I would urge anyone criticising Kenny Porters decision to watch the post fight explanation in which he explains the reasons in great detail. No one knows Shawn better than Kenny, he picked up on Shawn being less than 100% engaged during camp and could see that he didn’t have the game to turn the fight around after round 10. They had already decided it was Shawn's last fight, why would a trainer let alone a father want to see his fighter/son rendered unconscious and possibly hurt in his very last fight! As he said, they have much more to do now as a family and thank God after a long career Shawn is physically fit and mentally sharp enough to enjoy it to the full
No sir, i look at his post fight interview in the ring after the fight was over. Kenny said" my son wasnt prepared to fight Crawford!"? Wtf? he was winning the fight in my eyes and should have been given the oppurtunity to go out on his shield. Porter is a warrior, he should have been given that by his daddy.
The fight was only going one way, so Kenny was protecting his son but having said that, Shawn was not hurt and still had a chance to turn things around with his power and aggression. With it being such a big fight, I think it was wrong for Kenny to pull him out when he did.
there is no possible way you can get a fighter to 100% when he has already decided he is going to retire after the fight. no way. determination and urgency are lost.
Proof you should never have family in your corner Unless you're a defensive wizard with a boxing family like Floyd.
It was a terrible stoppage. Shawn was hurt worse against Spence but was able to rally back. I don’t doubt he’d have been capable of doing it again. Crawford had terrible accuracy all fight and looked a bit winded himself. Kenny Porter decided for some reason that he’d make this all about himself.
the biggest loser from this is Terrence Crawford. Instead of getting heaps of praise for destroying Porter, either beating him by late knockout or by a very wide margin on points, everyone is taking credit away from his victory because of Kenny Porter's actions.
Absolutely, post fight interview was hard to watch. Also, the joy shown from Kenny Porter when he hugged Crawford straight after stopping it. I thought the look on Shawn Porters face, right at the end of that post fight interview showed something though. I don't think he'll forget his fathers words quickly. Good luck from here in Kenny!
TR judges + lingering memory of Pitufo screwjob + 10-7 round + no one-punch KO power = no chance in hell of Shawn winning that fight... Had Porter scored a KD or had the fight been on Showtime, I would understand the outrage, but y'all saw the scorecards, my guy would've had to DOMINATE to win and nobody dominates Terrence Crawford. Plus Kenny's stoppage saved face for his son, as we can all ask "what if" and blame it on the jackass trainer... if Bud had brutally stopped Porter (as he probably would've), the narrative would be centered on Shawn's shortcomings. Porter's legacy will be that of a dog who was ALL HEART and who was right there in every fight he was in... the stoppage keeps this legacy (and who knows, potentially his cognitive faculties) intact.
Kenny loves Shawn, they have a great relationship, he did what Shawn wanted/needed him to do. Shawn has a family, a life outside of boxing, and there was no reason for him to give away anymore years of his life at that point. Porter was 4 rounds down after the 10th, he wasnt going to stop Crawford at that point…it was over.
Can't say I'm a fan of that. Boxing is a brutal gladiator sport, and the fighters deserve all the credit in the world. But it's not a sport where you get to wave the white flag at the first sign of adversity. That's not the spirit of boxing. If I were the ref, I would've picked up the towel, handed it back to the dad, and asked Shawn Porter if he wanted to continue. If he said yes I would've deducted a point from him for the disruption caused by the corner and let him continue.
