By Anthony “Stacks” Saldaña

Los Angeles, California is home to the Dodgers, the Lakers and now the WBC Welterweight Champion, Shawn Porter will look to bring “Showtime” back to Hollywood when he takes on the undefeated IBF Champion, Errol Spence Jr. September 28th at Staples Center in Los Angeles in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions card on Fox Sports pay-per-view. Spence (25-0, 21 KOs) of DeSoto, Texas, however will look to make a clear statement on why he is the best fighter in the division when he makes his fourth title defense against Porter (30-2-1, 17 KOs), of Las Vegas, who has won his last four fights since losing by unanimous decision to Keith “One Time” Thurman in June 2016. “My whole thing is that I’m looking for the stoppage. I want to make a statement that I’m clearing out the division. I want Manny Pacquiao and all of the top names in this division.” Stated Spence Jr.

Photo by Cynthia Saldaña

Spence who is a big, strong, welterweight recently came away unanimous decision victory over three-division world champion Mikey Garcia in front of his hometown crowd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas last March. “You’ve seen my growth over the years to where I’m fighting in bigger and bigger stadiums and headlining the pay-per-views. Now I’m in a unification fight, which is what I’ve wanted for a long time.” Stated Spence.“This is going to be a tough fight. I’m not gonna lie,” Spence said. “Shawn’s a dog. He has an amazing heart. I’m not gonna say he has all the skills in the world, but he does have the talent and he’s going to come to fight and give it his all. But I do believe I have the skills, the talent, the dog and the heart to make this, I’m not gonna say an easy fight, but I can stop him, and that’s what I’m looking to do.”

Porter who unlike Mikey Garcia, is a natural welterweight and two time champion who has already faced the some of the biggest names in the division, including the likes of Keith Thurman, and Danny Garcia. “There haven’t been too many fights as a professional that I’ve been this excited about,” said Porter. “I was really excited about the Danny Garcia fight and I’m really excited about this one. Ever since Spence got a belt, I really circled this fight on my calendar. Preparation is the key. I think I have everything it takes to beat Errol Spence. I’m very confident and my team is confident in what I have to do on September 28. We’ll be ready.”

Photo by Cynthia Saldaña

Although this is a championship unification bout the IBF welterweight champion, Spence Jr., is a -900 favorite in this fight with the WBC titleholder, Porter, who sits at +550. Porter may have a slight speed advantage in this bout, but power and strategy lean in favor of Spence who will use his shotgun like jab to keep Porter off balance. Spence Jr. will also have a huge power advantage as 21 of his 25 wins have been by knockout and his unanimous-decision win over Mikey Garcia in March was his first fight to go to the scorecards since 2014. Porter, on the other hand, lacks true knockout power and hasn’t knocked out an opponent since stopping Andre Berto in 2017. 

Photo by Cynthia Saldaña

Although the odds are against Porter he believes he can beat Spence who is considered by many as the best welterweight in the world, “This guy calls himself  ‘The Truth,’ Porter said “So I’ll tell the truth and the truth is, without preaching, you guys are in for a treat. The truth is this dude has skills, he has power, he’s got speed. He’s got everything it takes but the truth is I have all those things as well. The truth is I don’t think you’ve seen him in the ring with someone who possesses all of those things, the speed, the quickness, the power, the intelligence, the mental fortitude, the dog, the fight. The truth is I have all of those things. The truth is it takes all of that to beat this guy. The truth is I am prepared to do all of those things.”

In the Co-main event the WBC Super Middleweight Champion Anthony Dirrell (33-1-1, 24 KOs) defends his title against undefeated former champion David Benavídez (21-0, 18 KOs) of Phoenix, who will look to reclaim the belt he once held, but after one defense, was stripped of the his title after testing positive for cocaine “I’m looking forward to reclaiming my WBC belt in my next fight against Anthony Dirrell,” Benavidez said. “This fight is overdue and I guarantee I will be ready for whatever he brings to the ring. The fans are really going to enjoy this one.” Dirrell who claimed the vacant title with a victory over Avni Yildirim stated “I’m going to work my butt off, putting in extra hours in the gym, because this is one of the toughest opponents I’ve ever fought, He’s young and he’s tough. But I’m more than ready for anything that he can bring. I bring an exciting fight. He knows that. The world knows that. He can talk, but nothing matters but what happens in the ring. I wanted this fight to be out west because I will fight anybody anywhere. It’s only two people in the ring and we’re going to give a good entertaining fight for the fans.”

Also on the card unbeaten rising star Mario “El Azteca” Barrios will meet fellow unbeaten Batyr Akhmedov for the WBA Super Lightweight Title and to kick off the PPV rugged veteran Josesito López battles battle-hardened brawler John Molina Jr. in a 10-round welterweight attraction.

The action begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT and will be in support of the highly anticipated

welterweight title unification match between IBF Champion Errol Spence, Jr. and WBC Champion Shawn Porter. WBC Super Middleweight Champion Anthony Dirrell will defend his title against unbeaten former champion David Benavídez in the co-feature.

Tickets for the event, which is promoted by Man Down Promotions, TGB Promotions and Shawn Porter Promotions, are on sale now and can be purchased at AXS.com.

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