Shawn Porter has shared his verdict on the upcoming fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford after witnessing the preparations of the latter first hand.
The pound-for-pound superstars are less than one month away from locking horns for the undisputed super-middleweight championship, with their showdown set to take place on Saturday September 13 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Canelo has established himself as arguably the greatest super-middleweight of his generation in recent years, defeating the likes of Jaime Munguia, Jermell Charlo and Gennady Golovkin since making the move up from 160lbs back in 2018.
As for Crawford, the 37-year-old from Omaha will make his first appearance at 168lbs when he faces the Mexican icon next month, having spent his recent years at welterweight – other than his last outing which was at super-welter – where he defeated a number of highly rated fighters over the years, including Porter.
Speaking to Fight Hype, Porter said that he was impressed with what he seen from Crawford in the gym.
“You know, my thing when I watch fighters, I wanna see what you’re thinking. I have the ability to actually to look into your mind and see how that thing is turning.
“He sparred the day that I went over there and saw him and, when he got out of the ring and we stood there and talked a while, he confirmed everything that I thought I was seeing. He’s verging that peaking process. He’s getting stronger. Still loving it, which to me is the biggest part of it, when you have a level of passion for something that passion is commanded of you … I liked everything that I saw from Crawford’s camp.
Asked about the sparring, Porter described some of the fighters in with ‘Bud.’
“Big guys. Guys that were right around that 6 foot mark. Right around that 200 pound mark. Nothing new for Terence Crawford … Getting in the ring with Canelo Alvarez, Terence isn’t going to see anything that he hasn’t seen before.”
Should Crawford be victorious over Canelo next month, the four-division world champion could write his name into the boxing history books once again by becoming the first male fighter of all time to win an undisputed championship in three weight classes, having already accomplished this feat at super-lightweight and welterweight.
