mosley5 By Dan Ambrose: After sparring seven rounds with former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) this past week, 44-year-old Shane Mosley came away from the experience very impressed with Porter’s punching power, aggression and overall talent.

Mosley sees the 28-year-old Porter as a very tough challenger for WBA welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) to deal with in their fight on March 12 on Premier Boxing Champions on CBS at the Mohegan Sun Casino, in Uncasville, Connecticut.

This is going to be the first time that Thurman has ever really faced a high pressure fighter with punching power. Previously, Thurman defeated pressure fighters 40-year-old Leonard Bundu and Robert Guerrero by one-sided 12 round decisions in the past, but neither of those fighters had any power to speak of. Porter is a far superior puncher than Bundu and Guerrero.

Thurman did a lot of running in both of those fights, especially the Bundu fight. That was a fight where Thurman was booed from the 2nd round until the 12th. It was just really horrible to watch. Even after the fight, the crowd continued to boo Thurman as he was being interviewed. Instead of apologizing to the fans for the way he fought, Thurman defensively said, “This is the sport of boxing, I pick how I want to fight. Only some of them are booing, the rest of them are cheering.”

Porter is going to put pressure on Thurman like he’s never seen before, and it’s going to put him in the position where he’ll either need to hold constantly or run. I don’t think for a second that Thurman will stand his ground and try and fight Porter because he doesn’t have the chin to slug it out with Porter. We’ve already see Porter get hurt by Jesus Soto-Karass, Luis Collazo and Diego Chaves. Even Guerrero was hurting Thurman.

💨💨💨#ThePorterWay #ThurmanPorter #March12 #PBConCBS pic.twitter.com/IUjV3L2tvX

— ShowtimeShawn Porter (@ShowtimeShawnP) February 9, 2016

“Shawn Porter’s strength and power ranks among the top of the welterweight division,” Mosley said to Fighthub. “He’s stronger than I think anyone I’ve been in the ring with as far as welterweights are concerned. He has very good punching power as well…when he gets in the ring and fights these guys he punches very hard where he knocks them out, he wears them down. The strength and power that he has and the will that he carries inside himself — it very, very strong.”

There’s no question that Porter is going to be able to hurt the 27-year-old Thurman if he can get close enough to throw his punches without being tied up. It’s going to be hard for Porter to get in range of Thurman, though. I think Thurman is going to make it a point in running from Porter all night long. When Porter does get in punching range, I then see Thurman grabbing him in a clinch.

“We sparred today like seven rounds, we were working on some things, working on some things, movement and things like that,” Mosley said about Porter. “What I know about Shawn is that he works very hard…and he’s a good listener too. I think he’s going to do very well.”