Kenny Porter went to the arena thinking about stopping the fight
As expected, WBO welterweight champion Terence “Bud” Crawford (38-0, 29 KO’s) notched another dynamic performance in his fifth title defense. In that defense, Crawford faced the challenge of “Showtime” Shawn Porter (31-4-1, 17 KO’s). Also as expected, Porter appeared to push Bud to limits never before seen. Yet, in the end, the masterful mind of Crawford decoded Porter’s attack scheme and stopped him in the tenth.
Well, in all actuality, it was not Bud who actually stopped Showtime, but his own father and chief second, Kenny Porter. For when the end came, it was Kenny Porter on the ring apron with white towel in hand. In fact, the only substandard element of the fight was the final outcome. Shawn Porter was on his feet, aware and seemed to be on solid legs. Therefore, the halting of the bout was nearly surreal.
THE WHY
Before the father and son duo could even leave the ring, they both were questioned about the final moments of the bout. In rather curt fashion, Kenny immediately stated the reason that he stopped the bout was due to what he saw in Shawn. Then going even further, Kenny Porter seemed to throw Showtime under the bus by saying he had an overall lackluster camp in preparation. Even if this were true, it seems it would have been in better taste to keep this a behind-the-scenes matter.
Once showered and shaved for the post-fight conference, the elder Porter did not alter his stance or talking points.
“I planned on stopping it going into the fight, I already knew this! Didn’t matter, if I saw what I saw, that was my plan. …no knock against Shawn and who he is but as he mentioned earlier, when he thought that Errol Spence would be the last fight, maybe before he fought him, he thought that. I’m his father, I knew that.”
“…So I knew everything that was going to happen with him before it happened. So this was something that was coming and not to be negative towards him but because I am his father, I could see these things. I could see it in the training, I can see it in the movements, I can see it in looking at the clock to see how long I got to be here today, I could see it.
“…he may have been right in this fight, right there with the guy. It was a surprise for me that he went down. And I never seen him go like that, and then what happened after that? He got hurt again and I saw him at a deficit. He didn’t have everything that it took to protect himself and coming in here, I wasn’t seeing that same thing, protecting himself. So the most important thing is that I am able to walk away from here and he is safe, that’s it.”
WHAT IF
While his heart may have been in the right place, this will forever be remembered as a poor stoppage. Whereas Kenny Porter was viewing it through the lens of a father, the boxing world saw a gritty and dynamic fighter who had braved tough moments before. With that knowledge, we wanted to see Showtime be given the opportunity to make something great happen, This is greatly amplified by the fact that father and son understood this to be the last dustup before riding off into the sunset. If no other fight but this one, please leave it all in the ring!
In the end, what happened happened and there is no Marty McFly and Dr. Brown to take us back to the past to change anything. The Porters will head back to Vegas to live their lives. We’ll even get to see Shawn Porter continuously in his role as a TV broadcaster. Yet, whether right or wrong, there will always be a nagging feeling of how great the bout could have ended if that white towel was never thrown in.
Reading Time: 4 minutes
By: Bakari Simpson
