Terence Crawford v Shawn Porter: WBO welterweight championship – live! – The Guardian

Round 4

The fascinating matchup we were promised is coming to pass. Porter forcing the issue and making Crawford fight at his pace but Crawford, alternating stances but fighting mostly as a southpaw, popping Porter with counters every time he bullrushes in. Great round for Bud, clearest of the fight so far.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Crawford 10-9 Porter (Crawford 38-38 Porter)

Round 3

A more cautious round though it’s playing to the pace of Crawford, who ominously appears to be finding his rhythm. Some good body work from Porter but Crawford is getting his licks in. Porter comes inside and lands a flush uppercut. What a shot! But it’s not without a cost: Porter appears cut over his right eye and it appears to have been from a clash of heads. Porter goes down but the referee correctly rules it a slip. Bell rings and that’s a Porter round.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Crawford 9-10 Porter (Crawford 28-29 Porter)

Round 2

Crawford and Porter measuring one another in the middle of the ring. Porter lands a flush counter right. Crawford follows with a counter left followed by a left to the body. Another good 1-2 combo by Crawford. Big exchange that Porter gets the better of. Two-way action breaking out as the crowd is whipped into a frenzy. A close round by Crawford takes it.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Crawford 10-9 Porter (Crawford 19-19 Porter)

Round 1

Porter springs from his corner and throws a combination at Crawford. The lefty Crawford fighting off the back foot early as usual, absorbing Porter’s fire. Crawford lands a sharp left that snaps Porter’s head back. Bell rings and first round goes to Porter, who threw more and landed more.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Crawford 9-10 Porter (Crawford 9-10 Porter)

The fighters are making their ringwalks. First it’s Porter, the two-time welterweight champion, accompanied by the rapper Rapsody as he makes the long walk to the squared circle. And then comes Crawford, ambling to the ring in white robe and black trim to LL Cool J’s I’m Bad.

Hello and welcome to tonight’s WBO welterweight title fight between Terence Crawford and Shawn Porter. Crawford, the longtime champion at 147lbs who’s been on the shelf since a TKO win over Britain’s Kell Brook last year, is out to bolster his claim as the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter opposite Porter, who’s fresh off a dominant win over Sebastian Formella in August.

Fascinating scrap, this. Crawford is a heavy favorite on merit – most oddsmakers list him as a 5/1 favorite – but no one ever looks good against the crafty, athletic Porter, a two-time beltholder at boxing’s glamour division. The consensus is tonight’s showdown will either be a virtuoso performance for Crawford against perhaps the highest quality opponent of his career or an all-out war between two of the best welterweights of their generation.