By Mike Smith: Shawn Porter says negotiations have started for a fight between him and Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman for a fight in 2019. Porter (29-2-1, 17 KOs) says he’ll know soon when or if the fight with Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) will be taking place. Porter thinks the Thurman fight takes place in early 2019. If that turns out to be the case, it means ‘One Time’ will need to start training soon to be ready for the fight.
Thurman is no longer viewed as the #1 fighter in the welterweight division due to the combination of his absence from the ring and the emergence of Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford. The two best fighters now are considered by the boxing fans to be Spence and Crawford. Thurman is seen as a fighter whose body no longer can take the rigors of the sport in the eyes of a lot of fans. But on the business side, Thurman is still popular, so it’s a good money fight for Porter to face him, but it’s not a match that will decide who the best fighter is in the 147 lb weight class.
“Right now the mandatory is Keith Thurman and I know the negotiations got underway about three weeks ago and we should know really soon, whether it is going to happen and where it will take place,” Porter said to skysports.com.
Thurman, 29, has been out of the ring for a year and a half since his 12 round split decision win over Danny Garcia in March 2017. Originally, Thurman was dealing with an elbow injury, but then later he suffered a hand injury while training.
At this point, any fight that can be setup between Thurman and Porter has to be viewed as potentially not taking place for a long time. Given Thurman’s history of injuries, he’s no longer someone that can be counted on to make it into the ring on a specified date. As long as Porter is fine with a fight against Thurman being delayed like their previous fight together in 2016, then it shouldn’t be a problem
“He wants the fight. I know for a while he said he wanted a comeback fight and now he’s saying he wants to fight me and accept the mandatory challenge,” Porter said.
There’s no upside for Porter, 30, to be taking on Thurman if it means that he’ll be coming off of a 2-year layoff to take the fight. Without Thurman taking at least one tune-up fight, Porter won’t receive much credit from the boxing world if he beats Thurman. There’s been talk of Thurman taking a tune-up fight against Josesito Lopez. It’s unclear if that fight will still happen. Lopez is a decent fighter, but not a major player in the welterweight division. Thurman might need more than one tune-up to get ready for the likes of Porter.
Thurman vacated his World Boxing Council 147 lb title earlier this year on April 24 after having been inactive for 13 months. It’s unknown if the WBC was about to strip Thurman of his title or not. If that was the case, then Thurman beat them to the punch by giving up the WBC 147 lb title.
Ideally, Porter should wait until Thurman fights a few times before he faces him, since he’s been forgotten by a lot of boxing fans due to his injuries and subsequent inactivity. The only problem with Porter waiting for Thurman to get a few fights under his belt is the possibility of it taking many years for that to happen. Thurman has been suffering fight-delaying injuries since 2014 before his fight against Leonard Bundu. Thurman suffered a shoulder injury before the Bundu fight. Thurman would later blame his lackluster performance against Bundu on his shoulder problem. In 2016, Thurman was injured in an automobile accident that caused his fight with Porter to be delayed. After Thurman’s fight with Danny Garcia in 2017, he revealed that he had suffered an elbow injury and needed surgery. While coming back from the elbow problem, Thurman suffered a hand injury. The continual injury problems that Thurman has been suffering makes it dicey whether he can be counted on to make it into the ring for any fight. That’s how it goes sometimes with athletes. They frequently see their careers cut short while they’re still in their prime due to injury-related problems.
In a strange move by the World Boxing Council, they ordered Porter vs. Thurman last October, despite the fact that Keith hasn’t fought in 1 1/2 years and is on the shelf because of his latest injury involving a hand. It would seem to be a pointless endeavor by the WBC to order Thurman to face Porter if he’s not sure when his hand will be healed. Moreover, Thurman isn’t rated in the top 15 by the WBC, and he hasn’t been given the WBC ‘Emeritus’ tag that they frequently give to injured fighters. Unless the WBC chose to give Thurman the Emeritus treatment, then it doesn’t make sense for them to order a fight between him and Porter. Thurman is currently not ranked in the WBC’s top 15.
Thurman beat Porter by a 12 round unanimous decision 2 1/2 years ago in June 2016 by the scores 115-113, 115-113 and 115-113. Thurman was the clear winner, but Porter made it close with his hustle and the pressure he put on him. If Thurman was willing to fight hard for the full 12 rounds, he likely would have won a lopsided 12 round decision over Porter, but kept taking frequent breaks. Like in his fight with Danny Garcia, Thurman’s mental lapses of concentration make those two fights more difficult than they should have been for him.
“The best thing I can do is wait for it, get ready for confirmation on that fight, then get working and get ready for it,” Porter said.
The best thing Porter can do is face Errol Spence Jr. while he waits for Thurman to stop licking his wounds from his fight against Danny Garcia. The boxing public wants to see a unification fight between Porter and IBF champion Spence (24-0, 21 KOs). However, Porter hasn’t seemed as eager to take the fight with Spence as he has in facing Thurman a second time. Some boxing fans believe that Porter is afraid of Spence.