Photos: Andre Berto, Shawn Porter - Ready For Battle at Barclays

By Keith Idec

Shawn Porter and Andre Berto both made weight without any difficulty Friday afternoon in Brooklyn.

Porter weighed in at the division limit of 147 pounds for their WBC welterweight elimination match Saturday night at Barclays Center. Berto weighed 146½ pounds at the Brooklyn Marriott.

Their scheduled 12-round fight will be broadcast by Showtime as the main event of a “Showtime Championship Boxing” doubleheader.

The winner between the 33-year-old Berto (31-4, 24 KOs) and the 29-year-old Porter (26-2-1, 16 KOs) will become the mandatory challenger for WBC welterweight champion Keith Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs, 1 NC).

Thurman beat Porter by unanimous decision on June 25 at Barclays Center. Their 12-round battle was generally regarded as one of the best action fights of 2016.

Porter, a former IBF welterweight champion from Akron, Ohio, is rated No. 3 by the WBC. Berto, a former WBC and IBF welterweight title-holder from Winter Haven, Florida, is ranked No. 4.

Berto and Porter posed for photos after the weigh-in with Paul Williams. The former WBO welterweight champion has been paralyzed from the waist down since suffering injuries during a motorcycle accident in May 2012.

Showtime’s telecast will begin at 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT with another championship match that’ll pit WBC super welterweight champion Jermell Charlo (28-0, 13 KOs) against mandatory challenger Charles Hatley (26-1-1, 18 KOs).

The 26-year-old Charlo, of Houston, weighed in Friday at 153½ pounds. The 31-year-old Hatley, of Dallas, weighed 153¾ pounds.

Charlo and Hatley continued to go at each other in animated fashion following their weigh-in Friday.

“There’s a new sheriff in town,” Hatley said. “Here I come. He’s going to sleep.”

Hatley hasn’t fought since he knocked out Australia’s Anthony Mundine in the 11th round of their November 2015 fight in Melbourne.

Charlo also will end a long layoff when they get in the ring Saturday night. He hasn’t boxed since he overcame a deficit on all three scorecards to knock out John Jackson in the eighth round and won the then-vacant WBC 154-pound title May 21 in Las Vegas.

“At the end of the day, he’s gotta fight tomorrow,” Charlo said. “All of his people running their mouths, they don’t.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.