Shawn Porter expects to fight Terence Crawford or Errol Spence Jr. next.
If Porter, the number one contender for Crawford’s WBO welterweight title, were to challenge Crawford in his first fight of 2021, the former IBF and WBC champion anticipates that it would happen by “April or May.” Porter wants Crawford next more than a rematch versus Spence, according to what he told Showtime’s Brian Custer for the most recent episode of Custer’s “Last Stand Podcast,” which debuted Monday night on YouTube.
There was a time, Porter admitted, that he didn’t think a bout between he and Crawford would happen. Porter’s opinion of that possibility has changed, even though Porter considers Crawford a friend.
“Since he fought Jose Benavidez and since the talks of him fighting Errol Spence Jr. started to happen, it was him and Errol,” Porter explained to Custer. “[I] never cared. ‘That’s y’all thing. Y’all do y’all thing.’ But after my fight with Errol Spence Jr., everybody’s saying, ‘Whoa, maybe the fight with Terence Crawford and Shawn Porter would be good.’ Then Errol Spence gets into his accident, and now everybody’s like, ‘We don’t wanna see that fight anymore. We want Terence and Shawn.’ And so, I start hearing Terence and Shawn, and I’m like, ‘Damn, man, all right, I’ll fight him. If nobody will, I’ll fight him,’ you know? With me, it’s 100-percent the competitive spirit that I have and the willingness to fight someone who a lot of people feel he’s feared, and a lot of people don’t wanna fight him.
“[It’s] a lot like me taking on Errol Spence Jr. I know what I can do, and you give me an opportunity, and I’m gonna do it. I’m not gonna let anything stop me, you know? So, really, the only thing stopping me, preventing me from fighting Terence Crawford is the fact that he and I both haven’t said yes. If he’s willing to say yes, the fight will happen. But that’s one fight that I really am not going to, at least I don’t think, I’m going to really pressure because that’s something I just never really saw myself doing. I never saw myself fighting Terence Crawford. But, because everybody says they want that fight, now I’m starting to manifest it myself. I’m not even gonna lie to you, BC, I was hitting the bag last night in the dark and on my mind was Terence Crawford. So, it is what it is.”
Porter spoke to Crawford in July about boxing each other.
At that time, however, Crawford was in negotiations to make the fight he wants most, a showdown with Manny Pacquiao. Crawford-Pacquiao didn’t materialize in November, as discussed, but Crawford wants to revisit those negotiations.
The 33-year-old Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs), of Akron, Ohio, won his most recent fight against Germany’s Sebastian Formella (22-2, 10 KOs), whom Porter defeated by unanimous decision in their 12-rounder August 22 at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The 33-year-old Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska, has since stopped former IBF champ Kell Brook (39-3, 27 KOs) in the fourth round November 14 at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
“The point in time when I called him, it was just before I had gotten, it might’ve been just after I found out that I was gonna fight Formella,” Porter recalled. “When I spoke with Crawford, it was back in maybe early July, right around there. And I just, simple conversation, ‘Hey, are we gonna do this or what? What’s going on?’ You know, and we had our conversation. Basically, he says, ‘Hey, I’m working on something big right now.’ And I said, ‘All right, I’m gonna respect that. I’m not gonna step on your toes. Man, make it happen. Whatever it is, make it happen.’
“I don’t think at that point in time it was Kell Brook that he was working on. But he said he was working on something big, and the respect that I have for him and also for his career, I said, ‘All right. I’m gonna let you do what you do.’ I said, ‘Hey man, I know they’re about to line me up with somebody. And you’re better than the dude. And I just wanted to see if we could make it happen.’ And that’s it. You know, simple as that. We have not had a conversation about fighting each other since early July, late July, and maybe we’ll come back around [now].”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
