Shawn Porter sees this Saturday’s battle between welterweight champions Errol Spence Jr & Terence Crawford as being a tactical battle early in the fight, but then heating up in the second half with both throwing bombs.
Porter feels WBO 147-lb champion Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) has more tools in his toolbox than IBF, WBA & WBC welterweight champion Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) and is more capable of making adjustments.
Although Porter took much more punishment in his loss to Spence than he did in his fight with the 36-year-old Crawford, he feels that Terence has facets that we’ve never seen before during his 15-year pro career.
The only thing we haven’t seen is Crawford stand in the pocket and slug with a heavy-handed fighter before. He usually gets on his bike and moves around when fighting guys that can punch.
So if he’s going to show something, we’ve yet to see, fighting Spence in the pocket would be it.
Porter is just guessing when he talks about Crawford showing something he’s never shown before because, as the saying goes, ‘Old dogs can’t learn new tricks.” Crawford seems pretty set in his ways style-wise.
Spence-Crawford will be tactical early
“This is truly 50-50 fight because both of these guys are capable physically, emotionally & mentally, the whole nine,” said Shawn Porter to Premier Boxing Champions during today’s media workout, talking about this Saturday’s Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford fight.
“They both have poker faces. I’ve never seen either of them hurt, bothered, or frustrated in the ring with me. Maybe with Errol, but that moment came & went very quickly, and we saw how he handled that. This is what boxing is all about.
“I think both guys hear the 10-second clap, and they try to initiate. If the moment’s there, I see them both let it go. In the ring with me, I’ve seen them both let it go.
“I’ve seen both where in moments, ‘I got to close this round.’ They’re going to go for it, and the other is going to be right there with it. I think it’s going to be more tactical for four or five rounds. I think it’s going to be more tactical than anything.
“We see the animosity that they have, and we see the energy that they have with one another, but they’re both extremely intelligent. Intelligence does not say, ‘Go get him.’ Intelligence says, ‘Be smart when I go get him.'”
Crawford can make more adjustments
“Floyd Mayweather Jr was notorious for being able to make those subtle adjustments. How important is it to have not only a plan A, plan B, plan C, and plan D?” said Ray Flores.
“I think that’s necessary,” said Porter. “I think there’s going to be three or four adjustments made, but we could have some really small adjustments made from a standpoint of one wanting to counter-punch and one wanting to move to use the ring.
“I think both guys are going to have to pull everything out that they have in the toolbox. If I had to say one has more in the toolbox, I think it’s possible that we haven’t seen everything that Terence can do.
“I think Errol is an aggressive fighter. ‘This is who I am. I’ll counter-punch if I need to, but this is where I’m most effective and most comfortable coming after you. I’ll take a little bit to give it,’ but that’s who he is.
“With Terence, he has the ability to maybe make some more subtle adjustments than that, but I just think that even from the X’s & O’s perspective, we’re going to be looking at some high-speed chess and we’re going to be seeing some stuff where we’re like, ‘Oh, where did that come from?'” said Porter.
