By Dan Ambrose: Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) and WBA “regular” welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) could be facing each other in late February on the 20th or 27th, according to Fighthype. The two of them definitely will be fighting each other. The only thing that needs to be established is what date the fight will take place.
Porter and his father/trainer Kenny Porter are a little frustrated at how long it’s taken to get the 27-year-old “One Time” Thurman into the ring, as they wanted to face him in December to get it over with.
They feel pretty confident that Thurman’s chin will betray him in this fight, and they can’t wait to get it over with. Thurman has looked vulnerable when standing in the pocket against fighters with any kind of punching power, and Porter would appear to be a bad match-up for him.
Porter will be a big step up for Thurman from the guys that he’s been fighting. Thurman did not look good in his recent fights. He seems to be unable to stand in the pocket against any of his opponents. Some boxing fans believe that Thurman has a chin issue. They point to the fact that Jesus Soto-Karass and Diego Chaves were both able to hurt him with hard shots.
The Thurman-Porter fight will take place on Premier Boxing Champions on CBS, according to Fighthype. That’s a good vehicle to televise the fight, as it’ll be on free television and a lot of fans would be interested in seeing the fight. If they were to televise the Garcia vs. Porter fight on one of the premium channels, it would limit the amount of boxing fans that would see it.
There really aren’t a lot of options for Thurman if his adviser Al Haymon elects not to put him in with Porter. Thurman has already taken two easy voluntary defenses against Robert Guerrero and Luis Collazo. It looks like the World Boxing Association is going to allow Thurman to take a third voluntary defense, but unless he faces Porter, the money will likely be a lot less than he could make against someone else.
If Haymon chooses not to match Thurman against Porter, he would have guys like #1 WBA David Avanesyan and #5 WBA available as possibilities. #2 Amir Khan and #3 Danny Garcia would likely pass on the option of fighting Thurman. Khan can make more money fighting IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook, and Garcia is targeting the vacant WBC welterweight title.
Thurman hasn’t fought since last July when he defeated old warhorse Luis Collazo by a 7th round knockout. It was one of those business type fights where Thurman fought someone who was recognizable to hardcore and to some casual fans of the sport, but not someone who was good enough to beat him or give him a tough test.
If Haymon had put Thurman in with a dangerous young lion like Errol Spence Jr, we’d likely not be talking about Thurman vs. Porter right now because Spence would have probably knocked Thurman out.
Luckily for Thurman, Haymon is moving him and Spence on different paths by positioning Spence to eventually face IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook in 2016, if Brook can get past Amir Khan in their proposed fight in the summer of 2016. If everything works out well, Haymon will have three of his fighters as welterweight champions in 2016. Danny Garcia would be the WBC champ, Thurman the WBA champion, and Errol Spence the IBF champ.
The only title not being held by a Haymon fighter would be the WBO 147lb belt. That title would go to one of Haymon’s fighters too if Khan was interested in fighting Bradley and able to get a fight against him. Bradley would be made to order for Khan.
Thurman wants to take over for Floyd Mayweather Jr as the top fighter in the sport, but he’s not taking the risky fights that Mayweather took. Thurman is going to need to face better opposition and fight in a more exciting style if he wants to become a PPV level fighter. Thurman needs to put his chin on the line in some of his fights so that he can be more entertaining, because the running he does in his fights is terrible to watch.
I can’t see Thurman beating Porter, however. I think Thurman will run all around the ring and do a lot of holding to try and keep Porter off of him. I don’t think it’s going to work for Thurman, and I think he’s ultimately going to have his fragile chin exposed by Porter. In that respect, I think Thurman is a weaker version of Adrien Broner.
Comments are closed.