Shawn Porter has fought more of the top welterweights of the current era than anyone else. And he said Terence Crawford, who stopped him in 10 rounds Saturday, is the best of the bunch.
Porter has fought arguably the five best active 147-pounders, beating Danny Garcia and Yordenis Ugas but losing to Keith Thurman, Errol Spence Jr. and now Crawford.
The former champ gave arguably the best performance of his career against Spence in September 2019, losing a split decision. On Saturday, Crawford, defending his WBO belt, overcame a spirited effort from Porter to become the first to stop him.
Porter didn’t hesitate when asked to name his toughest opponent.
“There’s no doubt,” he said. “That man hit me more than anybody I’ve been in the ring with. He was on point, A to Z. … He’s got it. And I said that multiple times in interviews.”
Father/trainer Kenny Porter had similar praise for Crawford, who had a narrow lead on the scorecards when he put Shawn Porter down twice. Kenny Porter stopped the fight to save his son from further punishment.
“You know what? To name just one thing (about Crawford), I can’t,” the elder Porter said. “But all things combined, he can do everything that needs to be done … offense, defense, switching sides, speed, quickness and power.”
Shawn Porter was surprised when the fight was stopped but didn’t question his father’s decision.
“He’s doing what he knows he needs to do,” he said. “I didn’t expect that. We never had a conversation about that. We just always kind of had an unspoken understanding that if he sees what he needs to see, he’s going to do what he did.
“… The punches he was catching me with were too clean. And I think that’s what my dad saw.”
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