Former welterweight world champion “Showtime” Shawn Porter is getting ready for his ring return on August 22 against undefeated German welterweight Sebastian Formella at the Microsoft Theatre, Los Angeles, California.
The goal of Porter is to hopefully land another big fight and opportunity for a world title since losing his WBC belt to Errol Spence Jr. in an all action unification bout back in September of 2019.
Porter told Fight Hype that he has his eyes set on a dream match against the man he sparred for many rounds when he was still a prospect, the WBA welterweight champion Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao.
The history between these two fighters comes from Porter getting the call to help Manny Pacquiao prepare for Miguel Cotto back in 2009 and sparring him for a few fights after that. Porter would eventually become a world champion winning the IBF title before losing it to Kell Brook and then winning the WBC belt against Danny Garcia only to lose it to Errol Spence Jr. in his last bout.
“In the welterweight division there are no two more better exciting fighters than Manny Pacquiao and Shawn Porter,” Porter told Fight Hype. “There is no one else more exciting than myself and Manny Pacquiao. The fact of the matter is you know whats gonna happen when Shawn Porter gets in the ring. You know whats gonna happen when Manny Pacquiao gets in the ring. We never disappoint. Even in a loss we never disappoint.
Porter insists like Pacquiao, they always deliver action in the ring. Win, lose or draw, and fans will always get their money’s worth when they fight.
“Manny Pacquiao got knocked out crazy by Marquez, but leading up to that knockout, no disappointment at all. Even the knockout it was like wow Manny Pacquiao got knocked out. You weren’t even disappointed that he got knocked out, it was like wow that just happened. Even myself in the few losses that I’ve had in the great fights that I’ve had there has never been any disappointments. So it makes sense for that fight to happen. It’s just up to Manny and his team to take the fight.
If they do get into the ring, Porter likes his chances against the 41-year-old and believes the rounds of sparring they did in camp and the fight film of Juan Manuel Marquez knocking out Pacquiao has given him a lot of first hand knowledge on how to beat the Filipino ring legend.
“I’m confident that I can beat him in a fight,” said a confident Porter. “It’s not just based on sparring, but I do think that I learned a lot from the sparring. When I saw Marquez, and bringing up that fight, I knew what Marquez saw. What you get in sparring is the same thing you would get in four fights. In sparring you get time and time again to make adjustments. Time and time again to look at film and figure out what you did wrong and comeback and comeback and comeback. I was able to do that in sparring and get better, get better and get better. Marquez, I mean four times, he’s got so much to look at, so many different experiences, so many different times he’s been in the ring with Pacquiao that was bound to happen.”
Porter and Pacquiao have a mutual respect for one another and share a proud openness with their Christian faith. For Porter he believes this fight would best be promoted in a positive light, with two great athletes, who just happened to be Christians and do a lot of great things for people outside the ring.
