IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. (25-0, 21 KOs) came in at a drained looking 147 pounds at the weigh-in for his unification match against WBC champion Shawn Porter (30-2-1, 17 KOs) this Saturday evening. Porter also weighed in at 147 pounds. Spence-Porter will be shown on Fox Sports PPV at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Spence vows to break Porter’s will
“I’m going to break his will, and be the first to stop Porter,” said Spence after he successfully weighed in on Friday.
It’s hard to take Spence seriously with his knockout prediction, because he couldn’t knockout his last opponent lightweight Mikey Garcia last March. There was no time in the fight where Spence appeared to be close to knocking Mikey out. Spence needs to forget about trying to KO Porter, and focus on what is achievable for him in out-boxing him over 12 rounds.
“Shawn is a champion just like me, and now we’re going to get it on,” said Spence. “I’ve been wanting that WBC belt for a long time and now he’s going to hand it over to me on Saturday night, or I’m going to take it from him.”
It won’t be easy for Spence to win a decision because Porter will be fighting him tooth and nail the whole way, but that might be his only way of winning.
Porter, 31, wants to turn the fight into a slug-fest, but that may prove to be a mistake on his part against a fighter with the size, strength and the amateur pedigree that Spence possesses. This fight could come down to which of the two has the better chin rather than superior boxing skills.
Porter ready to do whatever it takes to win
‘I’m aggressive and I’m strong, and guys can’t handle it,” Porter said. ”There are things that happen in the ring and you just have to move with it. I’m always ready to do whatever it takes to get the job done.”
Porter comes into the fight as the underdog, but he doesn’t mind that. He’s ready to take Spence’s best shots, and punish him until he quits or goes down. Porter, 31, doesn’t care how he wins the fight. He’s ready to win ugly, and he doesn’t care what people think about his methods. Just win, baby.
“Errol knows what it is. He’s going to come to fight, and I’m going to come to fight,” said Porter. “The fans are in for a treat. This is the best of the best about to go in there and do it.”
Benavidez challenges Dirrell
In the chief support on the card, WBC 168-lb champion Anthony Dirrell (33-1-1, 24 KOs) and unbeaten challenger David Benavidez (21-0, 18 KOs) weighed in at 167.5 pounds. This fight may prove to the better fight than the main event depending on what kind of effort we see from Dirrell. The 34-year-old Flint, Michigan native didn’t look at all good in his last fight in beating Avni Yildirim by a 10 round technical decision last February. Dirrell faded badly in the second half of the contest, and looked to be on his way to losing.
