With just weeks to go until their welterweight title unification, IBF champion Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr. and WBC champion “Showtime” Shawn Porter had a heated series of exchanges on “PBC Face to Face” as they went back and forth previewing their showdown that headlines a FOX Sports PBC Pay-Per-View event on Saturday, September 28 from STAPLES Center in Los Angeles.
On going from “from friends to foes” after a relationship dating back to their amateur days:
Shawn Porter: “I wouldn’t say I’ve shifted, but when he said he wants to fight me, I’m like ‘let’s go’. This is what we do. This is what we signed up for. But you know just like I know, it’s time to take care of business.”
Errol Spence Jr.: “This is something that I’ve wanted for a long time. To be a unified champion. To have that WBC Belt. I’m more loyal to my dream and to my job than I am to a friendship. This is how I put food on my family’s table.”
On their Las Vegas press conference on July 20 where Spence declared he would knock Porter out:
Porter: “I heard you, and I heard you clearly. Was there hesitation? Possibly. Do you really believe it? I don’t know. The fact remains that I am who I’ve always been. Nobody’s ever knocked me out. You can say what you want to say, but doing something is completely different.”
Spence:”My mom always said there’s a first time for everything. You’ve never been knocked out before? That’s cool. Everybody knows that I can knock him out. That’s something that I’m willing to do, that’s what I’m training for and that’s something that very likely could happen come September 28.”
On the Porter family’s familiarity with Spence (Shawn’s father and Trainer Ken trained Spence during a portion of his amateur career)
Porter: “From 2012 to now a lot of things can change and I’m sure a lot of things have changed. I do feel that in some ways, we have a good insight, but not a complete insight on who Errol Spence Jr. is and what he’s capable of.”
Spence: “You can go back and look at amateur tapes and see why I lost, but at the end of the day, you’re going to be in a real fight. I’m looking to punish him from the first round until I stop him. I’m looking to make history. I’m looking to be the best. That’s why I took on this challenge and that’s’ why I wanted to fight Shawn Porter.”
On if Spence has enough respect for Porter heading into this fight
Porter: “No, but he has the respect that he needs. The respect he needs is to understand that ‘if I’m going to beat Shawn Porter, I have to punish him.’ Those are the same words that are being said in my camp. We’re talking about punishing you. We’re talking about taking you to the deep waters and drowning you. We’re talking about hitting you and hurting you. We’re talking about hitting you with things you’ve never felt before. It’s nothing new, but the talking is done pretty soon, and we’ll have to get it on.”
Spence: “I know what he comes with. He’s aggressive and will try to take me to deep waters. That all sounds good, but everybody knows that I come in great shape. I throw a lot of punches. I can do it all. They can try to drown me, but you might be the one getting drowned.”
Porter: “I’ve been in the ring against guys who hit hard and I had to keep going until I come out on top, on the bottom or however it goes. The fact remains the same, I’m never going to stop. You can say you’re going to do this, you’re going to do that, but do you really have what it takes to stop me?”
On Spence’s fight against Mikey Garcia
Spence: “They said if it was a tactical fight, Mikey Garcia was going to beat me. They said it all throughout the whole presser and through the lead up to the fight. And I made sure that I was going to show my skillset, my talent and my abilities, not only physically, but mentally, just my whole skill set. And I’ve been saying that.
Porter: “You came on my show ‘INSIDE PBC BOXING’ sat next to me, and I said, ‘Were you mad that you didn’t knock him out?’ You said: ‘Yeah, I was a little mad.’ I said: ‘Oh, I’m surprised. I would have thought the opposite. I didn’t think you will be mad.’ You said: ‘Well yeah, I wanted to knock him out.’ Now you’re saying you didn’t want to hurt him?”
Spence Jr.: “Did I say the whole time I was going to knock him out? Through the whole lead up to the fight, did I say I going to knock him out? Now I’m saying I’m going to knock you out.”
Porter: “That’s what you’re supposed say. That’s how you’re supposed to feel.”
Spence Jr.: “You going to be swinging wild and you’ll just miss. I am going to punish you. Watch.”
Porter: “The blessed part about it is, I’m not banking on that to beat you. I’m not banking on my will. I’m not banking on my heart.”
