Mikey Garcia says Thurman vs. Porter could have been scored a draw

By Boxing News - 07/06/2016 - Comments

Thurman vs Porter

By Allan Fox: Former two division world champion Mikey Garcia says he thinks last months’ exciting welterweight clash between WBA champion Keith “One Time” Thurman and Shawn Porter was so close that it could have been scored a draw.

Thurman won the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 115-113. The general consensus from the boxing fans is that Thurman did just enough to squeak out a narrow victory. However, there were a great many fans that felt the fight could have been scored a draw. This writer had Porter winning six rounds.

Thurman did well in the rounds that he clearly won, but he also was outworked by Porter in at least six rounds. Since none of the rounds were scored 10-8, it means that Porter deserved a draw.

“I thought the fight was very, very close; very even. The fight was very competitive,” said Garcia. “If the fight would’ve been declared a draw, I don’t think I would’ve been upset. I saw Thurman win by a round or two. I’m actually pretty satisfied with the scoring. I would love to see a rematch.”

This is probably doesn’t make Thurman too happy knowing that yet another person thinks the fight could have been scored a draw instead of a victory for him. He’s been saying that he feels he’s part of the new generation of top fighters that have replaced Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. But if Thurman is the new generation of stars, then that tells you that the sport is about to go through a weak era.

Thurman failed to prove that he’s the better fighter than Porter, and yet he’s already talking about wanting to move on to fight other guys like Danny Garcia or Kell Brook rather than going back to try and finish the job against Porter to show that he can beat him without controversy. It would be a good thing for Thurman because it was so close that it wasn’t much of a win.

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Thurman needs to be able to show that he’s the “Top dog” in the welterweight division, but he didn’t show that against Porter. In the close fights that Mayweather had during his career against Marcos Maidana and Jose Luis Castillo, he came back and fought those guys a second time and beat them soundly to clear up the controversy. It doesn’t look like Thurman wants to do that. He’s talking about moving on, which means he must feel content with his controversial victory over Porter.