If there’s any fight that might come close to either equalling or surpassing the big one, we’re all still trying to get our breath back after witnessing – Fury-Wilder III – it has to be the welterweight showdown that will take place on November 20 between Terence Crawford and Shawn Porter.
At the end of this year, the almost unbelievable, too good to be true war/slugfest/fight for the ages between Fury and Wilder may well scoop up all the accolades, but if any fight can come close to it this year, it’s Crawford-Porter.
We know all about Porter; how he brings HEAT in every single fight, he has. Very much an unstoppable warrior, Porter has rumbled with the best, and he has never truly been beaten, defeated, proven he was the lesser man.
As Porter said himself during this weekend’s presser to hype the November fight that really needs no hype, “anyone that enters the ring with me does not leave that ring the same way they entered the ring.”
Indeed, we could see – in fact, the odds tell us we will see – Porter bringing out the best in Crawford and Crawford bringing out the best in Porter.
Fight fans are excited about this one, expecting as they are to see something special. We know what the 31-3-1(17) Porter brings: heat, relentless pressure, of the educated kind, good power, and an ultra-reliable chin. We know what Crawford, 37-0(28) can do: box masterfully, from either stance, counter-punch like one of the great ones, and punch with spite.
It all adds up to a potential 12-round classic, a fight that elevates both men. Unless, of course, one man can rise even higher and get the emphatic stoppage win. It would really be something seeing either Crawford or Porter laid out on the mat. It’s not likely to happen. Instead, we should be bracing ourselves for 36-minutes of undiluted thrills given to us by way of a combination of sheer skill, sheer punching pressure, sheer desire, and, hopefully, sheer greatness.
The heavyweight war of wars that went down on October 9 might not be topped as far as 2021’s FOTY goes, but this fight between the two best welterweights in the world (begging Errol Spence’s pardon) can do it if any fight can.
