By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Ken Porter doesn’t take any pleasure from watching his son knock out an opponent.
When Shawn Porter’s father/trainer says he wants the former IBF welterweight champion to “punish” Danny Garcia, he doesn’t mean for it sound like a sadistic statement. It’s just that Garcia (34-1, 20 KOs) has won more close decisions than he has lost, thus it’s imperative for Shawn Porter to at the very least win rounds decisively during their WBC welterweight title fight Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
“I’ll take this victory however we can get it,” Ken Porter told BoxingScene.com before a press conference Thursday at Dream Hotel Downtown. “If it’s by decision, I want a wide one, by punishment. I wanna see Shawn punish this kid. It’s nothing personal, but I wanna make it decisive. If the referee has to stop it or his dad has to throw the towel in, I don’t care. I want the victory, so that’s what we’re working for.”
Philadelphia’s Garcia (34-1, 20 KOs) finally lost a close fight when Keith Thurman beat him by split decision in their 12-round, 147-pound title unification fight in March 2017 at Barclays Center.
Before Thurman edged Garcia, the previously unbeaten two-division champion won debatable majority decisions against Mauricio Herrera and Lamont Peterson. He also won unanimous decisions against Lucas Matthysse and Zab Judah in fights that were competitive, yet not as close as his controversial victories over Herrera and Peterson.
Porter, meanwhile, has lost two close fights – a majority decision to Kell Brook (37-2, 26 KOs) in August 2014 and a unanimous decision to Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs, 1 NC) in June 2016.
“That’s a concern,” Ken Porter said. “This is why I want Shawn to win every round. I want him to be focused for the entire round and I want him to make every round decisive. When he comes back to that corner, I’m gonna tell him flat out, ‘I don’t think you won that round.’ I’m gonna tell him flat out, ‘You’re gonna have to do more.’
“Whatever it takes, I’m gonna tell him that and be imploring him to do more. No matter what he did the last round, I need more in the next round. So if things are not going the way that I’m comfortable with, he’s gonna have to put his foot on the gas pedal and just keep it going. There’s no stopping us.”
Garcia-Porter will be one of three fights Showtime will televise Saturday night.
The tripleheader will begin at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT with a 12-round WBC welterweight elimination match in which Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas (23-3, 11 KOs) will square off against Argentina’s Cesar Barrionuevo (34-3-2, 24 KOs). The winner will become the mandatory challenger for Garcia or Porter.
In the second televised bout, a 10-round heavyweight clash, Brooklyn’s Adam Kownacki (17-0, 14 KOs) will encounter Charles Martin (25-1-1, 23 KOs), an ex-IBF champ from Carson, California.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
