LOS ANGELES — Shawn Porter was watching Ryan Garcia’s boxing match with Francisco Fonseca on Feb. 14, and a thought crossed his mind.
The very next morning, Porter, a former two-time welterweight boxing champion, was set to appear on “Celebrity Family Feud” as part of a team representing the World Boxing Council against stars from the UFC. Garcia was supposed to be one of his teammates for the television show.
How was Garcia going to fight Fonseca, Porter wondered, and then film a TV game show essentially a few hours later?
“I was in denial,” Porter told ESPN. “I’m like, ‘He ain’t gonna be there. He’s fighting the night before.’ The second thought: ‘Is he that bold to schedule two things?’ My thought was, I hope to see him there.”
Sure enough, Garcia, one of boxing’s hottest young stars, pulled off the feat. Garcia knocked out Fonseca at just 1:20 of the second round and then, about 15 hours later, helped lead Team WBC to a dominant 522-37 victory over Team UFC on Feb. 15. The fight was in Anaheim, California. The show was filmed in the Fairfax district of L.A. and aired Thursday night on ABC.
“We got the [early] knockout,” Garcia said afterward. “Two days in a row, [early] knockout.”
The WBC team consisted of Garcia, Porter, retired former heavyweight champions Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe, as well as WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman. Team UFC was headed by former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin, who is an executive with the fight promotion. His squad consisted of Henry Cejudo, who was UFC men’s bantamweight champion at the time, and former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm, plus welterweight Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson and strawweight Michelle Waterson.
With the victory, the WBC earned $25,000 for the Andy Vargas Foundation, a youth scholarship program in Los Angeles. The UFC team won $5,000 for the Jimmy V Foundation for cancer research.
The UFC team had a slow start and struggled to gain back any momentum. In the first showdown, between Garcia and Griffin, the ex-UFC fighter hit the button first and was asked to name a top answer for the question: “What animal does your wife turn into as soon as you come to bed?” Griffin answered “giraffe,” which was not on the board. Garcia said “bear” — the No. 1 answer, which allowed Team WBC to take control.
“That’s where it went wrong,” Griffin said with a laugh. “You have to set the tone as the team captain. We had a fumble on the opening kickoff. That’s pretty much what happened. … I don’t know where that came from, but I wish it went back there.”
Joked Thompson: “As soon as ‘giraffe’ came out of his mouth, we were like, ‘OK, we’re screwed.'”
Bowe was arguably the MVP for Team WBC, quick with a joke and answers, including a showdown victory over Holm.
“Family Feud” host Steve Harvey told the studio audience that in Las Vegas five years ago he bet $10,000 on Holm to beat Ronda Rousey at UFC 193. Holm, of course, knocked Rousey out.
“I told everybody she was gonna whoop Ronda Rousey,” Harvey said.
Waterson said she’s a lifelong fan of “Family Feud” and was hoping to get more time to hang out with Harvey on set. “I want a rematch,” she said.
Meanwhile, Cejudo joked that the fix was in. “The King of Cringe says it was rigged,” Cejudo said.
Team WBC would beg to differ. Garcia stole the show, guiding his team to victory just hours after a highlight-reel knockout in a boxing ring.
“Life is good,” Holyfield said. “One has to take advantage of the opportunity — and he did. Bam.”
