By Allan Fox: WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) says nobody is afraid of Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs), and that he doesn’t have the kind of punching power that would make anyone in the division avoid him. Thurman says he could have pulled out of the fight if he wanted to, but he’s not afraid of fighting the 28-year-old Porter. On June 25, Thurman is going to have to prove to the boxing world that he’s better than Porter when the two of them face each other at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
If Porter doesn’t hit that hard, then maybe Thurman will be more willing to stay in the pocket and fight him in a one-on-one manner rather than moving constantly like we’ve seen from him in many of his previous fights.
“If I really wanted to pull out of the fight, I had every opportunity to completely pull out of the fight,” said Thurman to Fighthype.com. “There ain’t nobody trying to avoid Shawn Porter. Nobody’s scared of Shawn Porter. Look at all the fighters that fought Shawn Porter. He’s not known to be the most devastating puncher getting people out of there. Shawn Porter can beat you. He’s tough, he’s durable. He comes to win, but nobody is scared. He can hit you hard. I respect Shawn Porter’s punch,” said Thurman.
The top fighters haven’t been all that eager to fight Porter or Thurman. That tells you that they see them as good fighters. Thurman is making a mistake to dismiss Porter because he’s not a huge puncher. Porter obviously hits hard enough to do a lot of damage if Thurman decides to stay and fight him in a stationary manner rather than using his hit and run style.
It might not matter that Porter isn’t a tremendous puncher. Thurman was hurt by the punches from Luis Collazo, Diego Chaves and Jesus Soto Karass, and those guys hit no harder than Porter does. If those fighters were able to hurt Thurman with their shots, then you would have to conclude that Porter has a very good chance of hurting him too if he can land his shots.
Thurman went on to discuss what his best punch in his arsenal is. He says it’s his left hook and left uppercut. Thurman likes to throw his left hooks when his opponents come at him while he’s retreating around the ring after he lands one of his shots. It’s difficult to chase Thurman because he’s always ready to unleash his left hook while moving backwards. However, Porter will need to chase Thurman because if he doesn’t, Thurman will pot shot and run all night long and win a one-sided decision.
Porter can try to time Thurman to connect with something big when he comes forward looking to land his single shots. It’ll take great timing from Porter to accomplish that because Thurman generally doesn’t throw his shots unless he’s absolutely certain he won’t get hit in return. Porter can catch Thurman with shots if he waits for him to attack, but he’s going to need to be clever because Thurman will likely land his shots if he’s not careful.