Former IBF welterweight champion, ‘Showtime’ Shawn Porter returns to the ring this weekend in the highly anticipated PBC event against former 3 division champion Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner. In this special edition of “On The Ropes” boxing radio, I speak to Shawn Porter and his trainer/father, Kenny Porter about the fight. Shawn gives his thoughts on the match up, the catchweight and what he expects to do to Adrien Broner on June 20th. Kenny Porter breaks down why the weight won’t matter and what he thinks of Broner as a fighter. Additionally, Shawn Porter gives his views on Adrien Broner’s confidence after his recent ring performances. Here is what Shawn and Kenny Porter had to say.
Jenna J: On June 20th you will be facing off against Adrien Broner in a fight that is going to be at a catchweight. How do you feel about the match up?
Shawn Porter: I feel great about the match up. I think it’s a great contrast of styles. We’ve worked really hard to get to this point to fight someone like Adrien Broner. We’re doing everything that it takes right now just to be prepared for everything he’s got to bring into the ring and obviously be prepared to do everything I need to do to win this fight.
Jenna J: What do you think the catchweight means? Does it have any factor in how you will perform?
Shawn Porter: I don’t think it does. I think if anything, I’ll get a little bit stronger from it. I’ll be more healthy from the catchweight. I haven’t been that low in some time, so I think if anything, I’ll just be more healthy. On fight night I’ll be more hungry and more prepared to destroy him.
Jenna J: A lot of people feel you have the style to bother Adrien Broner, mostly because Marcos Maidana was able to push him to the ropes and make him uncomfortable. Do you think you can make Broner uncomfortable?
Shawn Porter: I want to make him uncomfortable from round one to the end of the fight. I want to make him uncomfortable, I want to make it so that he doesn’t feel any type of confidence that he’s getting off on me or anything like that. Along with that, unlike Maidana, I can hit him from the outside, we want to do that.
We want to establish our jab, establish that we can box him in a clean fight and look good doing it, and also back him up against the ropes and make him uncomfortable and make him feel the pressure of me and the pressure of those ropes as well. My dad has used the word “punishment” and we want to do that to him on June 20th.
Jenna J: Kenny, are you doing anything different in terms of preparation to get Shawn down to weight?
Kenny Porter: Yes, we tweaked a little bit. We did do some things a little bit different. When I say a little different, it’s just a little different. For Shawn’s last four fights, he only trains Monday through Thursday. He’s at such a high level of conditioning and fitness that we only have to train four days out of the week and he rests for the other three days.
The only thing we’ve done differently now is, on Friday he’s doing a little bit of work — not even in the boxing gym, he’s doing a little bit of work that he normally wouldn’t do on a Friday. Fridays have now become yoga and bike riding days, but it hasn’t been much of a change for us at all.
I’ll put it out to the public, Shawn stays within fifteen pounds of his fight weight at all times. When we received the phone call to take this call, it was easy for us because we were already in top fitness shape. We could have fought on the Mayweather-Pacquiao card, we were pushing for that. He was already in top shape, so it was easy for me to say that.
Jenna J: Do you think the Broner camp is hoping that Shawn will be drained in some way? Not only is there a catchweight but they say he can’t rehydrate above 155lbs the morning of fight day.
Kenny Porter: It’s no problem, Shawn doesn’t gain more than ten pounds the next day of the fight for the last five or six fights. In the IBF rules, he couldn’t go over that, so it’s easy. I’m sorry, but these things that they were hoping for are not going to be a problem for us at all because we were already living this style, living this lifestyle. We were already staying within ten pounds of the fight weight the next day because that was the IBF rule.
Jenna J: Is there anything you see in Adrien’s style that you have to pay extra attention to, compared to the other opponents?
Kenny Porter: No, nothing at all. I would like to say that I’ve been studying Adrien’s fights and I’ve seen some incredible things, but the truth of the matter is, I haven’t. There hasn’t been anything that has stood out as spectacular at all, so much to the point where I’m going to have to make myself watch his fights and study more just because I should.
The truth of the matter is, if you go back and look at Adrien’s fight against a guy like Molina. Molina didn’t do very much on his part and Adrien Broner didn’t do very much to Molina. I know what would have happened if Shawn was fighting Molina, I know exactly what happened when Shawn fought Paulie Malignaggi and I know exactly what happened when Adrien struggled with Paulie Malignaggi.
We’re talking about Marcos Maidana dominating Adrien Broner, we’re talking about Devon Alexander defeating Marcos Maidana and then you’re talking about Shawn Porter beating Devon Alexander. There’s a lot of things that are going on here that are playing themselves out, but there’s a lot of things that will have to happen on fight night on his part that he’ll have to change. We won’t have to change.
Jenna J: Back to you Shawn. What do you think about Adrien Broner’s last few fights? A lot of people feel his confidence has been shattered since the Maidana fight, do you see that?
Shawn Porter: I don’t know if his confidence has been shattered or not but I do know he knows me. He knows he’s getting in the ring with a beast and if he’s not doing everything that it takes to be prepared for that, then it will all show up.
His last fight against Molina, I thought he looked exceptionally well. I thought he fought a smart fight, fighting from the outside, using his jab and that kind of what I look for him to do against me. I’m a lot faster and quicker than Molina and I also know how to box from the outside and Molina does not.
All the way around this is going to be a very exciting fight, from the beginning to the end. I’m full of confidence in my abilities and in my team that we will go in there and we’ll put it down and have a very great fight and we’ll win.
Shawn porter is going to resize Broner’s as*hole this weekened!
Maidana was wild. I like porter and he is sort of fun to watch, but he lacks the skills and is not dirty enough to throw Broner off his game. Broner UD
I guess he found a way to defy physics then ._.
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