Keith Thurman decisions Shawn Porter – results

By Boxing News - 06/25/2016 - Comments

Thurman vs Porter

(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Tom Casino/SHOWTIME) By Jim Dower: Unbeaten WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (27-0, 22 Kos) retained his WBA title in edging former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (26-2-1, 16 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The final judges’ scores were 115-113, 115-113 and 115-113.

Both fighters were hurt in the fight, but Thurman landed the cleaner shots. His movement and pot shots were the difference. The crowd at the Barclays Center didn’t like the decision and booed loudly.

Porter was pressuring Thurman the entire fight. Thurman would back up move around the ring and try and catch Porter coming in with pot shots. Porter did a great job of working Thurman over on the ropes when he was able to get him trapped them.

Thurman was staggered with a right hand from Porter in the 7th. Thurman looked in bad shape for a moment.

In the 8th round, Porter hurt Thurman with a hard body shots that caused him to run away and then hold. Thurman did come on in the last 30 seconds of the round to get the better of Porter. However, I gave the round to Porter simply because he had Thurman in clear distress. Thurman did recover well to get the better of Porter, but it was clearly too late for him to win the round in my view.

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The fight was one of the best of the year. I wouldn’t rate it as thrilling as the Orlando Salido vs. Francisco Vargas match, however, because Thurman was running much of the time to evade Porter. We didn’t see that running from Vargas and Salido. If you rate the fight on pure excitement, the Vargas-Salido fight was far better because both guys were in the pocket. Thurman was in the pocket about 50% of the time tonight. The remainder of the time, he was moving and that kind of boring at times.

It was a crowd of 12,718 fans at the Barclays Center tonight. That’s a very good crowd for these two fighters, because neither of them has headlined a pay-per-view event in their careers. It took both of them to bring in this size crowd.

After the fight, Thurman and Porter talked of facing each other in a rematch. That sounds like a great idea if Thurman will actually do it. Unbeaten #5 WBA Errol Spence Jr. would like to fight Thurman. That’s something will likely happen later in the future after Spence wins a title. He’s looking to fight Leonard Bundu on August 21 in an IBF welterweight eliminator bout. The winner of the Spence-Bundu fight will be facing Kell Brook for his IBF 147lb title.

Porter connected on 236 of 662 punches for a connect percentage of 26. Thurman landed 235 of 359 shots for a 44 percent connect rate, according to CompuBox.

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“I think I won the fight, but I’m satisfied, because the competitor came out tonight,” said Porter after the fight.

Porter was more than competitive. He fought Thurman to a virtual standstill in this fight, and proved that without his movement, Thurman would have lost. He had to run otherwise he would have been bludgeoned by Porter.

Thurman did a good job of landing single shots when Porter would come inside on him. Thurman would mostly land his left hook. That was his primary weapon all night long in the contest. He threw going forward, backwards and when he was standing still. Porter didn’t seem to nullify this weapon, and this enabled Thurman to land it frequently.

In round two, Porter pinned Thurman to the ropes and unloaded a storm of head and body shots. Thurman tried to make Porter miss, but he was hit over and over again with hard head shots.
“I gave it a throwback in round two and gave him the rope-a-dope, Muhammad Ali style,” said Thurman via ESPN.com. “I was just thinking defense, defense, defense. Defense negates his offense. He had a great offense but I had a great defense.”

In the third round, Thurman landed a hard right hand to the head of Porter late in the round when he was attacking him. Porter responded with his own big shots as the round ended. However, Thurman’s right hand seemed to get the most attention, and it’s likely that the judges gave Thurman the round despite the fact that Porter landed just as well as Thurman.

Thurman suffered a cut over his left eye in the 9th round after getting hit by a hard right hand from Porter. This was the round where Thurman allowed himself to be backed up against the ropes by Porter. Thurman tried to punch with Porter, but he ended up getting the worst of it in a big way. Porter really worked Thurman over in that round and had him looking bloody and beaten by the end of it.

Porter was having a good round in the 10th, but things went to pieces for him when he was nailed by a big left hook from Thurman that caused his legs to give way slightly. Porter came back strong to land some big shots as the round ended. It was a toss-up round, but given that Thurman landed the better shot, it was obviously he won.

As for Thurman giving Porter a rematch, it could happen. It’ll depend on the networks likely. If the fight brought in big enough ratings, then they could fight each other again.

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“I would give him a rematch. It was a great fight. He was a great opponent,” said Thurman. “Everyone was saying he would be my toughest opponent to date. I was unable to drop him. I did rock him. He’s a good athlete.”

Thurman forgot to say that Porter also rocked him and hurt him with a body shot. It wasn’t a one-way street when it came to hurting. Thurman was just as hurt as Porter was in this fight. It was an event fight when it came to punishment.

“We need a rematch,” said Porter. “I know the fans want that rematch. If he gives me another chance, I’m going to work hard in the ring and leave with his title,” said Porter.