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What the hell is elleber doing
LAS VEGAS — Much has been made about the catch weight ahead of Saturday’s first between Adrien Broner and Shawn Porter.
Only there’s no contract stipulating said catch weight, Kenny Porter told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday. The father/manager/trainer of Shawn says they verbally agreed to compete at 144 pounds rather than the welterweight limit of 147, but he’s yet to see it in writing just two days before the NBC bout.
“We come in at whatever (weight) we come in tomorrow unless they show us (a contract) that shows us different,” Kenny said. “We agreed on something verbally, but I need to see a contract. It’s a Mayweather promotion, (Broner is) a Mayweather crony, wannabe, and I think that Mayweather’s holding up the contract because they’re trying to help him get an advantage by draining Shawn.
“If you show us the contract and it says 144 plus a pound, then you know we may not drain ourselves to get that other pound off. So if you hold up, you may be able to get us to do that.”
The situation lends a lot of drama to Friday’s weigh-in. There’s not much time to get the contract signed, and it’s unclear if Porter will be forced to honor the verbal agreement at all.
There’s also an agreement to have a same-day weigh-in where the fighters can’t exceed 154 pounds, but again, it’s not in writing.
“It can definitely backfire on them,” Kenny said. “They can’t cancel the fight. But we woke up at 147 today. So there’s no reason to come in lower, definitely. But they’re going to have to present the contract and going to have to do the right things, the proper protocol has to be followed tomorrow.”
Broner won titles at 130 and 135 before catapulting the 140-pound division and settling at welterweight. He won a title at 147, but after a defeat to Marcos Maidana, dropped down to junior welterweight.
Porter weighed 165.5 pounds for his professional debut in 2008, and for his 14 fights that followed, he weighed 152 or above. So cutting three extra pounds could be daunting, especially for a fighter who relies on non-stop pressure to attack.
But with no contract signed, Shawn doesn’t necessarily have to come in at 144 on Friday, and Kenny said he might have him come in heavier “just because you’re giving it to me so late.”
“(Broner) thought that it would give him some type of advantage, but the problem he’s incurring, the situation he’s got going on, is Shawn is a consummate professional athlete and lives this way year round,” Kenny said confidently. “So for his fight class of 147, he never goes over 12 to 15 pounds of that fight weight.
“And it so happens that we were preparing to try to get the co-main event on the Mayweather card, so he was in fabulous shape and his weight was low. We got the call for this and all we did is turn up the flame a little bit and the weight came down. … It’s not hurting us at all, Shawn’s feeling good.”
If Shawn indeed gets the contract and must fight at 144 pounds, maybe the extra weight loss won’t affect him after all.
LAS VEGAS — Much has been made about the catch weight ahead of Saturday’s first between Adrien Broner and Shawn Porter.
Only there’s no contract stipulating said catch weight, Kenny Porter told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday. The father/manager/trainer of Shawn says they verbally agreed to compete at 144 pounds rather than the welterweight limit of 147, but he’s yet to see it in writing just two days before the NBC bout.
“We come in at whatever (weight) we come in tomorrow unless they show us (a contract) that shows us different,” Kenny said. “We agreed on something verbally, but I need to see a contract. It’s a Mayweather promotion, (Broner is) a Mayweather crony, wannabe, and I think that Mayweather’s holding up the contract because they’re trying to help him get an advantage by draining Shawn.
“If you show us the contract and it says 144 plus a pound, then you know we may not drain ourselves to get that other pound off. So if you hold up, you may be able to get us to do that.”
The situation lends a lot of drama to Friday’s weigh-in. There’s not much time to get the contract signed, and it’s unclear if Porter will be forced to honor the verbal agreement at all.
There’s also an agreement to have a same-day weigh-in where the fighters can’t exceed 154 pounds, but again, it’s not in writing.
“It can definitely backfire on them,” Kenny said. “They can’t cancel the fight. But we woke up at 147 today. So there’s no reason to come in lower, definitely. But they’re going to have to present the contract and going to have to do the right things, the proper protocol has to be followed tomorrow.”
Broner won titles at 130 and 135 before catapulting the 140-pound division and settling at welterweight. He won a title at 147, but after a defeat to Marcos Maidana, dropped down to junior welterweight.
Porter weighed 165.5 pounds for his professional debut in 2008, and for his 14 fights that followed, he weighed 152 or above. So cutting three extra pounds could be daunting, especially for a fighter who relies on non-stop pressure to attack.
But with no contract signed, Shawn doesn’t necessarily have to come in at 144 on Friday, and Kenny said he might have him come in heavier “just because you’re giving it to me so late.”
“(Broner) thought that it would give him some type of advantage, but the problem he’s incurring, the situation he’s got going on, is Shawn is a consummate professional athlete and lives this way year round,” Kenny said confidently. “So for his fight class of 147, he never goes over 12 to 15 pounds of that fight weight.
“And it so happens that we were preparing to try to get the co-main event on the Mayweather card, so he was in fabulous shape and his weight was low. We got the call for this and all we did is turn up the flame a little bit and the weight came down. … It’s not hurting us at all, Shawn’s feeling good.”
If Shawn indeed gets the contract and must fight at 144 pounds, maybe the extra weight loss won’t affect him after all.
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