Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe was in shock after witnessing a strange 10th round stoppage win for Terence Crawford over Shawn Porter on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Ellerbe says he was surprised the fight was stoppage after Porter (31-4-1, 17 KOs) was knocked down twice in round 10 by unbeaten WBO welterweight champion Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas..
A lot of boxing fans felt that Kenny Porter, the trainer, and dad for former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Porter, overrated in suddenly pulling Shawn out in the 10th.
In explaining why he stopped the fight, Kenny Porter said that Shawn didn’t have a good preparation for the fight. So once he was hurt, Kenny chose to pull him out.
There are rumors that Gervonta Davis worked Porter over during a sparring session. Whether that’s true or not is unclear, but if it is, it makes perfectly good sense for Kenny Porter to have stopped the fight in the 10th.
“Yeah, I was surprised, but I wasn’t right there,” said Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe to Fighthype in reacting to Crawford’s knockout win over Porter. “They speak the same language, and he was pounding the canvas.
“It was just awkward, the stoppage. I really couldn’t see what happened. I really didn’t watch the replay, so I got to go back and watch it.
“Shawn was fighting a good fight, and But was fighting a good fight. I knew it was a close fight. I’m curious to see what the scores were. 5-4 going into the 10th, that’s a dead even fight.
“It was a close fight, I knew it was close. Everybody is really good at the elite level,” said Ellerbe when asked if he was surprised at how close the fight was between Crawford and Porter. “There’s only this much separation.
“I didn’t even see what happened with the first knockdown and I was sitting right here in the first row. So, I got to go back and take a look at it.
“It does but that’s his fighting style,” said Ellerbe about Porter using a lot of feints and movement, which uses up a lot of energy, causing him to potentially fade late rounds like we saw tonight and in his fight with Errol Spence Jr. in 2019.
“That’s what’s gotten him to this point and he’s been very successful in doing that. One thing about Shawn, he’ll fight anybody, You heard him in the ring. He said he wants to fight again, and that’s just the type of mentally he has,” said Ellerbe.
“Bud is the best fighter in boxing. If Canelo was at Bud’s weight but would beat Canelo,” said Shakur Stevenson to Fighthype. “If Canelo was in the ring with Bud, Bud would outbox him.
“The best chance he’d [Canelo] have would be a puncher’s chance. He’d have to knock Bud out. Other than that, I feel Bud is a better fighter,” said Stevenson.
