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LAS VEGAS – Shawn Porter doesn’t just view his showdown with Terence Crawford on Saturday night as an opportunity for individual achievement.
The former IBF/WBC welterweight champion considers their 12-round welterweight title fight as a huge chance in the battle between Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions and Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. Porter is affiliated with Haymon’s PBC, whereas Crawford has been promoted by Arum’s company for most of his 13-year pro career.
“This isn’t only Crawford against Porter,” Porter said Wednesday during the satellite television tour before their press conference at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. “This is Top Rank versus PBC.”
Crawford has refused to align himself with Haymon’s PBC. Moving from Top Rank to PBC obviously would’ve made it easier to get the meaningful welterweight fights Crawford wants, most notably a bout with undefeated IBF/WBC champion Errol Spence Jr.
At least, though, Crawford will get the chance to prove his welterweight worth by boxing the PBC fighter that gave Spence the toughest test of his career two years ago. The 31-year-old Spence (27-0, 21 KOs), who hopes to return in the first half of 2022 from retina surgery performed in mid-August, dropped Porter in the 11th round of their title unification fight and won a 12-round split decision in September 2019 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
On paper, the 34-year-old Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs) appears to be the best opponent Crawford has been scheduled to face since he moved up from the junior welterweight limit of 140 pounds to the welterweight maximum of 147 pounds 3½ years ago. Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs), a three-division champion from Omaha, Nebraska, is still listed as at least a 6-1 favorite over Porter the week of their ESPN Pay-Per-View main event ($69.99; 9 p.m. EDT; 6 p.m. PDT).
Crawford’s contract with Top Rank is set to expire after he opposes Porter at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena. The former undisputed 140-pound champion hasn’t given any indication, however, whether he’ll re-sign with Top Rank or finally give in and join forces with PBC.
From a PBC-Top Rank standpoint, Porter wants to win badly because the Top Rank fighter, Tyson Fury, knocked out the PBC boxer, Deontay Wilder, in the last two high-profile pay-per-view events that pit PBC against Top Rank.
England’s Fury stopped Wilder in the seventh round of their WBC heavyweight championship rematch in February 2020 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Fury then emphatically knocked out Wilder in the 11th round of their third fight October 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.