By Ian S Palmer
Two former world champions will battle it out this Saturday, June 20th when Adrien Broner of Cincinnati, Ohio takes on Shawn Porter of Akron, Ohio at a catch-weight of 144 lbs. The 12-round bout can be seen live in Canada and the USA on the free NBC network as part of the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) series. Fans in the UK can catch the bout live on Sky Sports. The bout is a battle between Ohio natives, but will be taking place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The 25-year-old Broner will climb into the ring with an impressive record of 30-1 with 22 Kos while the 27-year-old Porter’s is equally as good at 25-1-1 with 16 Kos. Broner’s lone career loss came at the hands of Argentina’s Marcos Maidana by a unanimous decision back in December of 2013. He’s won three in a row since then. Porter’s only defeat was to Kell Brook of England last August when he dropped a close majority decision. He’s fought once since then with a fifth-round stoppage over Erick Bone in March.
Broner is generally seen as quite arrogant and flamboyant by many boxing fans while Porter is more of a blue-collar boxer. Broner attempts to emulate Floyd Mayweather in the ring, but he’s lacking Mayweather’s finely-tuned skills. Neither Broner nor Porter are regarded as big knockout punchers even though they’ve scored their fair share of stoppages in their careers. Broner’s Ko ratio is 68.9 per cent while Porter’s is 59.3. Broner stands just over 5-feet-6-inches tall with a reach of 69.5 inches while Porter is 5-foot-7 and also has a 69.5-inch wingspan. Broner turned pro in 2008 and has fought 156 rounds while Porter also went pro in 2008 and has 150 rounds under his belt.
Maidana dropped Broner twice in their bout which makes his chin questionable while Porter seems to have a solid beard. The key to beating Broner is simply to throw a high volume of punches every round and make him back up. Like Mayweather, he’s generally more afraid of getting hit in this scenario than he is of launching an attack. If Porter dictates the pace with his aggressive style he should be more successful as Broner can be outworked and outpunched. If Broner’s allowed to dictate the distance and pace he can be effective though.
Porter will need to keep the pressure on and make sure he’s out of rage when Broner decides to counter, especially with his uppercuts. Maidana bullied him around the ring and that’s the blueprint Porter needs to follow on Saturday night. Broner’s best chance is also to initiate the offense, but he rarely does it. However, if Porter is all over him he’s not going to have much choice other than to stand and fight.
Porter usually fights at higher weights, such as 147 or 154 lbs, so he’s going to have to work hard to make the weight. But come fight time he should be rehydrated and quite a bit bigger and heavier than Broner. The key here is to make sure he doesn’t have to drain himself before the weigh-in. Broner’s used to fighting at 140 lbs, so shouldn’t have a problem making the weight.
Prediction
This is an excellent and close matchup and the winner will be decided on the tactics they take. If Porter swarms Broner from the opening bell and makes him fight then he’s going to take a decision. If Porter doesn’t let his hands go all night long he may come out on the wrong end of a close decision. As long as Porter isn’t physically drained by coming down to 144 lbs look for him to win this battle of Ohio by decision.
