crawford played it safe in those fights, making it very boring to watch due to him clinching and moving to avoid getting hit.

Purse bid possible for Crawford vs. Porter

“We have a purse bid coming soon,”  said Porter. “I do know that my promotional team and his promotional team are still trying to come to an agreement, so the fight will happen.”

Top Rank boss Bob Arum won’t be happy if the Crawford-Porter fight goes to a purse bid because he’ll likely be bidding against Matchroom Boxing and Triller Fight Club. Those companies aren’t shy about taking risks when it comes to purse bids.

“Enjoy the fight. Come out and watch. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but that’s one you don’t want to miss. I’m exactly where I want to be in life,”  said Porter.

Porter hasn’t fought in over a year since August 2020, when he defeated Sebastian Formella. Unfortunately, the last time Porter fought a quality opponent was in November 2019 when he lost to Errol Spence Jr by a 12 round split decision.

Given Porter’s long period of inactivity and the absence of quality fights in the last two years, he may not be at his best by the time he does face Crawford in 2021 or 2022.

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