Shawn Porter sees greatness ahead

By Boxing News - 05/24/2016 - Comments

thurman-porter (8)

By Dan Ambrose: In a month from now former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) will be challenging WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) for his title on June 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

There are many boxing fans who are leaning in the direction of the 27-year-old Thurman to defeat Porter in this clash. However, it’s a fight that is really a toss-up when you look at the two fighters’ previous fights.

Porter, 28, believes that he’s going to hand Thurman his first loss of his career. Porter sees this fight as just the beginning of huge things for him from this point on. A rematch against Thurman would be the first order of business for Porter if he defeats Thurman on June 25.

If Porter can defeat Thurman a second time, he could then be in the position to fight unification matches against IBF champion Kell Book and WBC belt holder Danny Garcia.

“Incredible division … you’ve got to take one fight at a time, and eliminate these guys one fight at a time,” Porter said to the latimes.com. “This is a big fight coming, and the good part is that any fight I’m going to be in is going to be a big fight. There’s nothing but greatness ahead.”

If not greatness for Porter, he can at least expect to be involved with some nice fights ahead of him if he can get past Thurman next month. Porter hasn’t had the big fights in his career despite being a talented fighter. Floyd Mayweather Jr. never showed interest in fighting him, and neither have Amir Khan, Tim Bradley and Manny Pacquiao. It’s understandable that Pacquiao and Bradley haven’t looked Porter’s way because those two fighters are on different sides of the track in being promoted by Top Rank.

Thurman believes he’ll have too much power for Porter in this fight. Thurman thinks he can get the better of Porter when the two of them start exchanging shots because of his superior hand speed. However, it’s more likely that not that Thurman will focus on throwing single pot shots and quickly retreating to avoid getting hit by Porter.

If Porter does close the distance to get within punching range of Thurman, you can expect him to be tied up to keep him from getting his shots off on the inside. Kell Brook and Adrien Broner both did this frequently with Porter, and it worked. Porter fought through many of the clinches by Broner, but he still wasn’t able to throw with a lot of power due to Broner holding one of his arms or having him in a bear hug to prevent any punches being thrown.

YouTube video

Thurman will likely have developed the right holding technique to keep Porter from being able to get his shots off when he gets inside on him on June 25. This fight could turn out to be a really one-sided affair with Thurman playing the hit and run routine and then holding Porter when he attempts to close the distance to land his own shots. It might not be pretty by Thurman but at least he would be able to win the fight and move on from there. Thurman will never be a Gennady Golovkin type of fighter because he doesn’t like to put himself in position where he could get hit.

Thurman’s chin isn’t as good as Golovkin’s, and he’s not fearless like he is. Thurman’s fighting style is someone like Mayweather, but he doesn’t stay in the pocket like Mayweather did during his career. Thurman is all about landing a shot, and getting away quickly to avoid getting hit. if Thurman could fight like Golovkin, he would become a big star in the welterweight division because he would pile on a lot of knockouts. But then again, Thruman’s chin might betray him in his fights against the best, and he could wind up getting knocked out.

Thurman’s timid style of fighting suggests that he knows something about himself and his ability to take punishment. A fighter that believes that he can take some heavy shots, will be willing to put themselves in the line of fire in order to get a knockout. Thurman doesn’t do that though, and that’s probably why he’ll likely never be a Golovkin like star. He’ll be more of a Zab Judah or Amir Khan type.