Porter: I’ve Beaten Guys Bigger Than Spence
Porter may be seen a smaller guy in the welterweight division, but it hasn’t stopped him from becoming a two-time champion, and he feels it won’t be a disadvantage when he faces Errol Spence Jr. on September 28.
When Porter first started his journey into boxing, he competed at 165 pounds, and he had a decorated amateur career despite coming just a couple of wins shy of qualifying for the 2008 Olympics. In fact, Porter holds wins over former two-time middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs and current WBO middleweight champ Demetrius Andrade in amateurs.
So while Spence holds a two-inch height advantage and three-inch reach edge in their upcoming WBC/IBF title unification clash, it doesn’t bother the man called “Showtime.”
“I think fighting 165 pounds is no secret that the majority of the guys that I fought as an amateur were a lot bigger than Errol Spence,” Porter said. “Not just bigger than Errol, they were a lot bigger than Errol Spence.“I’m talking about guys like Daniel Jacobs, who fights at 160 pounds, 168 pounds now. I fought against Oleksandr Usyk, who is unified champion over there in the Ukraine, a heavyweight now. I fought him at 165 pounds back in the day when we were about 20 years old and beat him. I have wins against Jacobs and Demetrius Andrade. The experience is there. The experience against taller, bigger opponents is there.”
Porter went unbeaten in his first 25 pro fights, starting at middleweight before dropping down to super welterweight and eventually his current 147-pound division. Porter defeated Devon Alexander in December 2013 to claim the IBF welterweight championship, and he’d retain the title with a TKO of Paulie Malignaggi before dropping the strap to Kell Brook in his first professional defeat.
Porter then scored back-to-back wins over Erick Bone and Adrien Broner before falling short in a WBA title fight with Keith Thurman in 2016. Porter rebounded once again with wins over Andre Berto and Adrian Granados in 2017 before besting Danny Garcia in a back-and-forth encounter in September 2018 to claim the WBC welterweight title. Porter retained the belt against Yordenis Ugas in a close split decision back in March.
The unbeaten Spence, meanwhile, has run through just about any opponent that has stood in his way since his November 2012 professional debut. He has stopped 21 of his 25 foes in the ring, and he claimed the IBF crown with an 11th-round finish of Brook in 2017. He retained the title against Lamont Peterson and Carlos Ocampo in 2018 before besting Mikey Garcia in a one-sided unanimous decision in the main event of their March 2019 pay-per-view encounter.
“For me looking at Errol Spence, I don’t look at him like he’s a bigger guy than me,” Porter said. “I don’t think he’s one of the bigger guys in the division. I think that he’s been matched up against guys who have made him look a lot more powerful and bigger and stronger than he is. Trust me when I say he’s met his match in this one.”
Original Story: Boxing Scene