By Keith Idec
Shawn Porter’s chin has been one of his greatest assets during his run as one of boxing’s best welterweights.
The two losses on his record are a majority-decision defeat to Kell Brook and a close unanimous-decision loss to Keith Thurman. Danny Garcia still is confident he can become the first opponent to knock out Porter a week from Saturday night.
“I’ve knocked out a lot of fighters for the first time,” Garcia said after an open workout Wednesday in Philadelphia, “so it won’t be surprising to me if I knock Shawn Porter out for the first time.”
The 30-year-old Garcia figures he’ll surprise Porter not only with his power, but with his boxing ability September 8 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn (Showtime).
“Once you’re in there with me, it’s not the same as anyone else,” Garcia said. “It’s not the same as what you expect it to be. You’re in for a rude awakening.”
Philadelphia’s Garcia (34-1, 20 KOs) and Las Vegas’ Porter (28-2-1, 17 KOs) will fight for the vacant WBC welterweight title an injured Thurman gave up late in April. Garcia lost that title to Thurman by split decision in their welterweight championship unification fight in March 2017 at Barclays Center.
Against Porter, Garcia is sure he’ll carry his power deep into their fight and have the fortitude to fend off the persistent Porter.
“After four rounds you can really tell how strong a fighter is and how good their conditioning is,” Garcia said. “It’s all about the will power after a certain amount of rounds and I carry that well.”
If their scheduled 12-round fight goes the distance, though, Garcia knows he’ll have to be very busy to beat the active, aggressive Porter.
“In boxing they say the more you throw, the more open you are to get hit,” Garcia said. “Volume punching has to be effective. I’m the sharper boxer and I land the cleaner punches. That’s more my style. We’ve prepared ourselves for 12 hard rounds of any style.”
Garcia-Porter will headline a Showtime Championship Boxing tripleheader (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).
Brooklyn’s Adam Kownacki (17-0, 14 KOs) and Charles Martin (25-1-1, 23 KOs), of Carson, California, are scheduled to square off in a 10-round heavyweight bout that’ll be broadcast just before Garcia-Porter. A 12-round WBC welterweight elimination match between Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas (23-3, 11 KOs) and Argentina’s Cesar Barrionuevo (34-3-2, 24 KOs) will open Showtime’s three-bout broadcast that night.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
