Shawn Porter says he’s going to get WBO welterweight champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford out of his comfort zone this Saturday night and not let him do the things that he wants to.
Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs) believes he’s got an ironclad game plan that will disrupt Crawford’s usual style of fighting and force him into an alien pattern of nothingness.
Crawford (37-0, 28 Kos) and former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Porter are headlining on Saturday, November 20th on ESPN+ PPV at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
The fight represents the toughest of Crawford’s thirteen-year professional career on paper.
It’s undoubtedly the toughest since Crawford moved up to 147 in 2018, as he’s not faced anyone really good since moving up in weight from the 140-lb division.
Porter: Crawford won’t have his way
“Terence is a little bit like me in that I don’t like to be denied. I don’t like people telling me what I can’t do,” said Shawn Porter to Top Rank Boxing.
“Terence has always been that way,” Porter continued. “If you ever tell him, ‘Don’t do this or don’t do that,’ he’s going to look at you, and he’s going to do whatever he wants to do.
“In the ring with me, he’s [Crawford] not going to have his way,” Porter said. “He’s not going to be able to be comfortable in the way that others have allowed him to be comfortable. That’s how you get him uncomfortable.
“That’s how you get under his skin,” said Porter about Crawford. “You make the moves and do all the necessary things to make him feel like all the things that they’re telling you that, ‘You’re not that good that this is the big test,’ now the test is coming, and we’ll see what happens.
“I do believe that nobody has forced him [Crawford] to get out of his comfort zone and forced him to do anything other than what he wants to do,” said Porter.
“I think he’s a very intellectual boxer, and I think he can, during the course of the rounds to figure out what a guy does and take that away from them. Thirty-seven times, he’s gotten his way, and this is the one time that he’s not going to be able to get his way.
“I have multiple styles, I have a lot in my arsenal, and he’s going to see it all. I think the word that I’m going to pull out is extraordinary,” said Porter on why he can beat Crawford.
Shawn wants to disrupt Crawford’s timing
“I think there are some things I do that are extraordinary. The pivots that I have, the speed that I have that comes with the power that I have, and the strength that I have. I think that’s a combination along with itself, and then you add my boxing IQ.
“I don’t want you to be comfortable in the ring, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make you uncomfortable. We got a great fight on our hands,” said Porter on his match this Saturday night against Crawford.
“I think it’s timing,” said Porter on what his best advantage in this fight. “I think he [Crawford] gets into a rhythm and timing that fits him and what he likes to do.
“I’m not going to tell you how I’m going to disrupt that timing, but I feel like me winning this fight relies on my disrupting his timing,” said Porter. Every experience has got me to the next fight.
“There are some things that I’ve gone through against Keith Thurman that really did show up in my fight against Errol Spence Jr. Those were almost two or three years apart those fights are.
“So, getting in the ring with Terence Crawford, I do really believe that I’ve seen it all live. He hasn’t seen anybody like me in the moment when the heat is going, and the bullets and the gloves are flying, and that’s when the adjustments need to be made. We’ll see what happens.
The best way for Porter to disrupt Crawford’s timing is to stay close to him and not give him any space to throw his combinations and counters. Above all, Crawford is a counter puncher, and those types of fighters are helpless when they’re trapped on the inside.
Porter believes a knockout is possible
“Why be surprised?” said Porter in reacting to being told by Mark Kriegel that he’ll be surprised if he knocks out Crawford. “If any fighter could, they’d knock everybody out in 30 seconds. Every fight would last one minute.
“So, yes, believe me when I say that I’ve been in the gym training to knock out not just Terence Crawford, but everybody I fought.
“At the highest level, it’s very difficult to do, but if it can be done, I’m going to go out there and do everything that is required. I’m not touching nerves.
“I’m not just saying things that get back to him, and he says, ‘Oh, Shawn Porter thinks he’s going to knock me out.’ I don’t think that would even touch a nerve with him.
“He knows I’m a real speaker, and everything I say is real, and I’m not going to talk stuff to Terence. He knows that’s not real, and that’s not who I am.
“Absolutely, my legacy depends on this fight because of what I told you, I’ve been at the top. I’ve been in some Super Bowls, and I’ve won a couple, maybe, but I haven’t won the biggest ones.
“This is my next Super Bowl; I’ve got to win this,” said Porter on his fight with Crawford.
A knockout is possible for Porter if he can smother Crawford’s offense by mugging him. If Porter doesn’t let Crawford get his shots off as he did against Paulie Malignaggi, Danny Garcia, and Andre Berto, this could be a one-sided fight on Saturday.
We’re likely to see Crawford moving around the ring like Keith Thurman did when he fought Porter. Thurman hit and ran all night, and Porter couldn’t do much of anything in that fight.
Even when Thurman fought against the ropes later in the fight, he still got the better of Porter.
Crawford has a simple message
“The loudest person in the room is always the softest person in the room,” said Terence Crawford to Top Rank Boxing. “So if I look at you and say in a polite way, ‘I’m going to beat your a**.’
“I’m looking at you straight in your eyes, ‘I’m going to beat your a***’ because I’m sending direct message to you, and you know it’s real.
“I think that’s more meaningful than, ‘Oh, I’m going to beat your a**. I’m going to do this to you; I’m going to do that to you.’
“Because if you’re yelling, I’m like, ‘Why are you yelling for? I’m right here. Why are you doing all that extra stuff? You’re trying to impress somebody. You want some attention, don’t you?
“I’m the kind of person that tells you, ‘Let’s go in the back where nobody is around. Let’s see who comes out.’ That’s me,” said Crawford.
We’ll see on Saturday night if Crawford’s direct message can be played out against Porter.
Crawford may have finally run into someone that he can’t beat in Porter, and it won’t matter what he says with his direct messages. No one is invincible.
If Crawford doesn’t get beaten this Saturday, he’ll eventually lose if he sticks around long enough and fights someone young, powerful, and dangerous.
Some would argue that there’s a guy out there that is more than capable of beating Crawford, and I’m talking about Jaron Ennis.
That guy is bad news for the 34-year-old Crawford, and Vergil Ortiz Jr. might be too much as well for him. If Errol Spence Jr. can come back from his eye injury, he might be too rugged for Crawford.
If you look at Crawford’s fights, he hasn’t taken much punishment, and he’s not found out how tough things can be yet. If he fights Spence, Ennis, or Ortiz Jr, he might be in for a brutal shock.
