Prograis said what separated IBF welterweight champion Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) and WBC champ Porter (30-3-1, 17 KOs) was the 11th round knockdown that Errol scored.
Regis thinks that’s the only thing that separated the two. The judges saw it differently in giving it to Spence by the scores 116-111, 116-111 for Spence and 115-112 for Porter.
Spence-Porter could be fighting rematch
Spence and Porter could be facing each other in a rematch, but that’ll come don to Premier Boxing Champions. They had Danny Garcia enter the ring after the fight last Saturday night and call out Spence in front of the fans, who responded with very little applause.
Regis Prograis says Errol Spence Jr. just barely beat Shawn Porter in their welterweight unification fight last Saturday night on Fox Sports PPV at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Prograis wants Spence to not take the rematch with Porter, but instead face WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford in a unification fight.
Prograis says Spence vs. Porter was real close
“It was a great fight [Spence vs. Porter], and I would like to see a rematch, but I want to see Errol Spence and Crawford. I want to see that,” said Prograis to Fighthype. “To be honest, it was a real close fight. It could have gone either way, but the knockdown favored Errol just a little bit more. If it wasn’t for the knockdown, it could have been a tossup fight. It could have went either way. It was a very, very close fight.
“Of course, we always knew Errol was a dog. He can do all that stuff, but Shawn, I have a ton of respect for him, because Errol was saying he had a lot of close fights, but Shawn gave him a close fight too. But it was a hell of a fight, but I do want to see a rematch.”
If you look at the Spence vs. Porter fight with the sound off, and in slow motion, it was a dominating performance by Spence. The combination cheering from boxing fans and Fox Commentators, who praising Porter all night, gave the impression that it was a close fight. But in watching the fight with the sound off, and in slow motion, Spence landed 90 percent of the clean shots in every round.
Porter was missing a lot, and he his trunks pulled extremely high to limit the target area were Spence could throw body shots. The referee caught what Porter was trying to do with his trunks, and told him that he was going to allow Spence to hit him on the beltline, because he had a wide beltline, and his trunks were pulled up high.
Fans want to see Crawford vs. Spence
“The fight that everyone wants to see is him [Spence] and Crawford,” said Prograis. “Before going into this fight, I thought, I always leaned in favor of Spence in terms of him and Crawford, but now after this, I won’t say Crawford, but I wont say Spence either. I think it would be a very, very good fight. Skill-wise and tactical-wise, ‘Bud’ is superior [to Spence]. He’s very good, you know? That’s the fight I want to see. At 147 I don’t want to see him fight Danny Garcia or Keith Thurman. Either Shawn Porter again or T-Bud, that’s it.
‘Bud can do so many special things, but Spence can do special things too. He’s special as far as his power, his body shots, and how strong he is. He’s a big 147-pounder. But is about the same size, but he’s not running through people like Spence is, but Bud is more accurate, and more technical. I think Bud has the better skills than Spence, but Spence is so big,” said Prograis.
That would be a good idea of Spence and Crawford fighting except putting the match together would be next to impossible given what Crawford would want for the purse split split. He would be viewing himself in terms of his pound-for-pound rating, his world title, and the respect that hardcore boxing fans have in him. Spence and his management would be seeing the negotiations in terms of who’s the bigger PPV attraction, and who brings in the fans.
Spence’s fight with Mikey Garcia brought in over 300,000 buys, and his fight with Porter is tracking over 300,000 buys. That may not sound like a lot compared to the old days when Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. both were bringing in over 1 million buys, but it’s a lot for his era. Crawford’s recent fight with Amir Khan did around 100,000 buys, and his match against Viktor Postol did over 50,000.
Prograis doesn’t want Spence to risk losing to Porter in rematch
“For me, it would be a hell of a fight I think that’s the fight that everybody wants to see that fight,” said Prograis. “I want to see the Shawn Porter rematch, but I don’t want him to fight Shawn Porter again and risk it and not Sometimes you marinate things so much that you overcook it.
“You keep marinating things, and you spoil things. I want to see Spence and Crawford. That would be a great, great fight. It’s a tossup. But Shawn can do some things that Errol would upset him. I think if he [Spence] had fought that same fight with Bud, I think he would have lost that fight.
If Spence boxes Porter in the rematch the way he did Mikey Garcia, it could be a very one-sided fight. Fans don’t realize that Spence purposefully slugged with Porter because he wanted to fight his fight. In the rematch, Spence will likely box Porter, and make him look bad like he did with Mikey.
There’s a wide gulf between Spence and Crawford in who brings in the fans. If Spence brings in 300,000 buys and Crawford 100,000, you can imagine that it would be difficult for Crawford to ask Spence for a 50-50 split, and not be laughed out of the room.
So while it would be nice for Spence and Crawford to one day fight each other, it’s not realistic, and it won’t happen unless Crawford becomes a PPV attraction. Crawford’s next fight is expected to be shown on ESPN+ against Egidijus Kavaliauskas. So he’s not going to be able to prove anything to Spence with that fight.
