By Matt Lieberman: Shawn Porter was NOT a happy camper after his fight with WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford was abruptly stopped by his well-wishing trainer Kenny Porter in the tenth round after he’d been knocked down twice by the unbeaten champion.
Kenny’s decision to stop the fight led to him being booed because the fans felt that Porter was fine and could have continued.
Porter (31-4-1, 17 KOs) wanted to continue the fight, and to be sure, he looked fine at the time that his dad/trainer Kenny pulled him out of the fight after his second knockdown at the hands of the unbeaten Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs).
Porter fought his heart out tonight in front of a large crowd at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. You don’t like to see fights stopped prematurely like tonight’s, but that’s what happens when you have a family member in your coroner working as a trainer.
Interestingly, Crawford looked angry after the fight, perhaps due to ESPN interviewing the beaten Porter first rather than him.
Shawn Porter: “No, he was doing what he knows he needed to do. I didn’t expect that. We never had a conversation about that.
“We always had an unspoken understanding that if he sees what he needs to see, he’s going to do what he did. I didn’t expect it. Yes,” said Porter when asked if he felt he could have continued.
“The punches he was catching me with were too clean, and I think that’s what my dad saw. I saw it, I felt it and I just think my timing was a little off.
“Great fighter over there wouldn’t allow me to catch my rhythm. That was my game plan going in, not allowing him to catch his. He’s a dynamite dude in and out of the ring, congratulations.
“I knew you’d ask who the best is that I’ve been in the ring with. There’s no doubt that man hit me more than anybody I’ve been in the ring with. He was on point A through Z.
“The competitor in me won’t let me stop looking at him and wanting to fight him again and he’s that good that I want to do it again. Congratulations, Bud.
“He’d got it, and I’ve said that in multiple interviews inside and outside the ring,” said Porter.
Kenny Porter: “Honestly, his preparation. He didn’t prepare like I wanted him to prepare,” said Kenny when asked WHY he stopped the fight in the tenth. “So that just makes me say, I don’t want him in that situation.
“He fought a great fighter and the guy is super sharp. He’s [Porter] at a deficient. It’s like fighting this guy blindfolded when you’re at a deficient like that, so I wasn’t going to let that happen to him.
“When guys get to certain levels, they believe they know what they’re doing and they don’t necessarily take in all the information. This is where we’re at with it, and I had to make the decision.
“It was an easy decision for me. He lives right across the street from me, and I’ll be having breakfast with him in the morning.
“Definitely what he did,” said Kenny when told that Andre Ward said that he stopped the fight not because of what happened to him but rather what could have happened.
“Shawn was hurt and moving forward, this guy [Crawford] is a sharp fighter and my kid is at deficient at that point. He can’t defend himself like he should and I had to protect him.
“To name just one thing, I can’t but all things combined, he can do all the things that need to be done. Offense, defense, switching sides, speed, quickness, and power,” said Porter.
