Crawford vs Porter: Fight Predictions

CRAWFORD VS PORTER

After just over a year outside of the ring, the return of Terence “Bud” Crawford finally rears this weekend when Shawn Porter steps up to challenge for the WBO World welterweight title.

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TERENCE CRAWFORD: FIGHTER PROFILE

2020 was not a busy year for many people, and even Terence Crawford found himself with a single paycheck throughout the year when he dispatched veteran Kell Brook in a mere 4 rounds. Although he sits in the top 10 of most fight fan’s Pound-4-Pound lists, Crawford has struggled to remain as active as fellow dominant counterparts like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and grows frustrated by the amount of dodging and canceled bouts he has had to deal with in the last year.

The pride of Omaha, Nebraska, United States, the soft spoken fighter known as “Bud” is a masterful technician inside the ring who has seldom been challenged throughout his professional career.

Style and Strengths

While he spent much of his early career as an orthodox, dispatching outmatched opponents, he has since moved onto his natural southpaw stance, adopting slick boxing, tight fundamentals, and exceptional foot work. Having surged through the lightweight and super lightweight divisions, Crawford sits as one of the champions of welterweight, with showdowns against the likes of Errol Spence or Yordenis Ugas seeming inevitable.

The slick boxer has consistently torn his opposition apart with primarily his lead hand, with which he tosses out quick jabs and thudding hooks. He doesn’t hit as hard from southpaw as he does from orthodox, but against the upper echelon of opposition, he has no choice but to be slicker, softer-hitting, but more comfortable from the southpaw stance.

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SHAWN PORTER: FIGHTER PROFILE

A longtime veteran in his own right, “Showtime” Shawn Porter has been hanging around the elite professional ranks for years. Porter, having fought for, and won, several world titles over the years, is doing some of his best boxing at this point in his career and really seems to have come into his own stylistically in recent years.

Style and Strengths

At some points in his career, Porter struggled with what seemed to be a stylistic identity crisis. Where at some times he would be on the back foot and looking to jab and move, other times he would hunt people down and maul them with dirty boxing. Finally, and fortunately with only 3 losses to his record thus far, Porter has settled on being the mauler he was born to be.

Durable, gritty, prone to bending the rules, Porter is a tough sell for any fighter in the welterweight division. As he is so difficult to put away, and due to his newfound love of cutting people off and beating them senseless, Porter proves to be a difficult target even at the age of 34.

That being said, I believe Porter will find it a bit difficult to pin down the elusive and slick Crawford this weekend. With a tendency to move forward in straight lines, Porter will be a sucker for the countering check hook of Crawford, who will also likely find success with his own jab when Porter is on the outside.

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VERDICT

There is not a lot of margin for error when it comes to a round-stealing veteran like Shawn Porter who can, and will, do whatever it takes to earn the title. However, Terence Crawford is an established and savvy professional and I firmly believe his foot work and busy lead hand will be the keys to success against a hard charging, but slower opponent in Porter.

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BETTING STRATEGY

BACK (WIN) — Terence Crawford by Points Decision