By Dan Ambrose: Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) is expected to be back inside the ring by June, according to ESPN. Thurman, 27, is recovering from an automobile accident he was involved in a couple of weeks ago.
The injury caused Thurman’s March 12 fight against challenger Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) to be temporarily called off until later. Thurman suffered whiplash in the car accident. Once he does recover from the accident, then the fight will be rescheduled for the Mohegan Sun resort in Uncasville, Connecticut.
In the meantime, Porter will be taking part in an exhibition bout to stay busy, as he hasn’t fought since last year in June when he beat Adrien Broner.
Porter will be fighting Lanardo Tyner on March 12 in a fight streamed by Premier Boxing Champions on their Facebook site at facebook.com/premierboxingchampions.com. It’s unclear how much work Porter can get in an exhibition fight against Tyner. It might be better for Porter to take an actual fight against one of the contenders rather than fighting an exhibition fight.
However, Porter might not be able to take another fight due to his contract for the Thurman fight. He’s stuck waiting for Thurman to heal up slowly. What would be really bad is if Thurman’s injuries take ages to heal. There needs to be some kind of cutoff point where Porter can move on and look to continue his pro career rather than wasting away waiting for Thurman to recover one of these days.
For boxing fans wanting to see the Porter-Tyner fight live, it’ll be shown at the Porter’s gym, the Porter Hy-Performance Center in Las Vegas. This is on March 12th at 10:00 p.m. ET. However, it’s not going to be like a normal fight. There will be headgear worn by both fighters and huge 16oz gloves. This is an exhibition fight after all. You can’t expect the fighters to go at it for real.
Thurman has been talking himself up as being the replacement for Floyd Mayweather Jr., but thus far he’s not been active since Mayweather hung up his gloves last September. Thurman had an easy fight against journeyman Luis Collazo last July, and since then, Thurman hasn’t been fighting. If he’s going to be the replacement for Mayweather, then he’ll need to fight a lot more frequently and against better opposition than guys like Collazo and Robert Guerrero.
The World Boxing Association might want to think about stripping Thurman of his title if he takes too much time healing up from his car accident. It’s not a good thing when an injured fighter sits on his title for a prolonged period of time without defending their titles.
The show must go on. If you were injured at work, you can’t expect your employer not to look to replace you with another worker. The WBA needs to think seriously about giving Thurman a deadline for when he must come back from his injuries. If he can’t make it back in time, then they need to strip him and assign him as the emeritus champion.
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