Step aside, promoters.
If welterweights Terence Crawford and Shawn Porter ever share the same ring, it will be on their own accord, the two expressed recently. Not their promoters, managers and respective networks.
The sentiment was reiterated this past weekend, which saw titleholder Crawford dispatch Egidijus Kavaliauskas in the ninth round at Madison Square Garden.
After the fight, Crawford, whose recent career has been engulfed by concern over his inability to land meaningful fights, was asked about potentially meeting Porter, one of the top welterweights aligned with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.
“That’s not going to be up to Bob Arum, PBC or Al Haymon,” Crawford, 32, said. “That’s going to be up to us, if we are going to agree to the fight.”
Arum, Crawford’s promoter, echoed those thoughts.
“That’s up to Porter and Crawford,” Arum said. “If they want to fight each other, we’ll get it done.”
Financial requirements and network allegiances aside, Porter and Crawford are friendly with each other, which could only help get them over the finish line. In the wake of Errol Spence’s October car crash, talk of a Crawford-Spence showdown has subsided considerably. In the interim, Porter’s name has come up as an attractive alternative.
During an episode of Inside PBC Boxing that aired on Fox before Crawford’s fight, Porter made it clear the decision to fight Crawford will be made between them.
“I’ve said this before,” Porter said, “if Terence and I fight, it will be because we decided to fight.”