Terence Crawford and Shawn Porter both weighed under the 147-pound limit on Friday, one day before they’ll cross gloves for the WBO welterweight title.
The champion, tipped the scales at 146.4 pounds; Porter weighed 146.6.
The Omaha, Nebraska, native is fighting as a welterweight for the sixth time (all title fights). He won the championship with a TKO victory over Jeff Horn in 2018 and most recently defended it with a stoppage of Kell Brook last November.
ESPN’s No. 2 welterweight, Crawford has finished his last eight opponents inside the 12-round distance. Porter, though, has never been stopped. All three of his defeats came via razor-thin decision (against Brook, Thurman and most recently, Errol Spence Jr.).
Terence Crawford vs Shawn Porter intense final face-off ahead of tomorrow night…
[📽️ @TRBoxing] pic.twitter.com/JZ1PbSXHHu
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) November 19, 2021
“All those close losses he got against Spence and Thurman, Bud’s going to make him [Porter] look like he’s a B-level type of fighter,” Crawford’s trainer, Brian McIntyre, told ESPN’s Ben Baby. “We hope that Shawn comes in there and pushes Bud that to that A-plus type of performance, you know?
“Because when you look at it, Bud gets better and better each fight. The tougher the opponent is, the better Bud looks.”
Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) is promoted by Top Rank, and Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs) is aligned with PBC.
Bob Arum and Al Haymon rarely do business with one another, and the contentious relationship halted Crawford’s hope of fighting a top welterweight. But when the sides struck a deal months ago to avoid a purse bid, Bud finally had a top-flight foe to prove his talent against.
“When you consider the experience in this fight and me having more experience than Terence Crawford, that is a fact,” said Porter, ESPN’s No. 4 welterweight. “When I say the fight between me and Terence Crawford is going to be great, it’s gonna be great. When I say I have what it takes to beat him, don’t sleep on that, believe that.”
