By Keith Idec
Mayweather Promotions chief executive officer Leonard Ellerbe clarified on a conference call Monday that the maximum weight for the Adrien Broner-Shawn Porter non-title fight Saturday night is 144 pounds.
Porter and his father/trainer, Ken Porter, indicated earlier during the conference call that even they weren’t quite sure about the maximum weight for their main event at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Ellerbe issued the clarification because Mayweather Promotions is the official promoter of the event, part of Al Haymon’s “Premier Boxing Champions” series on NBC (8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT).
“I just wanted to try to clear up this whole weight issue [because] there’s a lot of back and forth about this weight issue,” Ellerbe said. “Both fighters have agreed to fight this fight Saturday at 144 pounds max. I want to be clear with that – 144 pounds max. Both fighters agreed upon that.
“So the fans are expecting a great fight and I think that both fighters will be at their best come Saturday night. Both fighters have had an excellent camp and have prepared to fight at the weight and both fighters know what to expect from each other. They know each other very well. They both have great strength. And I think it’s going to be a very exciting fight come Saturday night.”
The 27-year-old Porter (25-1-1, 16 KOs) has not weighed 144 pounds for a fight since he out-pointed Anges Adjaho (26-7, 15 KOs), of Buffalo, N.Y., by unanimous decision in their 10-rounder in February 2011.
That’s the lowest Porter has weighed for any of his 27 professional fights. He hasn’t weighed in at less than 146½ pounds for any of his past nine fights. The Akron, Ohio, native made his pro debut at 165 pounds in October 2008.
The 25-year-old Broner (30-1, 22 KOs) – a former super featherweight, lightweight and welterweight champion – hasn’t weighed more than 141 pounds for any of his past three fights. The Cincinnati native weighed in at 144½ pounds before Argentina’s Marcos Maidana (35-5, 31 KOs) dropped him twice and beat Broner by unanimous decision 18 months ago in San Antonio.
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.