(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Dan Ambrose: WBA interim welterweight champion Keith Thurman says he’s interested in fighting for a title against IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter in the near future if Porter isn’t forced to fight Kell Brook in a mandatory title defense. Thurman isn’t too worried if he doesn’t get a fight against Porter right now, as he believes that a fight against him can be a future mega fight if the two of them keep winning. Thurman is also interested in fighting WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia once he moved up to the welterweight division.
“Shawn Porter is a great fight. It’s a good fight for today or tomorrow. Let’s see what the world of boxing allows. He does have that mandatory [against Kell Brook]. Let’s see if they enforce that mandatory. You guys might have to wait a bit. Like I said I’m 25-years-old, I’m going nowhere. We can turn that into a super fight. Keith Thurman vs. Shawn Porter. Tell Danny [Garcia] to move up, baby.”
Thurman is kidding himself if he really believes a fight against Porter can be a super fight. Porter isn’t one of those types of fighters, and it’s going to take too long for Thurman and Porter to become popular enough for a fight between them to be a huge, huge fight. Thurman needs fights like Porter in order to build a fan base in the first place because he still hasn’t faced opposition good enough to capture a lot of fans. Thurman needs to push Golden Boy Promotions to make a fight between him and Porter sooner rather than later.
This Saturday night, Thurman is fighting 34-year-old Julio Diaz, and this isn’t the kind of fights that are going to do much for Thurman. Diaz was used by Khan as a tune-up fight after his losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia. Thurman hasn’t been beaten by anyone, and so there’s no real reason for him to be fighting guys like Diaz.
Thurman fought well in defeating Jesus Soto Karass by a 9th round TKO in his last fight. That fight was interesting because Soto Karass was young enough and big enough to make an interesting fight with Thurman, but Diaz is a former lightweight and he likely won’t be able to make much of a fight of it.
The chances of Golden Boy Promotions letting Danny Garcia fight Thurman after he moves up is slim. They won’t let Garcia take a risky fight like that with Thurman because they’re grooming Garcia for a big money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Garcia has a big fan base and Golden Boy isn’t going to feed him to a puncher like Thurman, especially after we just finished seeing Garcia’s talent limits in his controversial win over Mauricio Herrera. After that performance from Danny, Golden Boy/Al Haymon likely won’t get Danny get within 8 thousand miles of someone like Thurman. Once Garcia gets the Mayweather fight – and likely loses – then we’ll see fights like Garcia vs. Thurman, but definitely not before that.
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