The Staples Center in Los Angeles, California is going to be popping tonight with a stacked Premier Boxing Champions card featuring Errol Spence Jr. vs. Shawn Porter for the IBF and WBC welterweight championship, and Anthony Dirrell vs. David Benavidez for the WBC super middleweight belt. The FOX Pay-Per-View event will be shown on various platforms and live streamed online on September 28.
Texas resident Errol Spence Jr. (25-0, 21 KOs) is quickly becoming a Pay-Per-View attraction in the sport of boxing. His first PPV on FOX drew over 300,000 buys and had over 45,000 people in attendance at the Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The Texan is undefeated and presents a very difficult task for his opponents because he has great reach, power and fights out of the southpaw stance.
Spence captured the IBF strap (once owned by Shawn Porter) when he flew to England in 2017 and beat Kell Brook, who took the belt from Porter. This will be Spence’s 5th title defense.
The ultimate goal for Spence is to unify all the belts at 147 pounds before moving up to junior middleweight. Tonight he will try to unify his IBF title with Porter’s WBC green belt and then look to take on WBA welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao in a massive event in 2020.
Shawn Porter (30-2-1, 17 KOs) is the former IBF and current WBC welterweight champion of the world. He won the vacant WBC belt when he fought former champion Danny Garcia on September 8, 2018 and defended it once against Yordenis Ugas in what was a close bout.
Porter is the underdog going into the fight, but he believes his rugged style and pressure will present something the undefeated Spence has yet to face in the ring.
The key according to Porter is to confuse Spence and have him guessing. His best bet is to keep the fight in close so Spence cannot get any leverage on his shots and make it a dog fight.
Also on the card is a WBC super middleweight showdown between WBC champion Anthony Dirrell and undefeated former WBC champ David Benavidez.
Dirrell won the vacant WBC belt on February 23, 2019 when defeated Turkish boxer Avni Yildirim, after the fight the 22-year-old Benavidez challenged Dirrell to reclaim his title.
Benavidez was stripped of the WBC title when he tested failed a VADA drug test for cocaine. He served his suspension and is now ready to get the strap back.
IBF/WBC Welterweight Championship – Errol Spence Jr vs Shawn Porter
WBC Super Middleweight Championship – Anthony Dirrell vs David Benavidez
Welterweight – Josesito Lopez vs John Molina Jr
Junior Lightweight – Mario Barrios vs Batyr Akhmedov
Watch Spence vs. Porter LIVE on September 28, 2019 at 9PM ET/6PM PT on Fox PPV. For more info on tonight’s fights and upcoming events on FOX (foxsports.com/boxing/pbc).
