Via Jake Tiernan: Shawn Porter says Errol Spence Jr will be promoted to 154 after an April game without a match against Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. Porter says the undisputed championship that IBF, WBA & WBC champion 147 lb Spence (28-0.22 KOs) would have lost without a fight with WBO champion Terence Crawford “not important,” Porter said.
Porter said that the match between Spence and Crawford will be at 154th, not 147th. The fact that the undisputed championship won’t be in a state of gibberish as fans from future generations won’t be practicing. focus on that meaningless statistics.
All they care about is that Spence & Crawford fought, and they will care about the action in the contest and who wins.
Porter admits that Spence is choosing skip & turn off Boots Ennis is like how Errol was despised by Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman when he held the WBA & WBC welterweight belts from 2015 to 2019.
It occurs in sports where the belt holder or more famous boxer avoids threats with the help of moves made by their promoters.
It hurts the sport, obviously, but that’s the way it’s always been done. As a result, Boots Ennis will have to wait until Spence strips him of his 147 lb IBF belt or is stripped of the title by the International Boxing Federation if he chooses not to go head to head with him.
“I thought he was going to be Keith, and then I saw him come on,” Shawn Porter told fight when asked who he sees Errol Spence Jr fighting in 2023.
“I said a long time ago; I saw Terence, Keith, and Errol fighting each other at 154 pounds. I don’t think they will fight at 147. The belt doesn’t matter,” Porter said when asked if IBF, WBA & WBC champion Spence would stay in welterweight to take on 147-lb WBO champion Crawford for the undisputed title.
“No disrespect, but the belt doesn’t matter. There’s history there. People are looking at history, but the real history is that you have two dogs, and that dog beats that dog. No, we have two dogs, and that dog has all the belts,” Porter said.
The truth is that only heavyweight boxing fans notice how many belts a champion has. Conventional boxing fans are only interested in whether the boxer is famous, talented and holds at least one title.
When you’re talking about more than one title, those things go through the heads of casual fans, because they don’t care about those things. The average fan gets caught up in the hype of a match, listens to trash talk, but is preoccupied with how many titles or records the boxers hold. They don’t have the time or inclination to focus on the small details of a fight.
“It’s not what it really is, but it’s what everyone sees and everyone knows,” Porter said. “I’ll keep it at 100. I don’t even know what it means to be undisputed because it means nothing to me.
“It means to me that there are matches that I’ve had and matches that I’ve fought and been in the ring with to do something great that people will remember forever.
“Think about it like this. If you watch a game between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence, let’s say they fight, and let’s say someone comes to that game years later and turns it on. They won’t talk about belts in the ring. They’ll say this guy is ‘This, this and this’ and the other guy is ‘That, that,'” Porter said.
What Porter said is correct. For example, when fans watch videos of famous boxers of the past like Julio Cesar Chavez, they don’t wonder what titles are appropriate for his fights. They just wanted to see him in action against such and such warriors.
“Before the war, ‘We thought this’ and before the war, ‘We thought that. Watch this.’ Someone will say, ‘Oh, I remember; it’s for all belts.’ That’s not part of the story,” Porter said. “They are making it part of the story.
“Sure, 100%,” said Porter when informed that Spence was ignoring and eliminating Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, not giving him a chance to fight him the same way Keith Thurman did him. earlier in his career. Spence wasn’t pleased with Thurman not handing him a title around 2016 & 2017, but now Errol is doing the same with Boots Ennis.
“We learn from those who came before us. Shoes don’t know how Errol doesn’t, and I don’t know why Mayweather doesn’t call my name. He doesn’t know,” Porter said.
You could argue that when Spence saw Boots Ennis the lion cub, he thought this guy was likely going to hit him badly and end his ability to make money. In other words, Ennis could ruin the good things Spence was doing, making money as if he had a license to print.
Spence won’t let Boots ruin that for him, though it’s unlikely he’ll lose that fight. The risk is too high for Spence, so he’d rather give up his IBF title to avoid running out of oil on his body.
Porter said: “My dad said to me, ‘You’re never going to fight Mayweather. “He won’t give you that fight. So who else do you want? What are your other goals?” That’s how I let it go.
“My father had to explain to me that this guy is on a whole other level in terms of the money he commands and the popularity he has. You’re not up there, and he’s not going to look down on you. That’s what it is.
“There is no disrespect to me and my skills as a warrior. No disrespect to me as a person and all that. That’s where Errol is.
“That’s how I fight Errol. It’s like, ‘Don’t believe it, so let me shut it all up.’ It’s the same thing,” Porter said when asked if Spence might choose to fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis because a lot of boxing fans believe he’s the best and don’t want to fight him.
“I can definitely see that from Spence. I could see Spence say, ‘Hey, there’s no other choice. Others are at my level, they are not there. They don’t want it. Give me this man. Porter talks about Spence.
