The WBO welterweight title will be on the line in Las Vegas.
Hey, it’s a boxing match that isn’t some circus nonsense!
Just hours before a scheduled purse bid, Top Rank and PBC came to an agreement on the WBO welterweight title fight between champion Terence Crawford and former world champion Shawn Porter. Top Rank’s Carl Moretti told Yahoo’s Kevin Iole that the fight will take place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on November 20th. ESPN’s Mike Coppinger reported that ESPN+ pay-per-view will carry the event. Unlike Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder, this will be exclusively a Top Rank show and not a co-promotion.
Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) is considered one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world. His first world title win came in 2014 against Ricky Burns at lightweight, and in 2017 he memorably became undisputed junior welterweight champion after stopping Julius Indongo. At welterweight, he won the WBO title from Jeff Horn in 2018, but has not exactly had a stellar set of opponents since then. Crawford’s last fight was a TKO of a clearly faded Kell Brook last November.
Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs) is a former IBF and WBC welterweight champion. He has notable wins over Paulie Malignaggi, Danny Garcia, Adrien Broner, and Yordenis Ugas. His last title fight was a split decision loss to Errol Spence Jr in their entertaining 2019 encounter. Porter’s lone appearance of 2020 was a lopsided decision over Sebastian Formella. Only the elite at 147 have ever beaten him — a prime Kell Brook in 2014, Keith Thurman in 2015, and Spence in 2019 — and he’s never been stopped.
November is already a crowded pay-per-view month. Canelo Alvarez vs. Caleb Plant and UFC 268 will be opposite each other on November 6th, with Crawford vs. Porter set for two weeks later.