Preview: Crawford vs Porter
Pound-for-pound talent and current WBO welterweight titleholder Terence “Bud” Crawford will attempt to make his fifth successful title defence when he meets highly ranked contender and former champ Shawn “Showtime” Porter on Nov. 20th. The fight will headline an ESPN Pay-Per-View card from the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Earlier this summer, the WBO (World Boxing Organisation) ordered Crawford to defend his title against Porter and gave both sides 30 days to iron out a deal to make the fight happen. Given the promotional divide between both fighters (Crawford is with Top Rank, Porter is with Premier Boxing Champions), the parties involved never struck a deal and a purse bid was ordered. Top Rank won the eventual purse bid and now owns the right to put on the event.
After winning titles at 135 and unifying the 140 lb weight class, Crawford (37-0, 28 KO) moved up to welterweight in 2018 and challenged then WBO titleholder Jeff Horn, who was coming off of a win over Manny Pacquiao. Crawford stopped Horn in the ninth round to win the title, and then earned four more consecutive TKO wins over the next two years, stopping Jose Benavidez, Amir Khan, Egis Kavaliauskas and Kell Brook.
Many in the boxing public believe that Crawford’s upcoming title defence against Porter might be the biggest fight in his welterweight run. The 34-year-old hasn’t been very active recently either, with only two fights in two years. His most recent appearance was the fourth round TKO of Kell Brook in November 2020.
Porter (35-3-1, 17 KO), who’s the same age as Crawford, at 34, has been just about as active as the champion, with his last appearance taking place over a year ago, in August 2020. However, Porter has the more established record at welterweight, with recent title fights against Danny Garcia, Yordenis Ugas and, most notably, a split decision loss to current WBC/IBF titleholder Errol Spence Jr in 2019. Porter’s size, strength and aggression has earned him his biggest victories, and those features could be the key to victory against Crawford.
Crawford-Porter could very easily be the best match up at welterweight since the onset of the pandemic. Crawford’s illustrious skills and ability, along with Porter’s explosiveness and aggressive style, may converge to create a modern classic at 147lbs.
Fighter’s Form (last 5 fights):
Terence Crawford
Kell Brook - WIN by TKO 4 - 14/11/2020
Egis Kavaliauskas - WIN by TKO 9 - 14/12/2019
Amir Khan - WIN by TKO 6 - 20/04/2019
Jose Benavidez Jr. - WIN by TKO 12 - 13/10/2018
Jeff Horn- WIN by TKO 9 - 09/06/2018
Shawn Porter
Sebastian Formella - WIN by UD (120-108, 120-108, 120-108) - 22/08/2020
Errol Spence Jr. - LOSS by SD (116-111, 116-111, 115-112 for Porter) - 28/09/2019
Yordenis Ugas - WIN by SD (116-112, 115-113, 117-111 for Ugas) - 09/03/2019
Danny Garcia - WIN by UD (116-112, 115-113, 115-113) - 08/09/2018
Adrian Granados - WIN by UD (117-111, 117-111, 117-111) - 04/11/2017
Event Information:
Date: November 20th, 2021
Time: 2 am (GMT), 6pm (PT), 9pm (ET)
Venue: Michelob Ultra Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Channel: ESPN Pay-Per-View
Elsewhere on the card
In the co-main event, unbeatens Esquiva “La Pantera” Falcao (28-0, 20 KO) and Patrice Volny (16-0, 10 KO) will meet in an IBF middleweight title eliminator. Also featured is Janibek “Qazaq Style” Alimkhanuly (10-0, 6 KO) against former titleholder Hassan N’Dam (38-5, 21 KO), in a 10-round bout, also at middleweight.
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