WBO World Welterweight champion Terence “the Bud” Crawford has been ordered by WBO to fight the WBC Silver Welter titlist Shawn “Showtime” Porter.
The undefeated pound-for-pound southpaw together with Porter has been given up to 20th August to come to terms for the fight. If negotiations are not settled within the period given, it will go to purse bids, where different promoters can bid for the right to stage the bout.
Before the order by WBO on Wednesday, Terence Crawford (37-0, 28KOs) had no ready opponent to face. The Omaha born pugilist won the WBO world strap on June 9th, 2018 at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA after he had stopped the then undefeated WBO champion Jeff Horn via a round 9 TKO.
Crawford after defeating Horn has successfully defended the title four times. All four successful defence were by knockouts. The victims are the then undefeated Jose Benavidez Jr (R12 tko), Amir Khan (R6 tko), Egidijus Kavaliauskas (R9 tko) and Kell Brook on November 14 last year via a round four tko.
With all odds against Shawn Porter (31-3-1, 17KOs) for this WBO title shot, the 33 year old former WBC world welterweight champion cannot be easily written off after he had travelled full length with Erol Spence in a welterweight unification bout, losing by split decision after the 12 round contest. It must be noted that Shawn Christian Porter lost all his 3 pro fights to opponents that were or still undefeated. He first lost to Kell Brook (MD 12/12) in an IBF world welterweight title bout in August 2014, then to Keith Thurman (UD 12/12) in June 2016 for the WBA world welter title and finally to Erol Spence.
With Shawn Porter not to have tasted a knockout in his career, the matchup is indeed an interesting one to watch. Porter cannot be easily written off, and I must say he’s a real threat to the undefeated p4p artist.
By Winfred Worlanyo Siegu Yaw
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