Terence Crawford v Shawn Porter WBO Welterweight Title Boxing Tips & Predictions

The Michelob Ultra Arena – or Mandalay Bay if you prefer – will host one of the fights of 2021 when Terence Crawford and Shawn Porter battle it out for the WBO welterweight title.

Crawford is undefeated as a professional. He has won all 37 fights and 28 of them have come by way of knockout. British boxing fans will be familiar with Crawford – as they witnessed the 34-year-old stop both Kell Brook and Amir Khan. He also owns a points win over Ricky Burns.

Crawford is a three-weight champion in the welterweight, lightweight and light welterweight divisions. He won the WBO welterweight championship back in 2018 when he beat Australian Jeff Horn with a ninth-round stoppage.

Since then, Crawford has had four successful title defences. His last defence saw him decimate Brook inside four rounds last November.

Crawford is a very dangerous fighter, and he never backs down from a challenge. He has been in the ring with some of the best, but this bout against Shawn Porter is definitely his toughest.

Porter – also 34 – has won 31 of his 35 professional fights with three defeats and one draw. Yes, he might have been beaten three times, but he is certainly no mug. His three losses have come against Brook, Keith Thurman and Errol Spence Jr – so like his opponent, he doesn’t duck the big fights.

The American is a two-time welterweight champion having held the IBF and WBC belts. He lost the IBF title to Brook in 2016, while Spence Jr took the WBC strap from him in 2019.

A lot of people don’t think that Porter deserves to be in the ring with Crawford. I disagree. This will be a thrilling contest. Now that all the drama is over regarding purse splits, I cannot wait to see these two slug it out. They are friends outside of the ring, but there will be no room for friendship in Las Vegas this weekend.

I am favouring the champion in this one. Crawford knows how to dig deep if he is taken out to deep waters. He doesn’t know how to quit, whereas unfortunately, Porter knows what it is like to lose.

I expect this one to go the distance. Both fighters have a lot of pride, and they will both be determined to end the contest on their feet. I expect Crawford to get his hand raised at the end of 12 rounds.

Terence Crawford v Shawn Porter WBO Welterweight Title Boxing Tips & Predictions: Fighter's Predictions

Terence Crawford: “I wasn’t looking to fight Shawn Porter when I stepped up into the welterweight division. But being that he’s one of the top welterweights in the world, here we are and I’m looking forward to it. This is just one of the big challenges that I’ve been yet to face – that this is a top PBC fighter. Everybody has always wanted to see how I fared against PBC’s top fighters. This is one of them, we’re here now. I think Shawn Porter really (will) bring the best out of Terence Crawford. And I believe Terence Crawford is going to bring the best out of Shawn Porter. That’s why November 20 is going to be a great night of boxing. Once we’re in the ring, we ain’t no friends. So, there you have it.”

Shawn Porter: “My fight with Keith Thurman, he was the boogeyman when we fought (in 2016). It’s funny that nobody refers to him as the boogeyman now. I went in that ring and said, ‘I don’t care who everybody thinks he is. I know who I am, and I’m going to show that.’ The same thing with Errol Spence Jr, the same thing with Danny Garcia. Here’s the next one, Terence Crawford. I just look at him like he’s the next piece of the link, and I got to have that one. The closer we get, I feel it every day. I haven’t been this excited about a fight in a long time. My fight with Errol Spence Jr, I got excited the week of. This one, I’ve been excited since the WBO made that Tweet, so it’s coming. For that, I’m probably going to play devil’s advocate. He (Crawford) probably underestimated him [Egidijus Kavaliauskas]. He probably looked at some film and didn’t take him too seriously and have his mind where it needed to be when the fight started. He’ll have his mind where it needs to be when the fight starts, but I expect to make it as easy as can be. Simply put, Terence has met his match. It’s not up to me to say things to convince anybody of that. Thirty-seven fights, watch it for yourselves. Terence has met his match. If you don’t believe it, I’m not going to defend what I said. What I’m going to do is get in the ring on fight night.”