Former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Shawn Porter (30-3-1, 17 KOs) wants to return to the ring and is ready to fight behind closed doors in a pay-per-view fight. The 32-year-old Porter doesn’t want to sit on the sidelines any longer and waste his career while waiting for the pandemic to end.
Porter is ready to put on a great performance in his next contest, and he’s confident that the networks will make sure he’s compensated with money from pay-per-view.
Shawn lost his last fight to Errol Spence Jr. by a close 12 round split decision last year on September 28 in a pay-per-view match on Fox. Porter put in a great effort, but Spence out-punched him and proved to be too powerful. Spence beat Porter at his own game by fighting him on the inside and working him over with body shots.
Porter had his trunks pulled high to limit the target area for Spence to throw his body shots, but that tactic failed. The referee let Spence land shots on Porter’s beltline without deducting points or warning him for the legal body shots.
For the networks to put Porter on pay-per-view, he would need to face a high-profile fighter like one of the below guys:
- Manny Pacquiao
- Errol Spence Jr
- Danny Garcia
- Terence Crawford
- Keith Thurman
It’s unlikely that any f those fighters are going to agree to fight Porter on pay-per-view after the lockdown. The fighter that would probably agree to face Porter is Yordenis Ugas, but he’s a bad style match-up for him. Ugas got the better of Porter last year and came up short in a highly controversial 12 round split decision in March 2019.
The fight that Porter SHOULD take is against Ugas, but he probably won’t. Ugas dominated Porter last year, and he did a better job against him than Spence did. There’s little chance that Porter will want to revisit that fight and risk the judges getting it right the second time.
That’s the fight that Porter needs to take because the hardcore boxing fans saw him getting a gift decision against Ugas, and it looks bad that he didn’t give him a rematch.
Shawn would rather have Pacquiao’s career over Mayweather’s
“I’m going to go with Manny,” said Porter to the Impact Boxing Series when asked if he would rather have a career like Pacquiao or Mayweather. “Even though Manny has taken a lot of punishment and been in a lot of wars, you know me, I like the wars, and I like the battles. So for that reason, I would choose Manny.
“If you look around the world, most people respect Manny more than they dislike him. Even me, as a boxer, when I get in the ring, I get people on their feet, and that’s what Pacquiao did. Floyd has done it too, but it was a different type of excitement,” said Porter.
Most boxing fans would agree that Manny Pacquiao is the far more exciting fighter to watch compared to Floyd Mayweather Jr., who fought in a safety-first style. Mayweather was too calculated in picking his opponents, and he was too much of a boxer and not willing to stand his ground.
The tail-end of Mayweather’s career has hurt his legacy with the way that he’s taken easy fights against a shot Andre Berto, and UFC fighter Conor McGregor. Mayweather retired too soon, and he went out with a whimper in retiring after a mismatch against Andre Berto instead of someone talented like Keith Thurman, Errol Spence Jr.
And Mayweather’s fight against McGregor, which counted as a professional fight, looked like a glorified circus exhibition match that the Nevada Commission sanctioned.
Porter wants to get back in action
“I want to be one of the first fighters back in action,” said Porter in talking about when boxing starts back up. “I understand the sacrifice of not having a gate and a walkup crowd and things of that nature. I think the networks will make the necessary adjustments to do pay-per-view, and I get compensated, and we put on a great show, even without a walkup audience.
“In order for the boxers to maintain the lifestyle that we have, we got to be back in the ring,” said Porter. “I don’t think many fighters will want to take so much time from being active in the ring. You talk about the paycheck, but it’s about other sports overshadowing us.
“I definitely want to get back in the ring. I want to put on a great performance even without an audience I’m used to having. I don’t know about guys like Canelo and GGG. Guys like that, in a lot of ways, are spoiled. They have t have that big show. I’m spoiled too, but get me back in the ring,” said Porter.
It’s not likely that Porter will be able to fight on pay-per-view when he returns to the ring. If Porter can’t get a popular fighter to face him, then he’s wasting his time hoping that the networks will let him fight on PPV. Porter doesn’t mention who he could face next, but his options are limited to the extreme. If Porter chooses not to give Ugas a rematch, then his options will likely be limited to these fighters:
- Sergey Lipinets
- Josesito Lopez
- Thomas Dulorme
- Egidijus Kavaliauskas
- Jamal James
Those are not pay-per-view worthy opponents for Porter, and that’s why he may need to downsize his ambitions about fighting on PPV. Porter isn’t a big enough name to fight on PPV against a fodder-level opponent. Boxing fans aren’t going want to pay to see Porter beat up on a no-name fighter. Additionally, a lot of fans are out of work now, and they won’t want to pay $80 to watch Porter fight lesser fighter.
There’s nothing wrong with Porter fighting behind closed doors without a live audience, but he’s probably dreaming if he thinks the networks will go along with the idea of him fighting on PPV against a no name.
