Shawn Porter on Terence Crawford fight: Crawford embodies Marvin Hagler, but I will dominate him in the ring

Ahead of Terence Crawford’s blockbuster battle with Shawn Porter for the WBO welterweight championship on Saturday live on Sky Sports, Porter spoke to Press Box PR on a number of topics:

• Why Terence Crawford embodies the legendary Marvin Hagler’s mindset
• Vows to dominate and take control of Crawford
• Believes Conor Benn is right to call his name, but must wait his turn
• Predicts Chris Algeiri will cause Conor Benn problems

Porter: Terence Crawford embodies Marvin Hagler’s mindset…’He’s got to dislike me. He’s got to be mad me’

“Terence Crawford is actually like Marvin Hagler. He's got to dislike me. He's got to be mad at me. For me, it really is an on and off switch. I understand that I have a job to do. I understand that I don't take that job lightly. I understand that I want to win and I understand what winning takes. It would be different if I didn't understand this sport, but this is the hurting business. No matter who it is across from you gotta hurt them in order to win and that's what I'm going to do.

“I've noticed a change in Terence. I know him and know that’s what he’s got to do, so I respect it. To each his own. For me, like I said, I can be very cordial and get in the ring and do my job, no problem.”

Porter: I see myself dominating him and taking control of him...but he’s a ‘monster’ in the ring

“I'm a very confident person. I believe wholeheartedly in myself. It's hard for me to answer what the difference will be on the night, because I see myself dominating him and taking control of him the way that he has so many times in the past. I think that it may be hard for other people to believe that or see that. So I’d rather let it play itself out.

“In the ring, ‘domination’ and ‘dominance’ is what comes to mind when I think of Crawford. Outside of the ring, believe it or not, ‘fun’ is what comes to mind. I think that Terence is really coming into his own. I think he's figured out who he wants the world to know him as. And in the ring, he wants the world to know him as a monster, a beast. And outside of the ring, he wants everyone to know that he's more fun and approachable than most people expect him to be. I look at him like he's the best in the world in the ring and even outside of the ring, I look at him like he's one of the best people in boxing that I know. So there's a lot of respect there. I think that that may be another word that jumps out is respect. But I know how to give that respect and I know how to punch somebody in the face at the same time.” 

Porter: Crawford ‘has the skills required to beat someone like me’…but ‘it's going to be his heart against mine’

“When he looks at a film of me and he's penalising and figuring it out what's going to work against me, he knows that he's got the skill to punch very crisply, the skills required to counter very well and to beat someone like me. So the interesting thing is it's going to be his preparation against mine and it's going to be his heart against mine.

“I believe that in training we've done everything that we need to do to stay in control to throw the right punches at the right time. Make the right movements, everything that you should do in preparation for a fight.

“You can see everything that I've said in the past I've got the ring and done, you can't ignore the fact that I've been in the ring with the best and everything that I said I would do before. I have got in the ring and always produced.” 

Conor Benn is ‘right to call my name’ but will need to ‘wait his time’...Chris Algieri will present some problems

“I think Algieri is going to present some problems for Conor Benn. I think Algieri definitely has the intellect, but he's got skills as well. He's not a rundown boxer. He's still very healthy and capable of producing in the ring. I think he's going to present some obstacles for Conor Benn. On the other side of that, I really enjoy Conor Benn, I think that he's exciting. I didn't enjoy his last fight as much as I had his previous fights, but I do look for him to take control and at some point to start to beat Chris Algieri - but I do think for a substantial amount of rounds it’s going to be pretty interesting.

“Conor Benn] is doing the right thing by calling my name. I've been there before and while I'm not saying I'm Mayweather, when I was in his position I was saying I want to fight Mayweather, I want to fight Pacquiao, and thought I was ready, so on and so forth. I was publicly saying I wanted to fight those guys. He's doing the same thing and you know it’s the maturation of the sport. But he's just going to have to wait his time.”