LAS VEGAS — Critics have said Terence Crawford hasn't taken on high-caliber opposition.
That changes on Saturday when Crawford puts his WBO welterweight title on the line against former two-time 147-pound titlist Shawn Porter from Michelob Ultra Arena. Before the matchup, Crawford and Porter talked on Wednesday at their final press conference. If you were expecting the animosity we saw at the Canelo Alvarez-Caleb Plant and Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder pressers, you'd been vastly disappointed.
Crawford and Porter have been friends for awhile, and they kept it respectful towards one another ahead of their highly anticipated. Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) was his usual cool, calm, and collected on the dais. He kept his answers short and, at one point, started twirling his finger at his WBO belt when Porter's head trainer and father, Kenny, was talking about how the fight was going to be determined by everybody's opinion. However, when it came to handing out compliments towards what's arguably his most formidable foe to date, Crawford showed his admiration of Porter.
"Me personally, I respect everything that Shawn do, Crawford said. "Like I said, Shawn is athletic, can box, bang, move around in the ring, cut corners and take angles. I'm not going to sit here and say I don't respect anything that he do. I just think I do a lot of things better than Shawn."
Porter (31-3, 17 KOs) listened intently to every word coming out of Crawford. An excited "Showtime" was chomping at the bit to offer a rebuttal.
"This is why this fight is so great for the world of boxing and for TV because I would have said the same exact thing he said, and I believe it," Porter exclaimed.
Typically, Crawford doesn't switch into "Bud" mode until the weigh-in. Not this time around.
"It's already flipped," Crawford said softly. "Once we signed that contract, the switch turned on. We are here now, and I can't wait until Saturday and go out there, have fun, display my talent and look good doing it."
Here is what happened at the Terence Crawford vs. Shawn Porter press conference.