By Jeff Aranow: WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) wants to make sure the judges have nothing to do with the final results of his fight against Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) on June 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Thurman, 27, plans on knocking Porter out in this fight, which will be televised on Showtime Championship Boxing. Thurman has had problems knocking guys out lately, as he’s fallen short in two out of his last three fights in living up to his “One Time” nickname.
You can argue that Thurman’s nickname should be “Sometimes” rather than “One Time.” Never the less, Thurman can still punch and he’s dangerous if he can hit you enough times or if he hits you on the right spot.
“Obviously someone’s going down and I would prefer it not go to the judges,” said Thurman during today’s media conference call. “We both have dreams we want to live and if it means going through each other, then so be it. I’m always trying to hurt my opponents. At the end of the day, this is just another boxing match. I got lots of love and respect for Shawn and I look forward to this. Come next week, we’ll know who’s the best.”
This is a strange situation with Thurman and Porter being good friends and now fighting each other. It’s going to be interesting to see which of them emerges the winner. In the leaked sparring session of the two fighters from years ago, Thurman was moving constantly and not allowing Porter to land much of anything. Thurman was using his hit and run style of fighting, and there wasn’t much that Porter could do with that style other than to keep attacking.
When Porter did get close enough to land his punches, Thurman would grab him in a clinch to keep him from landing anything. It was like watching many of Thurman’s past fight, in particular his match against Leonard Bundu in 2014. Thurman spent most of that fight moving around the ring to avoid getting hit by Bundu, and the fight fans were not too pleased about Thurman’s performance.
“I’m going to do my job and leave as the WBA champ. We will see if he’s prepared for everything I got…there can’t be a friendship in the middle of the ring after we touch gloves. This fight has been in my mind for a number of years. I knew this fight would happen eventually. Whoever wins this fight will be the No. 1 in the (147) division,” said Porter.
Whoever wins the Thurman vs. Porter fight, can say they’re the number one fighter in the 147lb division, but they won’t be seen as the best until they fight and defeat Errol Spence, Jessie Vargas, Tim Bradley and Danny Garcia. If they fail to fight all of those guys, then they can’t say they’re the best. Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol will likely be moving up to welterweight in the future, so they’ll be someone that Porter and Thurman will need to contend with for them to be seen as the best.