By Luis Sandoval

Undefeated Shawn Porter hopes to graduate from contender to champion when he faces IBF Welterweight champion Devon Alexander on December 7th at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, NY.

This will be Porter’s first opportunity at a major world title and while Shawn’s father and trainer Kenny Porter agrees Alexander will be the best fighter they’ve faced in their professional career, he also believes they’ve had the proper preparation to face a fighter of Devon’s caliber.

“Devon is definitely the best guy that we’ve faced thus far in our professional career but there are a lot of other things that go along with that. I fully understand that people would say sparring sessions are not the do all, tell all of a fight but trust and believe James Kirkland was coming after my kid with hammer fists a week ago. I mean he pushed my kid down and hammer fisted him three times and I had to jump in the ring with the guy. So trust and believe the intensity of that type of session in comparison to what we’re going to see out of Devon, I don’t believe he can reach that intensity. I don’t believe it for one minute” Kenny Porter would tell BoxingScene.

The recent intense sparring sessions with Kirkland coupled with Porter’s previous work with guys like Manny Pacquiao have undoubtedly prepared Shawn for this moment according to Kenny Porter. The quality work with quality fighters is a continued trend as they will be bringing in recently crowned WBO Junior Middleweight Demetrius Andrade to work with Shawn in the last weeks leading up  to the fight.

Kenny also believes Andrade will bring more to the table than Shawn will see on fight night against Alexander.

“Same thing with Demetrius Andrade. I have absolutely no doubt what we’re going to see from Demetrius throughout the next week or so until the holidays comes - [which is] how long he’ll stay with us – I know that’s going to be better than anything Alexander can bring. We are going to be fully prepared for anything” said a confident Kenny Porter.

As Kenny himself stated, sparring sessions don’t always reflect what a fighter will be able to do in the ring on the night of the fight but it’s still valuable experience to work with top tier fighters. Porter is not only working with some at the moment but he’ll also be facing one December 7th and he’ll be as prepared as he could possibly be to take on that challenge.

You can follow Luis Sandoval on Twitter & Instagram @Truewest007