By Jeff Aranow: Moments ago, it was announced that WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) suffered an injury in car accident. His fight against Shawn Porter (26-1, 16 KOs) will be postponed. He was supposed to fight Porter on March 12 at the Mohegan Sun Casino, in Uncasville, Connecticut.
It’s unknown how bad the injury was for Thurman and how long he’ll be out of action.
“BREAKING: Thurman-Porter card is postponed to TBA as Thurman is injured. #boxing,” said Dan Rafael.
Some fans will immediately jump to conclusions and see it as a case of Thurman getting stage fright now that he’s getting close to fighting a guy that could ruin his career by knocking him out or humiliating him the way that Porter humiliated Adrien Broner. The fans will think that Thurman realized that he was not going to be ready to fight a talented guy like Porter in just 4 weeks from now, so he took the easy way out by making up an injury excuse to buy himself more training time. I don’t believe that. I think Thurman really is injured. But I do think he’s very nervous about the Porter fighter, as he should be. Thurman has been bragging about himself for a long time now, and this is the fight where he would have to actually prove his self promoting. It didn’t look good last year when Thurman declined a fight against Errol Spence to fight for one of Mayweather’s world titles. It made fans think Thurman was scared.
It’s unknown right now what type of injury it is and what the extent of it is. Hopefully, it’s not going to be something that will keep Thurman out of the ring for an extended amount of time.
Thurman had shoulder problems in the past back in 2014. His left shoulder problem kept him out of the ring for eight months. When Thurman did return to the ring in December 2014, he boxed on the move for 12 rounds against 40-year-old Leonard Bundu and looked unwilling to engage with the aging fighter. If it’s another shoulder problem for Thurman then it won’t be surprising to see him out of the ring for many months.
This is really bad news for boxing fans, as they were looking forward to this fight with great anticipation. The fight will eventually happen, but it’s unknown when.
This was the fight that was going to show fans whether the 27-year-old “One Time” is for real or not, because up until now, he’s been fighting mostly B and C level fighters rather than the A-level guys. We all saw Thurman struggle to beat the likes of Luis Collazo, Diego Chaves, Leonard Bundu and Jesus Soto Karass. Thurman looked poor in all of those fights.
Yes, Thurman won those fights, but he did not shine against these B-level fighters, and he should have shined if he was the real thing. The Porter fight is the one that is going to show once and for all if Thurman is going to be the fighter that takes the reigns from Floyd Mayweather Jr. as the best fighter in the sport.
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