Shawn Porter said he’s not aiming to give a crowd-pleasing crowd when he faces Danny Garcia on September 8.
The former IBF welterweight champion spoke to the media in a New York press conference and said his last fight, which was a win over Adrian Granados, taught him not to go for what the boxing crowd likes and instead focus on winning the fight. Porter is fighting Garcia for the vacant WBC welterweight title at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
"At the end of the day, I learned a lesson in my last fight. My dad told me not to do anything for the crowd. You have to do what you have to do to win. September 8 isn't going to be about making the crowd yell and winning them over. That is already done. It is a matter of going in there with whatever game plan we go with and making it happen," Porter said.
The win over Granados, which also took place at the Barclays Center, saw Porter fight a scrappy slugfest to ultimately win the WBC Silver title. Porter won the title via unanimous decision (117-111, 117-111, 117-111) and Fightful, who covered the fight live from ringside, had also scored the bout in favor of Porter 117-111 at the time.
It was the second straight title eliminator for Porter with the first taking place in April 2017 when he headlined a Showtime boxing card against Andre Berto. Porter stopped the former world champion with a ninth-round TKO to become the mandatory challenger to the WBC welterweight title.
The full press conference can be seen in the video above.
