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Shawn Porter predicted he’ll become the first fighter to beat Terence Crawford when they meet November 20 in Las Vegas.
Thus far, though, Porter determined that Jose Benavidez Jr. gave Crawford the most difficult fight of his 13-year pro career. Crawford stopped a then-unbeaten Benavidez by 12th-round technical knockout in their fight for Crawford’s WBO welterweight title three years ago at CHI Health Center in Crawford’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
Crawford-Benavidez wasn’t close on the scorecards when Crawford dropped and stopped him in the final round. Porter still noticed that the taller, rangier Benavidez gave the three-division champion problems that weren’t necessarily reflected in the official scores through 11 rounds (110-99, 108-101, 107-102).
“It was funny, man, like watching that fight, I could see that Terence Crawford was like just ahead of Jose Benavidez in every aspect of the fight,” Porter said during a press conference conducted via Zoom on Wednesday. “But you could see that Jose had boxing ability, he had speed and he had quickness and he had some small nuances that weren’t necessarily giving Terence problems, but it was challenging Terence. And I don’t think anyone’s really challenged Terence the way that Jose Benavidez was able to. Again, I speak to that ‘Mean Machine’ fight, I don’t think that Terence was necessarily there the way he was against Jose Benavidez.
“And I don’t think Jose won very many rounds. I don’t remember – Jose maybe [won] two or three rounds through the course of going into that 12th when he got knocked out. But I felt like he was just behind Terence in every aspect of that fight. So, when I look at that fight, I say, ‘You know what? I know that I’ve got everything that Jose’s got, and I’ve got a little bit more. So, you know, when you turn it on and you make that small, little difference there, you know, you turn and you’re winning rounds.’ And, you know, I think for a majority, a lot of his fights, it may be about winning rounds and then ultimately trying to hurt Terence and put him into some vulnerable positions.”
Benavidez (27-1, 18 KOs) will fight for the first time Saturday night since Crawford stopped him in October 2018. The 29-year-old Benavidez is scheduled to square off against Argentina’s Francisco Torres (17-3, 5 KOs) in a 10-round bout Showtime will televise as the opener of a doubleheader from Footprint Center in Phoenix, Benavidez’s hometown (9 p.m. ET; 6 p.m. PT).
Porter also recalled Egidijus Kavaliauskas making Crawford work harder than most other opponents, though the former IBF/WBC champion intimated Crawford’s mental approach to that bout might’ve impacted the competitive nature of it in the early rounds.
Las Vegas’ Porter previously stated that Lithuania’s Kavaliauskas, who answers to the nickname “Mean Machine,” should’ve been credited with dropping Crawford during the third round of their December 2019 bout at Madison Square Garden in New York. Crawford came back from that brief troublesome moment to drop Kavaliauskas (22-2-1, 18 KOs) once in the seventh round and twice during the ninth round on his way to a ninth-round TKO victory.
“I think that the fight with Jose Benavidez may have been one of the more difficult fights for him,” Porter said. “The one he had most recently with ‘Mean Machine,’ I really just try to read into that one. I’m not sure if it was Terence’s mental approach that left him kinda losing a few rounds in that fight, get put down in that fight. But I don’t think Terence has been in the ring with enough of that type of quality that can push him to some limits. I’ve been pushed to the limits multiple times, and I’ve passed them every single time. So, I think that I’ve had the experiences required to get the job done and be that first guy to do it against Terence Crawford.”
The 34-year-old Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) is listed by Caesars Sportsbook as a 7-1 favorite to defeat Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs). Their much-anticipated, 12-round bout will headline a four-fight ESPN Pay-Per-View show from Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena ($69.99).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.