In a recent sparring session at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, where welterweight Shawn Porter (who co-headlines this week?s edition of ?Friday Night Fights? on ESPN2 versus Agnes Adjaho) squared off with Rashad Holloway, he wasn?t getting quite low enough for his father/trainer, Kenny. Short in stature, Porter has to almost be like a submarine as he gets closer to his intended target, working off a double-jab and then letting his hands go inside. The elder Porter believes that from this distance, his lack of height can be a decided advantage.
However, during the moments when Porter popped his head up or didn?t move his hands enough for his father?s liking, he would hear it from the corner.
“C?mon, Shawn, you?re too high!”
“Shawn, move those hands!”
“C?mon, we worked on this!”
At the end of the rounds, while Holloway had to peer in to listen to the soft instructions of Freddie Roach, it was a whole ?nother story in the opposite corner, where the father would get inside the ring and mimic his son?s errors. And he wasn?t afraid to raise his voice. The son listened intently. You got the sense Shawn had no other choice.
Tough love?
“Nah, I wouldn?t describe it as tough love,” said Porter with a laugh, a few days later on the steps leading into the gym. “Y? know what? For a long time coming through the amateur system and the pros, people have always said I?m animated in the corner and it?s just who I am and how I move. It?s not that I?m mad or angry as much as I?m just trying to get my point across and do it a different way than most people.”
While they get input from Roach and have sought the counsel of Thell Torrance in the past, the senior Porter has been the younger Porter?s only trainer throughout his boxing career. There?s a long-held belief that father-son combinations in the corner are more difficult to navigate than your average trainer-fighter relationship but Porter?s father, who trained a host of kids in the amateurs, says this union has, “always been easier.” When asked how that is possible, he explained, “He?s just a great person to work with. His personality is totally different from mine. I?m super-aggressive. His personality is much more laid-back. So he understands me from that perspective. We laugh and joke more than we have any problems but I mean, he just makes work easy for me.”
And the son couldn?t comprehend his dad not working his corner.
“I think I?m definitely there now; I can?t tell you when I got there but I know I?ve been there for a long time,” said the 17-0 prospect. As for his father?s way of communicating to him in-between rounds, Porter says, “I?m used to it; it?s been that way since I was born. It?s something I?ve grown accustomed to over the years since I can remember. He?s always been that way, as opposed to Freddie but I can work with either-or. Freddie, you just have to listen in a little bit more because he?s very soft-spoken, whereas my dad, you hear every word that?s coming out of his mouth.”
There was never a doubt that when Shawn turned pro, ?Pops? would train him.
“My mindset is this,” explained Kenny, who doesn?t look all the much older than his 23-year old son, “if you?re training a young man- and I?ve trained hundreds, probably thousands of kids- at some point in time, if you?re training a young man and you?re putting all your time and energy into him, the closest you?re relationship could be is that of a father and son. And that?s what you want. Unfortunately, they can?t be me. So they can never be that close to Shawn or be that close to anyone they train. And if anyone is that close with a fighter, they?ve got a special relationship and it?ll move on beyond that boxer?s professional career. They will still have that relationship.”
They get along well enough that for this camp, they both situated themselves at the neighboring Vagabond Inn and they stayed in the same room (“Unfortunately,” joked Shawn). The Porters aren?t just father-son or trainer-fighter; they are every bit brothers, in certain aspects.
“It?s a culmination of all those things at any given time and it?s really special and it?s really cool because we can leave right now and go to a movie and hang out with me just like he would a buddy,” said the father. “Or he can come to the gym, [and I would] train him just like any other trainer would or we can go back to the room and be watching Ohio State and while I?m in the shower, [he?s] yelling out the score to me (On this day, the Buckeyes? hoops squad suffered their first lost to Wisconsin, much to Kenny?s dismay).
“We?re just like buddies in that sense.”
As for the need for the young man to have his space, Shawn says, “Right now, we?re in camp and we?re constantly in camp, so I don?t think that need for space comes to me as much as it would a normal or average person because of that life that I live. But when we?re not in camp, it?s just kinda understood; it?s kind of a given without asking for it and vice-versa. I always come around; I always do things without him asking me. It?s just something we?ve been able to do without that request.”