Spence Jr.: “But the best thing about that is I’m better than you talent wise, skill wise, and I know I’ve got more talent than you. You’re going to find out on September 28.”
Porter: “Guess we’re going to find out.”
On the role of experience in this fight
Porter: “I don’t think you’ve been in the ring with anyone that has made you adapt, has made you make adjustments, has made you get out of your comfort zone, and on September 28, that’s exactly what I plan to do.”
Spence Jr.: “He doesn’t have the skills to beat me. I’m not worried about Shawn boxing like he did with Ugas, or what he did with Danny Garcia. He’s going to have no choice but to come forward.”
Porter: “What do you trust that’s telling you that’s the only way I can beat you?”
Spence Jr.: “Like I said, you’re going to have no choice but to come forward. Period. You’ll find out September 28.”
Porter: “I want to know where the confidence comes from.”
Spence Jr.: “The confidence comes within me, I’m going to punish you, man. I promise you that.”
On fighting for the top spot in the welterweight division
Porter: “1, 2, 3. Make them however you want to make them. Shawn Porter, Errol Spence, Manny Pacquiao. After this right here, there’s only two.”
Spence Jr.: “I want to be a legend a sport. And he’s in my way. So, I’m not thinking about Manny Pacquiao right now. Shawn Porter is first.”
Porter: “You can still have your legacy and everything, I’m just going to slow you down a little bit.”
Spence Jr.: “We’ll see. I’m going to put you on my resume.”
On getting the win by stoppage on September 28
Porter: “I most definitely can stop him. It’s all about timing. Everything you send to me, I’m going to shoot it right back at you. The difference is I’m willing, I’m capable of doing it when we get in the ring. I don’t think you are.”
Spence Jr.: “It doesn’t matter what you say. You can lie to yourself all you want.”
Porter: “I’ll come out and knock you out in the first round. It’s still going to be exciting. People are still going to be on their feet. It’s going to be one of the most exciting knockouts of the year. I’m making it plain and simple, baby. No matter how this fight goes, I’m leaving the ring with the belt. And because you are who you are, it’s going to be exciting watching me.”
Spence Jr.: “You’re not. You’re going to be congratulating me as a unified champ. That’s what you’re going to do.”
Porter: “However he lets it end, it’s going to be with me winning.”
Spence Jr.: “This fight ends in a spectacular knockout by me. I’m going to punish him. I’m going to beat him up mentally and physically. I’m going to have him distraught in the ring. Then, I’m finishing him.”
Spence is a beautiful fighter but he is not prepared for Porter. Porter will overwhelm him like he did Paulie Malanaggi……. Porter KO in 5.
This is a total joke. Shawn Porter is not in Errol Spence’s class plain and simple. Spence is the best welterweight in the world. The only other welterweight
close to Spence is Bud Crawford. Greatness will be on
display on September 28.
There are people on this site that believe Errol Spence deserves the number 1 P4P position. But what is this based on ? His record of 25 wins? In his career he has fought a bunch of fighters that they picked up at the tomato boxers society. Basically his record is a nobodies contest, who is the worst of who? He has two fighters on his record that belong on a pro’s record, Mikey Garcia, and Lamont Peterson. Mikey was far to small to be in the same ring with Errol, still he took a licking and kept on ticking, no matter what Spence did, he could not stop a much smaller fighter. Peterson is another very good tough fighter but he has been in wars and when he fought Spence he was stopped and I believe he was at the end of the road. The other 23 fighters, well Kell Brooks was stopped by Spence but he was KILLED by GGG about 9 months before. Most of the rest were unknown or a guy like Chris Algeri who at one time was a reasonably tough guy, that was before he was in with Pacman and Amir Khan. His record is a typical record by Al Haymon, fight mostly dead men, and make it every year or so. At this point i’m leaning to Porter because Porter has fought better fighters, it does not matter that he lost to a couple of fighters, that was a learning experience for Porter I.M.O. He is a pitbull that puts on a lot of pressure on anyone that he fights.
