LAS VEGAS – Shawn Porter has an immense amount of respect for Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford.

The undefeated welterweight champions are two of the four opponents who beat Porter during his 13-year, 36-fight professional career. Crawford stopped Porter in the 10th round of their November 2021 bout, two years after Spence edged the former IBF and WBC champ by split decision in their 12-round title unification fight.

For Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) to accomplish something against Spence that Porter couldn’t do, the Akron, Ohio native believes Crawford needs to prevent Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) from gaining confidence during the early portion of their own championship unification match Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.

Porter offered his highly informed perspective on their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event during their “grand arrivals” Tuesday afternoon at MGM Grand.

“I think for Terence, it has to be about breaking down Errol Spence and not allowing Errol to feel success,” Porter told Premier Boxing Champions’ Ray Flores as they stood on a stage in the MGM Grand lobby. “If Errol doesn’t feel success, he’s just gonna keep forcing it and forcing it, and that’s when something bad can happen to him because he’s forcing it.

“But if Errol’s finding success getting to the body, finding success hitting the shoulders, the arms, whatever it has to be, Errol just wants to touch you. And as long as [he] can touch you, [he knows] that eventually something good’s gonna happen. You know, so I think for Terence it’s just a matter of controlling the range and the distance and not allowing Errol to see success moving forward.”

If a taller, heavier Spence imposes his physicality on Crawford, Porter expects the three-division champion from Omaha, Nebraska to have difficulty fending off the strong southpaw as the rounds proceed.

“I’ve had people asking me, ‘How is it that Errol gets stronger as the fight goes on?’ ” said Porter, who did not pick a winner Tuesday. “I said it’s not necessarily that he gets stronger, it’s just the momentum that he builds round after round, along with breaking down his opponents. It looks like he’s getting stronger. He’s really not. It’s just that momentum is building and it just becomes this big ball, an avalanche of snow, and it’s hard to stop that.”

Spence, of DeSoto, Texas, dropped Porter with a left hand in the 11th round of their competitive clash in September 2019 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The 2012 U.S. Olympian topped Porter by the same score, 116-111, on the cards of judges Rey Danesco and Steve Weisfeld. Judge Larry Hazzard Jr. scored their fight for Porter, 115-112.

Porter trailed Crawford on the scorecards of Dave Moretti (86-85), Weisfeld (86-85) and Max De Luca (87-84) when Crawford knocked Porter to the canvas twice in the 10th round and stopped him at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena.

At the age of 34, Porter (31-4-1, 17 KOs) announced his retirement during the post-fight press conference following his loss to Crawford.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.