By Dan Ambrose: Former two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi sees this Saturday’s fight between WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time’ Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) and Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) as a weeding out process between two of the top five fighters in the 147lb division. Thurman will be defending his WBA 147lb title at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. the fight will be televised on Showtime Championship Boxing.
Malignaggi doesn’t necessarily believe that Porter and Thurman are the top two fighters at welterweight. They still need to prove themselves against each other and the other remaining three top welterweights, which Malignaggi didn’t name.
It’s likely that Malignaggi sees Errol Spence, Danny Garcia and Kell Brook as the three other guys. You could possibly substitute one or those names with Tim Bradley, David Avanesyan, Jessie Vargas and Andre Berto. Those are all quality fighters that could potentially take the No.1 spot, although it’s not likely.
“The welterweight division is always pretty deep, and with the exit of Floyd [Mayweather Jr] and Manny [Pacquiao], there’s a power vacuum and there’s a lot of top fighters,” said Malignaggi to Premier Boxing Champions [PBC]. “Nobody has been able to secure that No.1 spot, the top spot. With this match-up between Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter, it’s two of the top guys. I’d say two of the top four or five guys in the division, battling it out head to head. So, absolutely, it’s going to be able to eliminate one of them. A lot of times you see the top two or three guys in the division, they kind of stay away from each other until they have to fight. So this is one of those moments where they’ll have to fight. One will be eliminated. I’m sure they’ll remain relevant, but not in the top five, and that will give the ability to start to see how they’ll shake out as far as crowning the No.1 guy in the welterweight division, because it’s still a deep division with talent,” said Malignaggi.
What Malignaggi doesn’t say is that even if Thurman or Porter ultimately proves they’re the number one welterweight in the division, it’s very likely won’t be able to step into Mayweather’s shoes as a pay-per-view attraction. They’re not those type of fighters, or least they’ve shown themselves to be popular yet. It’s possible that even if Porter or Thurman become the top welterweight, they would wind up like the top junior middleweights. In other words, they would be seen as the best, but they would remain fighters that aren’t popular enough to be on PPV.
“Keith Thurman wins this fight if he can have his spots controlling the distance and not let Shawn Porter maul him the entire time,” said Malignaggi. “Keith Thurman can win in spots if he can make Porter pay for the mauling tactics. Porter comes in a lot of the times with his head down, and he’ll try to rush you with that body to body contact. When he gets that body to body contact, he tries to push you around and get you off balance,” said Malignaggi.
Thurman will be moving to keep from being mauled by Porter. Thurman has already given away his game plan for this fight many times in the last few weeks by saying that he doesn’t plan on standing still for an instant. He’s going to hit, move and not present himself as a stationary target.
Thurman will get hit more in this fight that he has in a long time, so he’s going to need to have a good chin without getting staggered like he has in the past when he’s been hit hard. Thurman will be giving away a lot of real estate in trying avoid Porter’s attacks in this fight, and it’s important not to be seen as running or holding too much because the judges will count that against him if that’s all he does.
Adrien Broner used running and holding in his last fight against Porter last year in June, and it didn’t work. Porter was able to trap Broner and force him to fight. Thurman is more mobile than Broner, so it’s possible that Porter won’t be able to trap him in the same way.
“Shawn Porter wins this fight if he can stay away from the big power shots of Thurman,” said Malignaggi. “Shawn is never going to be mistaken for Pernell Whitaker, as for as defense, but he does have his ways of defending. A lot of the times he’s at a high guard when he attacks. He’ll also get chest to chest with you. This is a fight that is going to be exciting. This is a fight between two powerful welterweights. Again, they’re going right at each other. People want to fill that No.1 spot. With the exit of Floyd, nobody is lollygagging around. Thurman and Porter are really taking the first step to try and secure the top spot,” said Malignaggi.
Porter will need be careful when coming forward because Thurman will have the opportunity to land when he’s being charged. Porter will also need to be cautious when Thurman is retreating because he likes to throw left hooks, and he frequently stops his retreat to fire off a quick combination before resuming his backing up.