When Kell Brook fought Spence he was considered one if the best middleweights in boxing. GGG is a supermiddleweight 168 pounder and the much bigger man. Porter was easily defeated by Brook and Amir Kahn was making every excuse under the Sun to avoid fighting him. So it is nonsensical to say that Spence hasn’t fought anyone. The only fighter that has a chance against Spence is Terence Crawford and Bud might have a problem because Spence is the bigger man although both have all the tools. Thurman wants no part of Spence because he knows he has no chance at all, Danny Garcia the same. Porter will be KO ‘d by the seventh round.
Michael: In my comments I clearly said he fought a Kell Brooks that was crushed by GGG and made useless, I also stated he fought Mikey Garcia, which he beat easily but could not K.O him. If he could not stop a jr lgt/Lgt what makes you think he can stop a pitfall like Porter? I stand by my comment, he has fought very light competition, and Kell and Garcia were much smaller men. And his first 14 or so fights, were guys boxing tomatoes they found at the super market, and all with a losing record. Which seems to be the trend with most fighters today.
Are you forgetting that Kell Brooks came to America and took Shawn Porter’s version of the welterweight
title and Errol Spence went to England and won that title? Making excuses about him beating Mikey Garcia,
Kell Brooks, Danny Garcia and others is just sour grapes. Errol Spence is the real Deal. Time will drill
that into your head and maybe it will not, just like people always made excuses about Floyd Mayweather
50-0 record.
George:You’re the one making excuses, I said he beat Garcia but could not K.O him a much smaller man,I also mentioned Kell was beaten soundly by GGG,that is a fact, so what was said that was not true? And his record shows he has basically fought d list fighters, his 1st 14 fights were guys that only their mothers knew who they were. Spence is going to be tested, and Porter is at least a pro, I would not be surprised to see this go 12 rounds and Spence looking like he went through a meat grinder,Porter is a pitbull,this is not the easy touches Spence has been fighting.
I don’t have any predictions for the Spence – Porter fight, but since the boxing industry wants to turn Spence into another future superstar, it will be interesting to see how the judges will score the fight. Aside of that, People will want to see Spence – Crawford, so the judges may be influenced by that fact.
Its a youth against experience fight. Spence is athletic and a very good puncher. Porter has endurance and has fought much better opposition but he is at the tail end of his career. Spence will be the clear betting favorite, no doubt.
I am looking forward to seeing the score cards.
Spence wins this hands down. Porter should pull out of the fight with some kind of injury or sickness. Porter should be fighting Jessie Vargas if he doesn’t want to lose, or take care of Terence Crawford’s mandatory, #7 WBC Egidijus Kavaliauskas, and then try to get the Crawford fight himself. If Porter pulled out, Spence could always fight his mandatory, Kudratillo Abduqaxorov.
I actually think Spence will win a pretty wide UD…say 9 rounds to 3. While Porter has improved as a boxer, he just doesn’t have the speed to necessary to out box Spence. His best chance is to make it a brawl, but again, I think Spence is too slick for that.
I think you called it right on the money, Scott. 117-111 or maybe 116-112 for Spence for the exact reasons you mentioned.
Spence is a level or two above Porter. He can make it an easy points win or KO. His choice.
Going to be a very exciting night of boxing… Can’t wait to see Earl beat the breaks off of Shawn. It’s levels to this and Earl and Crawford are on another level. Just like Manny was with Keith.
Even if porter slightly scraped a win fairly the judges will still favour spence as victor, solely because as previously mentioned the powers that be already want spence as their next superstar period ! Just as Bradley got that wrong win verdict over pac man in their first fight. (Bradley the superstar…..yeah right ! )
Corrupt ….all day long. !!!!
Y’all funny I just wanna say fighters can not knock out if they are in survival mode that’s Garcia!!!! Porter is just a bull rush but in great shape bad fighting skills so just want to say boring 12 round ugly decision Spence
Styles make fights and I can’t wait to see how The Truth handles Showtime’s constant pressure.
if Porter doesn’t head butt the truth to death Spence win easily
Not sure on this one.. I just know Porter looks like Jamie Fox.
Porter stands as much chance as a Mullet does with a Barracuda.
There comes a time when we stop fighting smaller dudes step it up. Spence will get his respect then.