Kenny Porter hesitated for a moment before coming out with it. The trainer and father of former two-time welterweight titlist Shawn Porter wanted to preface what he was about to say, then he said it—“We trained harder for this fight than we did for Errol Spence.”

Almost a year ago, Shawn put on the performance of his life when he gave WBC/IBF welterweight titlist Errol Spence Jr. more misery than The Ring’s No. 6 pound-for-pound fighter anticipated or ever received in the ring.

Spence walked away with a split-decision victory in September 2019 that many argued could have went to “Showtime.”

About two weeks later, Spence was fortunate to walk away from a near-fatal car accident, while Porter walks his way back into the title picture.

This Saturday (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT) on FOX, Porter (30-3-1, 17 knockouts) will take on Germany’s Sebastian Formella (22-0, 10 KOs) in what is deemed a WBC/IBF welterweight eliminator from the Microsoft Theatre, in Los Angeles, California.

So, Kenny Porter thought about the question: What did Shawn gain from the Spence fight?

“Honestly, nothing, because it just confirmed things I already knew about Shawn,” Kenny said. “We already knew we could do those things against Spence and be successful. Spence had to use dirty tactics. The low blows in the early rounds really had us change our strategy.

“Shawn’s legs weren’t there. If Spence was honest about it, he would have come out and said, ‘I had to hit him in his balls to slow him down,’ if he was going to tell the truth. Moving forward, if we see him again, we’ll prepared for that.

“We worked hard for that (Spence) fight. We put the same work in here for (Formella) as we did Spence. But Shawn would not want to say it, because this guy doesn’t have a name like Spence, but we harder for this fight than we did the Spence fight.”

Showtime is aware Formella is a boxer who likes to use the ring.

“The only place he seems to be able to work and the only place he seems comfortable is when he’s working outside,” Shawn said about Formella. “He likes to use his jab and he’s a tall, rangy guy. I haven’t gone back and studied my fight against Spence.

“This fight for me, like every fight moving forward, is the understanding that I have to be better. It’s a desire. That desire comes out every time I fight. I will say this about the Spence fight, I was very pleased and proud of my performance.

“This might shock a few people, but I was more disappointed that my hand touched the canvas in the 11th round of the Spence fight. That was more heartbreaking than I was in losing the fight. I’m looking forward to Saturday night. I can’t wait to fight again.

“I’m going to be patient, but more aggressive. People will see a different Shawn Porter than they’ve been used to seeing.”

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been working for Ring Magazine/RingTV.com since October 1997 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on twitter @JSantoliquito.

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