Via Huck Allen: Shawn Porter believes Terence Crawford is a better boxer than Errol Spence Jr ahead of their undisputed clash later this year. Errol holds three titles in the welterweight division following a tenth round knockout win over Yordenis Ugas last Saturday night.
It will take more than Porter to rank Crawford at #1 for him to prove it in a practical sense. He’ll have to try and defeat Spence in the trenches, and it won’t be easy for him to do.
Crawford has never fought in his career, and he may not be equipped for the kind of combat that Spence will engage in.
Spence and Crawford will meet before the end of 2022 to prove who is the top dog in the 147 lb division, but as far as Porter knows, he already knows who is the better fighter between them.
It makes sense for Porter to rate WBO welterweight champion Crawford (38-0.29 KOs) on Spence (28-0.22 KOs) since he was knocked out in the 10th round by the Nebraska native in November last year.
In Porter’s bout against Spence in 2019, he lost the deciding match 12 rounds in a match that he and many boxing fans believe he did enough to deserve the win.
“The person with the best weight right now is Terence Crawford,” Shawn Porter said to Last Stand Podcast. “There are certain things that I have seen, felt, all nine things. He’s just slightly better than anyone I’ve been with.
“I have a feeling that Errol will confirm this. I think when he entered the ring, Errol was prepared to beat me in my match, and Terence was prepared to beat me in his match. There is a difference.
“I think if Errol did it again, he would do it a little bit differently. The results might even be the same, but I think he should at least try and do it a little differently.
“Get into the ring with Terence again, he will do it exactly the way he did. That is the difference between those two. And if anything, Errol learned from that.
“Absolutely,” Porter said when asked if Crawford vs. Spence is an explosive fight or not. “Terence Crawford vs. Errol Spence is going to be a blast, I guarantee it because it’s back to the psyche.
“Errol loves being the commander-in-chief, likes to control the ring, does whatever he wants. Against me, he chose TRIAL to beat me at my own game.
“Terence, ‘I’m entering the ring, here’s what I’m going to do, stop me.’ You have two guys saying, ‘Stop me,’ and you can’t beat that, especially when you have the speed, the mobility, and the power.
“All the invisible stuff it takes to be a boxer. Both sides of the ring are doable, and you don’t do that often,” says Porter.
