It's very unusual for a fighter to admit he plans to fight dirty before a fight even starts. Hopefully it's just trash-talk intended to get in Spence's head and affect his game plan:
Porter (30-2-1, 17 KOs) says he wants to see how Spence (25-0, 21 KOs) reacts after he cuts him on the night. Spence says the only way he’s going to get cut is if Porter catches him with an elbow or nails him with a head-butt. Porter isn’t denying that he plans on making it a dirty fight.
Spence: “I’m better than you talent-wise and skill-wise, and I know I got better power than you. You’re going to find out on September 28. I’m going to dog you.”
Porter: “When I cut you, we’re going to find out what’s going on.”
Spence: “The only way you’re going to cut me is with an elbow or a head-butt.”
Porter: “Right, because that’s what I do. I go in with my head.”
Spence: “The way you did with [Andre] Berto, and the way you did with Devin [Alexander]. That’s what you do.”
Porter: “I’m intentionally trying to be a dirty fighter.”
I remember an interview with him about 6 weeks back and him saying they were using sparring practice of avoiding head clashes. He is a fairly intelligent fighter and I fully expect him to have done all the preparations well in advance to deal with the likes of Porter, and his shenagginins
It's not exactly new news that Porter throws more than punches, my main hope is the ref is atuned and deals with it accordingly.
KiwiRider wrote: ↑24 Aug 2019, 00:15
Spence has got this well on his radar
I remember an interview with him about 6 weeks back and him saying they were using sparring practice of avoiding head clashes. He is a fairly intelligent fighter and I fully expect him to have done all the preparations well in advance to deal with the likes of Porter, and his shenagginins
It's not exactly new news that Porter throws more than punches, my main hope is the ref is atuned and deals with it accordingly.
That's what makes it puzzling that Porter would announce his intentions to fight dirty. Giving the referee advance notice ahead of the fight could end up costing Porter points deducted by the ref. Hopefully the ref will stay on top of Porter's dirty tactics.
If he has Spence dodging heafbuts in sparring then he has done well, the more Spence is watching to dodge a forehead theless he is looking at throwing or dodging a punch.
If I was porter I'd be fainting heafbuts.
..kinda stupid revelations..if I happened to be a referee in the ring, it would give me a reason to interpret his every headbutt/low blow as INTENTIONAL and penalise him accordingly..
Porter is being sarcastic, and using it to get in Spence's head. Not going to work, but he is desperate. He is out-gunned in every category. We'll find out why Porter wasn't too excited to fight Spence in the past couple of years.
The ref would still have to go through the process of warning before deducting points. Even if he goes straight to the point deduction Porter might be seeing it as an investment. I remember years ago Nelson Dieppa said (not publicly) that he planned on hitting Ivan Calderon hard with an intentional low blow at the leg in the very first round. He said even if it cost him a point it would limit Calderon's mobility for a bunch of rounds at least. He didnt do it in the fight but I thought it was an interesting strategy.
greg wrote: ↑24 Aug 2019, 07:04
..kinda stupid revelations..if I happened to be a referee in the ring, it would give me a reason to interpret his every headbutt/low blow as INTENTIONAL and penalise him accordingly..
I was just gonna say the same exact thing.
Even if it is your plan to fight in a dirty way...don't f*cking say so. That just means the referee is gonna be watching and penalizing you that much harder.
For the record, I'd definitely be a dirty fighter if I needed to, but I'd never say that sh*t out loud in an interview
gregregegg wrote: ↑24 Aug 2019, 06:44
If he has Spence dodging heafbuts in sparring then he has done well, the more Spence is watching to dodge a forehead theless he is looking at throwing or dodging a punch.
If I was porter I'd be fainting heafbuts.
Fainting headbutts seems like the kinda thing that would get you knocked out.
I know that in the first fight the dirty tactics of Maidana worked against Floyd, but Spence is physically a lot tougher than Floyd. Robert Garcia said Mikey could handle Maidana, and is the best he has ever coached, and we saw what Spence did to him. Spence purposely displayed his boxing ability in that fight, but we will see his other side in this fight I think. I predict Porter gets stopped for the first time in his career. Both have the dog in them, but Spence has the far superior skills to go with it.
Bandog wrote: ↑28 Aug 2019, 21:13
I know that in the first fight the dirty tactics of Maidana worked against Floyd, but Spence is physically a lot tougher than Floyd. Robert Garcia said Mikey could handle Maidana, and is the best he has ever coached, and we saw what Spence did to him. Spence purposely displayed his boxing ability in that fight, but we will see his other side in this fight I think. I predict Porter gets stopped for the first time in his career. Both have the dog in them, but Spence has the far superior skills to go with it.
Maidana actually surprisingly held his own in a jabbing, boxing contest with Floyd too I thought. Better than anybody would've ever thought he could've.
Castillo gave Floyd the biggest problems. Swarming, awkward style with a lot of pressure on the inside, and enough strength to force it to the inside a lot.