Adrien Broner will become the latest boxing A-side to impose a catch weight on his opponent this week when he fights Shawn Porter on NBC at 144 pounds. Broner has also imposed a re-hydration limit, mandating that neither fighter may weigh more than 155 pounds on fight night.
Both Broner and Porter are former welterweight champions, but the weight impositions tilt the scales in Broner's favor. Porter's style is more reliant on power, and he naturally much bigger. Broner rose through the ranks in lower divisions, bursting onto the scene as a 130-pounder. Porter, on the other hand, has fought as high as middleweight.
Porter has been adamant that the weight will not hinder him when he's in the ring, and aims to prove it at the weigh-in. He also threw a dig at Broner in the process.
"We were asked to come in at this weight. There's a little kid from Cincinnati that's scared to fight at that weight even though he's fought there before," Porter said. "We're going to get on the scale and make weight and let him know he's not getting any advantage from that."
Porter rebounded with a knockout victory over Erick Bone in March at welterweight, where Porter plans to resume his career after facing Broner.
"I'm not looking past Adrien. That said, we made this fight at 144 pounds. Beyond that there's no other reason to fight anywhere lower than welterweight. I'm a 147-pound fighter and I want to fight the best welterweights at their strongest-not a blown up 140-pound fighter, not a talked down 154-pound fighter. I want to face the best at their best."
Broner went down to 140 pounds following the first and only loss of his career, a beating against Marcos Maidana in which he was knocked down twice and lost his title.
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