By: Hans Themistode
In the sport of boxing, sometimes words can get misconstrued. However, former two-time welterweight belt holder Shawn Porter made his words as clear as possible when regarding who he wants to step into the ring next.
“I prioritize Terence Crawford,” said Porter following Errol Spence Jr.’s win over Danny Garcia.
Porter, of course, held a birds-eye view as he watched Spence Jr. dismantle Garcia during their pay-per-view main event late last year. While Porter is positioned to take on Spence Jr. due to his high ranking in both the WBC and IBF sanctioning bodies, the Ohio native appeared more interested in taking on WBO belt holder Terence Crawford.
Although Porter currently sits in the mandated position, promoter Bob Arum is apparently playing hardball with the welterweight contender. During a recent interview, Arum revealed that the guaranteed dollars he would be willing to offer Porter would fall well short of what the rugged fighter has grown accustomed to making.
“I’m not guaranteeing more than a million dollars,” said Arum during an interview with Barbershop Conversations. “I’m just not, not in these times.”
“These times,” that Arum is referring to, is the current worldwide pandemic. Still, even with fans absent from arenas, Porter believes Arum’s excuse for not offering him more zero’s at the end of his paycheck is flat out bullshit.
Considering his stature in the sport of boxing, as well as what Arum paid Crawford’s most recent opponent, Porter simply isn’t buying the excuses that Arum is trying to sell.
“I said it before, I will not fight Terence Crawford for a million dollars,” said Porter on his podcast The Porter Way Podcast Clips. “You paid Kell Brook two million, reportedly, to fight Terence Crawford. What makes Kell Brook worth more than Shawn Porter at this point in time? Especially in the United States.”
While at one point, Brook was considered the cream of the crop of the welterweight division, the 34-year-old has suffered numerous knockout losses, making his fourth-round stoppage defeat at the hands of Crawford not surprising.
With Porter’s bank account is currently filled to the brim with millions upon millions of dollars, accepting a lesser offer then given to Brook simply doesn’t make sense to the 33-year-old.
Although the potential of raking in a million dollars would make most individuals jump out of their seats, Porter merely yawns and remains stone-faced.
“I get it, for a lot of people a million dollars is a lot of money. However, with the money that I’ve been able to make I understand the business of boxing. To even begin negotiations at two million dollars is an insult. Everybody in the sport of boxing knows that the welterweight division is the hottest in boxing and if anything, second to heavyweight. We command a lot of money and attention. This fight would do all of that and more. A million dollars isn’t chump change to somebody else but to Shawn Porter, it’s chump change.”
“I guarantee that if there’s fans in the stand, that we will fill up whatever stadium you want to take the fight to,” continued Porter. “If we do it on pay-per-view we’re going to sell more pay-per-views than Terence Crawford’s ever sold before because now he’s fighting Shawn Porter and I am a pay-per-view draw.”
For years now, Arum has said time and time again that Terence Crawford isn’t just the best fighter in the welterweight division but also that he’s the best fighter in the world. Those words however, ring hollow to Porter. Sure Arum may say one thing about the skills of Crawford but for the number one ranked contender, he believes Arum wants to keep Crawford as far away from him as possible.
“You know the only way you can stay away from Shawn Porter and justify it is by saying that a million dollars isn’t chump change. You really don’t want Terence Crawford to have that fight.”
