Shawn Porter has come a long way from being a footnote, being known as a Manny Pacquiao’s sparring partner. Porter was on the 1st fight I ever covered for ThaBoxingVoice.com when Bernard Hopkins re-matched Chad Dawson in Atlantic City. He was on the untelevised portion of the card. Fast forward 2 years later and he again is on a Bernard Hopkins card, except this time he is the co-feature and is a world champion. Promoted by Golden Boy, advised by Al Haymon, and trained and managed by his father Ken Porter, the team did it the Porter way.
“We always wanted the tough fights. I had a plan for Shawn but it takes time,” Ken Porter told ThaBoxingVoice.com. “I knew we were fighting Phil LoGreco months before they announced it, same with Julio Diaz. Now with Paulie Malignaggi, we knew we were getting this fight 2 years ago, it was just on Paulie to accept. You can ask Paulie how many times this fight was brought up to him and how many times he said no, he probably won’t answer you but we finally got it.”
While Porter was bringing his name up and winning a world title, Malignaggi was keeping his name relevant. Malignaggi moved up to 147 lbs and won a world title. He defended it against Pablo Cano where he win a controversial decision and then lost it to Adrien Broner in a fight some felt he deserved the nod. Then he outpointed Zab Judah last December on the same card Porter defeated Alexander. Now the move for Porter is to add Malignaggi’s name to his resume.
“I want to be the 1st to knock out Paulie,” stated Shawn Porter. Even though Malignaggi has been stopped in his career, he’s never been knocked out. Porter has a plan in place to do so. “We’ve been sparring bigger guys. We got Demetrius Andrade in camp and we’ve even been sparring with light-heavyweight Ismayl Sillakh. I’ve been hitting bigger guys with big shots and I think I can knock him out. If not we’ll go the distance, I have plenty of ways to win.”
Porter has been winning and in the process became a champion in one of boxing’s glamour divisions where names like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao put their work in. While the Pacquiao fight may be out of reach due to promotional conflicts, the Mayweather fight can be reached if Porter keeps impressing. Porter feels he just has to be, “Showtime, that’s my name and that’s what I have to be. Basically every performance I have to be Showtime. That’s how I get my title shot and that’s how I got this defense, if I keep on the same formula, I’ll get those big fights,” explained Porter.
A fight that many fight fans have been high on include Shawn Porter versus Keith Thurman. While Porter is a co-feature this weekend, Thurman will be the main event on a Showtime card, the week after against a fighter in Julio Diaz who Porter has beaten already. The question was posed to Porter if there were any ill feelings that Thurman was headlining a Showtime card before him. Ken Porter jumped in and said, “No, not at all. We basically done the things we’ve wanted to do and we’ll continue to do things how we’ve been doing them.” Porter agreed and said, “If I keep winning, I’ll keep getting the big fights. I trust the team I have and I just have to keep being Showtime.”
In place in his team is powerful advisor Al Haymon. Haymon has been scooping clients left and right seemingly daily. Some may feel that Haymon maybe becoming too powerful and teamed with Golden Boy and Showtime, the feeling of monopoly is there. No question, Haymon gets his clients paid very well but is this takeover good for boxing? From Ken Porter’s perspective it is.
“Al’s definitely been good to us but if that’s what he’s doing then the best have to fight Shawn, it’s as simple as that so in that aspect, maybe it is good for boxing.”
What is good for boxing is testing outside of the standard commission testing. Porter’s opponent has long had a history of criticizing Porter’s old sparring partner Manny Pacquiao in regards to testing. However, when asked on possible testing for this fight Saturday, Ken Porter stated,” We wanted extra testing because I think it’s a good thing for the sport but when brought up, there was no response from the other side. But yes, we always welcome extra testing.”
Fight night is Saturday and this will be another test for Shawn Porter, one he feels very prepared for. “Paulie wouldn’t last in our training camp,” stated Ken Porter. Shawn agreed,” Our training camps are intense, not many can do what we do and come Saturday night, we’ll show you exactly why.”
