Predict the match between Terence Crawford vs. Shawn Porter, underdog, odds, expert’s pick, date

In the eight years since Terence Crawford first arrived in the national arena, the dynamic boxer/fighter has become a three-division champion and topped the pound-for-pound leaderboard.

That doesn’t necessarily mean anyone can confidently claim to know how awesome 34-year-old Crawford (37-0.28 KOs) really is. This weekend, at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, that all changes.

With boxing politics as unsettling as it could be, Crawford has spent much of his career celebrating against second-rate opponents and has long since faded. But thanks to the WBO choosing former two-time champion Shawn Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs) as his mandatory opponent, two boxers from opposite sides of the net and the promotional split will end on Saturday in a match- showdown per view is expected to boil over.

At 34, Porter can claim to be the most active and ambitious member of an all-star weight division that over the same period Crawford has been steadily gaining weight. The two division champion shared the ring with Devon Alexander, Paulie Malignaggi, Kell Brook, Adrien Broner, Keith Thurman, Andre Berto, Danny Garcia, Yordenis Ugas and Errol Spence Jr. throughout his run at 147 pounds, with the majority of fights against major versions of those fighters.

Although Porter has not yet won all the major challenges he has taken on, he is competitive and exciting in each one. He even developed his style along the way.

Originally a battered puncher who always bullied him inside like a full-back dashing over the fence of the script, Porter added quick kicks and kicks to his game while improving his pure boxing prowess along with it.

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In the end, Crawford found himself staring across the ring with an opponent capable of bringing out the best in him, and Omaha native Nebraska seemed just as excited about it as the rest of the crowd. quote him.

“This will only enhance my status as the world’s No. 1 boxer,” Crawford said in his final press conference on Tuesday. “Defeating the likes of Shawn Porter with great style will only elevate my status.

“There was never bad blood with Shawn, there was always love. I always supported him and he supported me. But come on. [Saturday], I will stomp on him. ”

Porter, who grew up in suburban Ohio, has been trumping Crawford since their amateur days and has been driving behind the scenes for a fight between the two for years, even as Crawford claimed that the Premier founder Boxing Champions, Al Haymon, intentionally froze him out.

From Porter’s perspective, Crawford had established himself as a future Hall of Famer and wanted to cement his own status with a win over him.

“I’m pretty sure I’m on the verge of the Hall of Fame,” Porter said. “And with that, this war isn’t about winning or going home for me, it’s about winning or nothing else. My life, right now, depends on winning this war. and beat Terence Crawford He’s a dominant fighter and everyone he joins rings with, he dominates.

“For me to be the one he couldn’t dominate and that beat him to a punch and end the trades, everything it took to beat Terence, I’ve got it.”

Despite a quick knockdown in a 2019 stoppage-time win over Egidijus Kavaliauskas, Crawford was mostly unaffected at both 140 and 147 pounds. One will have to go back to his breakthrough 2014 win at lightweight against the undefeated Yuriorkis Gambos to see a fight in which Crawford was forced to make key adjustments to change the momentum in when also having to accept the punishment to kill himself.

The good news for fans is that Crawford has no plans to try Porter from the outside and hopes to stand up to Porter’s trademark pressure.

“Unlike other fighters [Porter] fought, I was different,” said Crawford. The more you push, the more I will push. The more you come, the more I come. People always say, ‘Why would you light a fire when you can just send him a letter?’ It’s because I love that, I love that. You hit me hard, I’ll hit you more. Let’s see who can survive. ”

Crawford’s impending free agent status makes it uncertain whether he will ever knock down the Spence fans have coveted for years. Going into the final bout of his Top Rated trade, Crawford has been mostly quiet about his future, as has been Bob Arum, the Hall of Fame promoter.

Instead, the focus, can be understood as the here and now. And Porter hopes to push Crawford in a way no other opponent has been able to.

“No one else has been in the ring with him, knows him the way I know him,” Porter said. “No one knows the inside and outside of how he operates mentally. What I do know is [Saturday] is a day for the world of boxing. It will be a wonderful evening.

“It’s contagious. The best opponents will bring out the best of Terence Crawford and the best of Terence will bring out the best of Shawn Porter.”

Battle cards, odds

• Terence Crawford (c) -700 vs Shawn Porter +500, WBO . welterweight title
• Esquiva Falcao -650 vs. Patrice Volny +475, middleweight
• Janibek Alimkhanuly -2500 vs Hassan N’Dam +1200, middleweight
• Raymond Muratalla -2200 vs Steven Ortiz +1100, light

Guess

Don’t bury the lead here: this has all the ingredients to be a great theater and is a perfect example of high-speed chess among elite stars.

What was somewhat lost after Porter’s thrilling decisive loss to Spence in 2019 was the way Spence admitted then abandoned the game plan entirely to stand and fight Porter. The reason is because he has openly downplayed Porter and believes he can take him down and stop him with relative ease.

Crawford may not be willing to take on Porter easily. However, true to his remarks above, he will stand and trade with him on the condition that Porter can repeatedly coerce him by going inside.

This is where the effectiveness of Porter’s commanding style will determine whether he actually wins this skirmish or simply sells his name to Crawford as a way to bolster his résumé. undefeated champion.

Porter was at his peak as he combined the dynamism he showed early in his career with the footwork and dangerous attacks he added later. But it’s the style that’s most effective against elite boxers with slower footwork, which is why it was so effective in his 2018 title win over Danny Garcia.

Crawford is too fast for Porter to overwhelm him with just movement and will need to exploit the perfect combination of his two styles for a shot that keeps Crawford guessing. The problem with that, however, is that Crawford is even more flexible than Porter and can transform situations so easily that it can perfectly nullify Porter’s best plans.

The prospect of Porter entering the second half of the fight with points cards and needing an all-out attack remains high. Luckily for fans, the result should be pure excitement as Porter rides like a ship on the tarmac at a level of aggression he hasn’t fully displayed since unloading Berto in 2017.

Porter is likely to succeed in the toughest test Crawford has yet to face. But successfully fighting a bull like Crawford was a hill that was even too big for Porter to have the ambition to climb.

A late goal for Crawford by hitting Porter with something he couldn’t see was not out of the question. Whatever the case, this will have to live up to all of its lofty expectations, mainly because Porter is one of the only boxers skilled and intrepid enough to make Crawford prove him. how great it really is.

Pick: Crawford via UD12