Any blockage of a port will roll off the bottom of your speaker sooner, Your speaker will not go as low in frequency! If your speaker is truly "Boomy", you might try removing the port and replacing it with a longer one. The longer the port, the lower the tuned frequency which will lower the frequency hump. If your port is too long, you will change your hump to a dip. If at at all possible, I really recommend moving the speaker, trying to remove room boundry reinforcement and not mess with the design of the speaker.
But if you must block the port, Material matters on each application, just because a pair of pajamas was ok on one speaker in one room in Australia, doesn't mean the same application will work on a different speaker in a different room in Ohio. The amount of air escaping will change the tuning frequency, so a sponge will sound different than cardboard or pajamas. Good Listening, Tim