It’s a guaranteed thriller of a welterweight clash and it’s on at last. Danny Garcia, former champion, against Shawn Porter, former champion – September 8 at The Barclays Centre in New York, live on Showtime. This is the word according to a piece via RingTV.com, and an intriguing heavyweight match-up is set to provide chief support: “Prince” Charles Martin against unbeaten Polish warrior Adam Kownacki.
Porter and Garcia will meet for the (still) injured Keith Thurman’s vacated WBC crown and both men want it – bad. Porter, one of the sport’s most consistently exciting fighters (see his epic 12-rounder with “One Time”) was set to rumble with Garcia in August but the fight has been moved. It’s a potentially great fight that is more than worth waiting for though.
Garcia, also beaten by Thurman via close decision (on the official cards, that is; most fans felt Thurman was a clear winner when he met “Swift”), feels he has the stuff to outbox Porter, a warrior who, though exciting to watch, can be reckless and not too hard to heat cleanly at times. Porter though is one tough and relentless fighter, one who will take some beating (and has taken some beating; both Thurman and Kell Brook having to settle for close and debatable points victories over him).
It’s a fight that will add to the excitement of the current 147 pound division and the winner will be ordered to make a defence of the belt against Thurman – if and when the Floridian returns to the ring.
The heavyweight support bout could also be fun to watch. We’ve not seen too much of southpaw Martin since his disappointing and embarrassing stoppage loss to Anthony Joshua, but we are seeing more and more of Kownacki – and we like what we have seen. Not the most skilled boxer in the division, the unbeaten 29 year old makes up for it with sheer effort and a willingness to go to war each and every time he steps into the ring. At 17-0(14), the New York-based Kownacki has a good record and he has picked up some decent wins over the likes of Artur Szpilka and, last time out, Iago Kiladze.
Can Martin use his superior skills to good effect and get a decision win, or will the rough and tough Kownacki prove once again that he wants it more than his opponent does? It could be a good action fight. But that headliner will of course be special. It could be very special when Porter and Garcia finally collide.