Keith Thurman – Shawn Porter tickets on sale today for March 12th fight

By Boxing News - 01/22/2016 - Comments

thurman66By Dan Ambrose: Tickets go on sale today for the March 12th fight between WBA “regular’ welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) and Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

This is a long overdue fight for the 27-year-old Thurman, who has somehow fought his entire nine-year pro career without taking a really difficult opponent. Thurman won his WBA title without having to fight anyone, as he went from interim WBA 147lb champion to regular WBA champion outside of the ring.

This should be an interesting fight for both guys. Porter is coming off of a big win over Adrien Broner last year in June. Porter was interested in facing Broner in a rematch, but the interest unfortunately reciprocal. A second loss for Broner to Porter would have likely been fatal to his career.

Thurman will have to deal a lot of pressure in this fight, and it’s going to be a real test for him. Thurman has struggled under pressure from fighters like Diego Chaves, Luis Collazo, Leonard Bundu and Jesus Soto Karass. Thurman ran most of his fight against Bundu, and he was booed loudly at the end of the fight by the boxing fans. However, Thurman was coming off a shoulder injury, so he was given a pass because of that reason.

In Thurman’s next fight against Robert Guerrero, he was initially more willing to mix it up. But after he suffered an injury to his forehead early in the fight, Thurman got on his bike and moved for the remainder of the fight, which is pretty much what he did against Bundu for 12 rounds.

If Thurman is going to be a star in the sport, he’s going to need to be more willing to stand in the pocket and trade with his opponents. He’s justified his movement in the past by saying Floyd Mayweather Jr. liked to move and not get hit. However, Mayweather was a lot more willing to stand in the pocket than what I’ve seen from Thurman thus far.

Thurman wants to become a big star, and the only way he’s going to be able to do that is by standing in front of his opponents and engaging more. Thurman needs to be trying to become more like Gennady Golovkin and less like Mayweather if he wants to capture a huge amount of fans.

Thurman doesn’t have the hand speed or the quick reflexes of Mayweather, so he’ll never be able to win fans by moving around like Mayweather occasionally did. Thurman needs to use his punching power to go after his opponents rather than being seen running from them, which is what he tends to do a lot in his fights unfortunately.

Porter is known as a heavy pressure fighter, and he could make Thurman miserable in this fight if he can’t handle being in the pocket.

Tickets for the Thurman-Porter fight can be purchased at ticketmaster.com; call (800) 745-3000; or visit any Ticketmaster outlet. Tickets will also be available at the Mohegan Sun Box Office starting Saturday, January 23. The tickets will be going for 300, $150, $75 and $35.



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