By Joshua Garcia
Finally the most anticipated matchup of the 2019 Boxing calendar is upon us and fight week kicks off with a bang at LA Live just steps outside the Staples Center where undefeated IBF Champion Errol Spence Jr. and WBC Champion Shawn Porter will face off toe to toe in a title unification fight Saturday Night on Fox Pay Per View reminding us of other great unification fights such as Mayweather-Pacquaio and Hagler-Hearns. Spence is coming off by far the most notable victory of his career in his hometown of Dallas against premier name Mikey Garcia, while his opponent Porter continues to defy the odds and break down the doors many people didn’t give him a chance to get through.
For the two men who will climb through the ropes onto the Staples Center canvas Saturday night, there couldn’t be more of difference between the two coming off their last performances in the ring. Spence had his most convincing and eye-opening showing at the Dallas Cowboys stadium quieting thousands of Garcia’s fans in attendance while putting on a boxing clinic for the ages. The words of that night were domination, superiority, and unanimous, as Spence successfully retained his IBF title for the third time since taking the belt from Kell Brook in 2017. The same Brook who gave Spence’s counterpart Porter one of the only two losses of his career.
Iran captured this UK-flagged tanker in July. It’s finally left port.
While Errol Spence comes into the extremely hyped Premier Boxing Champions fight at the top of his game, Shawn Porter is returning to the ring amidst controversy over his last decision. In a tougher than most expected fight for Porter, he struggled his way through all 12 rounds, often looking like the more gassed and the less active fighter. After a battle that went the distance with significant damage to this face, Porter’s hand was lifted by the referee following the judges’ score cards announced a split decision in his favor to the dislike of the crowd on hand who thought Yordenis Ugás had done enough to grab the win.
Porter who has 30 professional wins an a WBC title looks to silence all of his doubters Saturday night after failing to come away with wins in arguably his two biggest bouts against Keith Thurman and Brook. Porter’s biggest advantage in this fight is his experience, and it will play a big part both mentally and physically in determining the outcome. Porter has beaten Andre Berto, Adrian Broner, and Danny Garcia on the way to capturing the WBC welterweight title and looks to get back the IBF championship belt from Spence that he lost to Brook in 2017.
In a unification fight there is always more hype, more attention, and most importantly more animosity between two championship fighters. There has been tons of bad blood leading up to this spectacular with both fighters calling for a knockout ending which might be unlikely as neither have ever suffered that type of loss. More likely, is a great night of back and forth boxing that will be a mix of back alley brawling and top notch fight game skills shown by two champions both whom want to leave the ring with more belts than they walked in with. In the end, Porter puts up a strong effort but Spence’s size and skill combo are too much and Errol leaves Los Angeles as the unified Welterweight Champion of the world.
