Shawn Porter has the rare honour of having taken on both Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk inside a boxing ring.
As a professional, Porter became a two-time welterweight world champion, with his final fight coming in November 2021 when he suffered a 10th round stoppage loss to Crawford.
Porter also had an impressive amateur career, where remarkably one of his middleweight contests in 2006 saw him take on Usyk, with the American coming out on top.
Crawford and Usyk have both gone on to achieve incredible things in the professional game, as seen most recently when Crawford became the first male fighter to become undisputed in three divisions when he defeated Canelo Alvarez to claim all four world titles at 168lbs.
Usyk also knows a thing or two about becoming undisputed, having accomplished it at cruiserweight before moving up to heavyweight and doing it twice, the latest of those coming in July when he stopped Daniel Dubois to once again hold all the gold in the banner division.
As seemingly the only man to ever take on both Crawford and Usyk, Porter told The Ring which of them he deemed to be the best.
“That would be Terence. I’ve never been in the ring with anyone who could do all the things I could. When we fought, Usyk was a southpaw, a tall rangy counter puncher, he wasn’t a dig to the body type of guy.
“He’s a well-rounded fighter but he can’t do everything, Terence can do everything, I could do everything, and I’ve never been in the ring with somebody, who had it all. That’s what makes him the best fighter I’ve been in the ring with.”
While Porter may view Crawford as the best, another name came to mind for ‘Showtime’ when he was deciding the strongest fighter he ever fought.
