Former two-time welterweight champion Shawn Porter, who recently retired, is very familiar with current 147-pound champions Errol Spence and Yordenis Ugas.

Porter won a close and some felt controversial twelve round split decision over Ugas in 2019. In the same year, he lost a hard-fought split decision to Spence.

Ugas and Spence are now poised to collide in a 2022 unification - with the WBA, WBC, IBF welterweight titles at stake.

The Cuban boxer has won four fights in a row since suffering the close loss to Porter.

Back in August, Ugas picked up by far the biggest win of his career when he outboxed eight division champion Manny Pacquiao over twelve rounds to retain the WBA title.

Ugas accepted that fight over late notice when Spence withdrew with a serious eye injury. Pacquiao would retire in the aftermath.

Because of the eye injury, and a serious car accident, Spence has only had a single fight in two years - a dominant decision win over Danny Garcia in December 2020.

While Porter is backing Spence to win, he doesn't rule out the possibility of an upset by Ugas. 

“I think Yordenis is now at a point where he is prepared to make whatever adjustments he has to make to beat whoever is in front of him. In fact, I am convinced that he could find a way to beat Errol Spence. I think it's a fight that Errol wins, but more than anything, I want to see what Yordenis Ugas does," Porter said on his podcast The Porter Way.

“I think Errol wins, but now I'm curious. In a moment, I knew exactly what Yordenis Ugas was going to do and I could tell you what would happen. Not only did he grow up at the time of the Manny Pacquiao fight, but he also learned a few things about himself."