LOS ANGELES — Welterweight world titleholders Errol Spence Jr. and Shawn Porter have been friendly for years and largely respectful toward each other through a long promotion and several joint appearances for their unification bout. But as fight night closes in, they’re clearly tired of each other, and that displeasure was on display Wednesday.
The two squabbled with each other as they met face to face once again at the final prefight news conference inside the Wilshire Grand Ballroom at the Intercontinental Hotel. Spence said he relished a chance to knock Porter out. And Porter retaliated by mocking Spence for his inability to stop the much smaller Mikey Garcia in his most recent bout in March.
Spence and Porter will fight to unify their 147-pound world titles in one of the year’s biggest fights in the main event of the Premier Boxing Champions card on Saturday (Fox PPV, 9 p.m. ET) at Staples Center.
Porter, who will be making the second defense of his second title reign, has said he will “break” Spence, who didn’t take kindly to that when reminded of Porter’s remarks.
“I don’t make anything of the words he’s saying. We train hard, and we’re focused and prepared for anything he brings Saturday night,” Spence said. “He says he’ll break me, he’s gonna stop me, he’s gonna beat me up. Keep that same energy come Saturday night.
“He’s been talking a lot, his dad [and trainer, Ken Porter] has been talking a lot, and I want to knock him out. After Saturday night they’re going to call me the ‘showstopper,’ I can promise you that.”
Spence (25-0, 21 KOs), 29, a southpaw from DeSoto, Texas, and a 2012 U.S. Olympian, will be making his fourth defense. He has said since the day the fight was announced in July that he is aiming for a knockout.
“It’s important to me to get the knockout,” Spence said. “It’s a goal of mine to stop him, and I hope to get it done. If I can’t get it done, then I’m just going to be comfortable with the victory. But you know I’m looking for the stoppage.”
Porter (30-2-1, 17 KOs), seated several feet away on the other side of the dais, scoffed at Spence’s knockout prediction. Porter has never been close to being stopped or even visibly hurt in a fight.
“He didn’t knock out 135 [-pound] Mikey Garcia,” Porter said of the former lightweight titlist, who moved up two weight divisions to challenge Spence. “He ain’t knocking out 147 ‘Showtime’ Shawn Porter.
“I expected it to get heated today. I know that if I fire at Errol, he’s going to fire back. That’s how the fight’s going to be as well. Everyone got a good taste of what you’ll see Saturday.”
Porter also dismissed his position as a roughly 10-to-1 underdog, a seemingly absurd number given the depth of Porter’s résumé. He has beaten Danny Garcia, Adrien Broner, Devon Alexander and Andre Berto, and his only losses were razor-close decisions to Keith Thurman and Kell Brook in world title bouts.
“Being in the underdog position is literally where I come from. Northeast Ohio is always an underdog,” said Porter, 31, an Akron, Ohio, native who lives in Las Vegas. “Everybody works where I come from. We always do the best we can.”