The thought of fighting without his father- who raised him as a single parent- never crossed his mind, he says.
“My dad has been there my whole entire life, so that will never be under any consideration. If that did happen, where we reached a point where he?s possibly thinking about not training me or I?m thinking about not being his fighter, that will probably be the day we call it quits as a team.”
The Porter?s reside near Akron, Ohio, a region strife with young males who had no father figures in their lives. Kenny was a constant presence not only in the boxing gym but coaching football as Shawn grew up. He recalls, “I never saw a father in all my years there.” In many respects, he was the father figure to a multitude of kids. “Oh, yeah, most definitely and I think that comes with any sport,” said the son. “You just develop that bond. I?ve had a number of football coaches that I still truly love and when I see them, I can?t stop cheesing. And I just think that?s something you develop in sports, that camaraderie.”
And he knows how lucky he was to have a father that is entrenched in his life (and corner).
“It?s definitely a blessing and God?s told me that more than one time,” said Shawn. “He often lets me know my father is a blessing to me and it?s kinda tough to go back and talk to kids and try to give them an understanding of how I live and they can?t really understand where I?m coming from because they didn?t have a father.”
ESPN3D
If you have the apparatus- and of course, the glasses- this week?s edition of ?FNF? can be viewed in 3D. It is being hailed as the first ever boxing broadcast in the United States in this format.
Doug Loughrey, Director of ESPN Programming and Acquisitions, told Maxboxing, “There were a couple of factors that went into it, obviously; we?re still trying to work within our budget we have. But we wanted to bring as many action, young prospect fighters in an arena that would have a significant, loud and vocal crowd. Knowing that Fernando Guerrero?s from the Salisbury area, the last time we were there, two years ago, it was a great crowd and he was on the undercard of that one. So all those factors played into converging there.”
ESPN has broadcast football and soccer games in 3D and it looks like this format will become more and more prevalent.
“It?s now available in 62 million homes,” Loughrey points out. “It is a developing technology and you saw from the holiday sales, a lot of the TV sets were pushing the 3D feature on them.”
GOLDEN PURSE BID
In what was a bit of a surprise on Wednesday, Golden Boy Promotions won the purse bid for the May 21st rematch between WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal and Bernard Hopkins, with a bid of just over $1.9 million. GYM, which handles Pascal, came in with a bid of around $1.7 million.
It was thought to be a given that Pascal-Hopkins II would take place in the same region as the first fight but if you?re Golden Boy and you represent Hopkins, do you really bring that fight back to Quebec, knowing what happened the first time they met?
The quandary is that this fight doesn?t sell nearly as well, from a ticket perspective, in the United States.
Of course, Gary Shaw, who has Chad Dawson opening up this HBO broadcast, doesn?t care if 500 people show up or not to this card (Yeah, I know I?ve used this joke before but did Vince Lombardi ever stop going to his ?Power Sweep??)
NOT-CHO TRAINER
It was believed that noted trainer Nacho Beristain would be working with the hard-hitting Marcos Maidana for his April 9th bout against Erik Morales. Well, according to this story, that won?t be the case: http://3morerounds.com/news/marcos-maidana-no-longer-training-with-nacho-beristain/
Geez, this union lasted about as long as Rick Majerus? run as the USC basketball coach.
BRICK CITY FLURRIES
The bout between Saul Alvarez and Matthew Hatton will be for the vacant WBC 154-pound title. I can hear the howls of protest now but here?s the thing, I can guarantee that the fact this will be for a world title will be trumpeted by those involved in this promotion, which I have no problems with. Hey, it?s part of the hustle but I do find it ironic that Oscar De La Hoya himself has made comments that these belts were basically worthless and that The Ring Championship should be recognized as the one, true belt. Make no doubt about this, those supposedly ?meaningless? belts are important and they are coveted by the major promoters and the networks…If Kelly Pavlik does indeed return on the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley undercard on May 7th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, how ?bout making that fight with Brian Vera again?…The fight for the USBA light heavyweight title between Otis Griffin and Yusaf Mack has been added to the ?Warner Center War III? at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills, California…OK, admit it; who wouldn?t want to be Charlie Sheen for a day (or three)?…I can be reached at [email protected] and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. We also have a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing.
