On June 20 two former welterweight titlists, Adrien "The Problem" Broner and Shawn Porter, will go head-to-head in a PBC on NBC showdown.
Broner has imposed a 145-pound catch weight for this fight, as well as a mandate that neither fighter weigh more than 155 pounds on fight night. Broner, after losing to Marcos Maidana in a 2013 welterweight fight, has been campaigning at 140 pounds and he's done so successfully.
Broner has won three straight fights by unanimous decision, and he knocked down Emmanuel Taylor, showing that his power is more suited for junior welterweight.
Porter was taken out by Kell Brook, but he showed real power as a 147-pounder vs. Paulie Malignaggi, and has fought previously as a junior middleweight. The weight restrictions were put in place to favor Broner, although Porter shrugged off any concerns it will affect his preparation.
"We're going to do things the Porter way. You got concerns; I've got none. I know people are hearing through the grapevine the stipulations and things we've agreed to. We agreed to them because we know we could make all this happen," Porter told Thaboxingvoice.com.
"We're not agreeing to things just because we want to fight this kid and make some money. We know we can make it an awesome fight for the public."
The buildup to this fight has been less contentious than Broner bouts tend to be, likely because both men share Ohio heritage. Broner is a Cincinnati native, while Porter is from Akron and Porter said they are familiar with one another dating back to their amateur careers.
"[Broner] is aware of things I've done in the amateurs, in some ways we came up together through the amateur program," Porter said.
"So he's very familiar with all of me, in and out of the ring. There is no animosity coming from me. I keep a level head and stay poised at all times. He's walking into a lion's den. You get in the ring with a lion, and you can only run for so long."
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