Friday, March 29, 2024  |

News

Shawn Porter needed a haircut to make weight, but assures he’s ready to go

Fighters Network
08
Mar

It wasn’t an easy day to make weight for defending titleholders on Friday. At roughly the same time that Maurice Hooker needed four trips to the scale to make 140 pounds in New York, Shawn Porter was hitting speed bumps of his own on the west coast.

The WBC welterweight titleholder Porter shocked observers when he initially checked in at 148.8, nearly two pounds over the weight limit for his first title defense against Yordenis Ugas at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

Ugas, who is two inches taller at 5’8″, was ripped and ready at 146.6 pounds on his first attempt.

Porter used up much of the two hours he was allowed to cut weight, and had to cut off some of his braided hair to finally get down to 146.8 pounds. When the commission ruled he had made the limit, Shawn’s trainer and father Kenny Porter celebrated like they’d just won another belt.



“This was not a step back, this was not me underestimating Ugas. This was nothing except me not taking care of business the way it needed to be taken care of when it needed to be taken care,” said Porter (29-2-1, 17 knockouts) after stepping off the scale.

“It’s done, it’s over, I’m solid as a rock, I feel good and I’m ready to fight.”

Porter is making the first defense of the belt he won in his last fight when he beat Danny Garcia by split decision in September, while Ugas (23-3, 11 KOs) has won eight straight to earn the mandatory fight.

The fight headlines a PBC on Fox card which begins at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday.

 

SIGN UP TO GET RING NEWS ALERTS