Porter confirms Spence fight is done deal on Fox PPV

By Boxing News - 06/23/2019 - Comments

Image: Porter confirms Spence fight is done deal on Fox PPV

By Dan Ambrose: ‘Showtime’ Shawn Porter has confirmed that he’ll be facing unbeaten Errol Spence Jr. in a unification fight this year. Porter (30-2-1, 17 KOs) says he’s not sure of the date yet, but he is saying that the fight will be shown on Fox Sports Pay-Per-View in the U.S.

Although fans want to see those two fight each other, but they’re not eager to pay to watch it.

IBF welterweight champion Spence (25-0, 21 KOs) and WBC 147-pound champion Porter will meet in a unification fight. Spence, 29, revealed recently that the fight with ‘Showtime’ Shawn Porter will be taking place in September. The winner of the Spence-Porter fight will likely face the winner of the July 20th fight between WBA welterweight champions Manny Pacquiao and Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman later this year. When the smoke clears from those fights, the last man standing will then face WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford next year.

Fans predicting low PPV numbers for Spence-Porter fight

With DAZN and ESPN+ showing excellent fights on their platforms for a low monthly subscription rate, it makes it difficult for boxing fans to want to go back to paying $70 to see pay-per-view fights like Spence vs. Porter. This isn’t considered a big enough match-up for it to be on PPV unfortunately, and it’s likely that it won’t bring in massive numbers of buys. Spence is coming off of a lackluster 12 round unanimous decision win over Mikey Garcia last March on Fox Sports PPV in Arlington, Texas.

Porter announces Spence fight

“Everybody knows I will be fighting Errol Spence next,” said Porter. “I don’t have the official date. The date is set, but they didn’t give it to me yet. You will see me and Spence get it on for the WBC and IBF titles this year. I don’t know exactly when, but it’s going down really soon. Make sure you guys check it out on FOX FS1 pay-per-view. We’re going to bust it. It’s going to be great,” said Porter.

Unfortunately, Porter isn’t a popular fighter, and he’s coming off of a highly questionable 12 round split decision over Yordenis Ugas last March in Carson, California. Many boxing fans thought Porter lost that fight, and was given a controversial win based on him being the A-side. You can argue the most accurate score of the three judges that scored that contest was the one that had Ugas winning 117-111. It’s telling that Porter has chosen not to deal with the controversy surrounding that fight by facing Ugas in a rematch.

Porter vows to be at 100% for Spence

“You’ll see 100% Shawn Porter inside the ring with Errol Spence. You hear a lot of guys say they were 80 percent. No excuses,” said Porter in talking in the third person. “I’ll be 100%. I’m doing everything it takes to walk out of the ring as the unified champion. When you’re a little guy, short and stocky, everybody expects you to fight like Mike Tyson,” said Porter.

Porter has no choice but to use pressure against the taller, longer-armed Spence if he wants to beat him. If Porter, 5’7″, tries to box on the outside against the 5’9 1/2″ Spence, he’s going to get picked apart by his powerful jab. In Porter’s recent fight against the taller 5’9″ Ugas, he stayed on the outside for the majority of the contest. It didn’t work well for Porter being at the end of Ugas’ jabs, but he had no choice.

Ugas had the better punching power of the two, and he was making Porter pay each time he got inside to throw his shots. Early on, Porter, 31, decided that it was safer for him to stay on the outside to minimize the amount of punishment that he was absorbing from the talented Cuban. With the way the judges were scoring the fight, it didn’t matter that Porter was playing it safe. Two of the judges were consistently giving Porter rounds despite the fact that he was just eating punches all night. The scoring was atrocious from the two judges that had Porter winning by the scores 116-112 and 115-113.

Porter says he’ll fight like Ali & Tyson against Spence

“I’ve always watched [Muhammad] Ali, and I can fight like Ali too,” said Porter to Fighthype. “You’ll see Mike Tyson when I fight Errol Spence. You’ll see Muhammad Ali when I fight Errol. You’ll see Sugar Ray Leonard. You’ll see some flash and some dash. You’ll see ‘Marvelous’ Marvin Hagler. You’ll see some relentless pressure. You’ll see me in his face. You might see me switch like Marvin used to switch. But you’ll see 100 percent [effort]. I’m not just talking. You’ll see 100%.”

Porter fights nothing like Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler or Mike Tyson. Porter fights more like how Bernard Hopkins fought earlier in his career when he was an inside brawler. You can also compare Porter to Andre Ward with the way he used to grapple with his opponents, and rough them up. However, Porter is nothing like Ali, Tyson, Hagler or Leonard. He has nothing in common with those fighters.

Spence’s punching power will give Porter problems

All the mauling that Porter likes to do in his fights could prove to be ineffective against Spence, because he’s an excellent inside fighter. Unless Porter can open up some cuts around Spence’s eyes from head-butting him, it’s probably not a good idea for him to take the fight inside. Porter has done well in mugging guys in close to beat them up by colliding heads with them until they’re full of bumps, bruises and cuts. This worked for Porter in fights against Paulie Malignaggi, Andre Berto, Danny Garcia, Adrien Broner and Devin Alexander. However, Porter has gone away from that style of fighting recently in his matches against Ugas and Adrian Granados. Porter is getting older now, and it’s not as easy for him to maul his opponents like he used to do.

Porter wants to confuse Spence

“I got you thinking, don’t I? When I get him thinking inside the ring, that’s the best place for him to be for me,” said Porter. ‘For him to be thinking, and guessing to be trying to figure me out,” said Porter.

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