By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA/WBC welterweight champion Keith Thurman maintains that he did a better job of defeating ‘Showtime’ Shawn Porter than IBF champion Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr. did last Saturday night with his 12 round split decision at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Thurman states that he did a better job against Porter, and he thinks he’ll beat Spence when they eventually fight.
Spence has been trying to get a fight against Thurman since 2015. There’s been zero interest on Thurman’s side in making the fight. If Thurman waits too much longer, he’ll be over-the-hill, and it won’t be worthwhile for Spence to fight him. Thurman is already looking like a shot fighter in his last two fights against Manny Pacquiao and Josesito Lopez.
Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) arguably won over a lot of boxing fans with his aggressive style of fighting. Porter was mostly missing, and getting caught when he was coming forward. In the 11th, Spence knocked Porter down with a left hook to the head. Thurman never hurt Porter in their fight three years ago.
Thurman says he did a better job against Porter
‘One Time’ Thurman notes that Spence failed to unanimously beat Porter (30-3-1, 17 KOs) on the three judges’ scorecards. They had Spence winning by the scores 116-111, 116-111 for Spence, and 115-112 for Porter. Thurman defeated Porter by the scores 115-113 x 3 in June 2016. However, the way that Thurman fought Porter was far less appealing to the eye, as ‘One Time’ constantly moved to avoid the attacks.
It wasn’t exciting to watch in comparison to Spence, who stood his ground last night, and attacked Porter throughout the fight. Spence didn’t run from Porter the way Thurman. That fight was ugly to watch at times due to Thurman’s movement. He didn’t take Porter’s punches as well as Spence. When Thurman got hit to the body by Porter, he would look to the referee, as if to cue him to step in and warn Shawn. It looked like Thurman was trying to get the referee to help him win.
Thurman: I beat Porter in cleaner fashion than Spence
“He won the fight by a split decision, but I still had the margins closer than that,” said Thurman to Fighthub about the Spence vs. Porter fight. “when Shawn Porter is doing what Shawn Porter does, there are certain judges that give him a lot of credit because he puts in a lot of work. There are other judges that give him no credit, why is that? Because they don’t see what he’s doing. It’s so short, and it’s on the inside. It’s being smothered. But they’re so short,” said Thurman.
Thurman: This was Spence’s closest fight of his career
“There was a time where Porter hit Spence with four uppercuts,” said Thurman. “Damn, Shawn. I think I beat Shawn in a cleaner fashion. The judges agreed that I won by a unanimous [115-113, 115-113 and 115-113]. I got those three judges to say unanimous. This was a split. It was the closest fight of Errol’s career.
“We’ve been waiting for this moment to say, ‘It wasn’t that easy.’ This was an excellent fight. It rivals me and Pacquiao. I think Shawn Porter gets more respect in the welterweight division. I still believe with all of us being young, strong and hungry, it’s still anyone’s division. Danny hasn’t been that active this year. He’s hungry, and he needs a fight. We never saw him [Spence] fight the style of Shawn Porter, and we saw it, and were highly entertained. And, we’ve never seen him fight someone that is going to lay back and counter like Danny,” said Thurman.
Thurman sounds a little deluded about how he performed against Porter compared to Spence. There is absolutely no comparison. Thurman basically ran from Porter, and only briefly in the later rounds did he stop fight. Mostly it was Thurman fighting with his normal hit & run style against. Thurman would come forward, land a right hand, and then immediately retreat. It wasn’t nearly as entertaining as last night’s Spence-Porter fight.
Spence made up his mind that he wanted to beat Porter using his same brawling style, and he accomplished that task. This writer had Spence winning 10 round to 2. Porter fought well enough to win rounds 4 and 7. All the rest of the rounds, Spence was landing the harder shots, and making Porter miss.
Thurman says he’d beat Spence
“Shawn works hard, looks physical and strong in there, but Danny and I know a lot of that is touch and go, and volume punching,” said Thurman. “But the way Danny fights, there is no volume punching. He will sit down, and he when he’s trying to trade with you, and counter you, he’s trying to hurt you. It’s a style that we haven’t seen Errol overcome. As I said, Errol will most likely win, but how does he win. He took it tonight. I like myself in that fight, you know?” said Thurman in predicting a win for himself over Spence when/if they ever fight.
Keith favors Spence over Danny Garcia
“Shawn gave him challenges,” said Thurman. “I believe I can challenge him in other ways, and I know my punching power is more devastating than Shawn Porter. And because I’m not 100%, and because I’m not going to be stepping into the ring in the first quarter 2020, it would be great to see him [Spence] fight Danny Garcia. I still favor him over Danny Garcia, but let’s just see how he takes a puncher. Danny is slower than Shawn, and Shawn herks & jerks. But Danny’s style is different. It’s cool, calm and collective. I think Errol would be able to do more with his jab. But let’s see if Errol can take a good punch from a puncher. Sooner or later, we’ll all be in the ring,” said Thurman.
Danny Garcia could be Spence’s next opponent. That’ll be an interesting fight, as Garcia can punch, and he’s an excellent counter puncher.
Off Thurman’s last performance against Manny Pacquiao, he would be no match for Spence. All those body shots that Spence was hitting Porter with all night would be knockout blows against Thurman. One Time can’t take it to the body, and never has. Luis Collazo almost dropped Thurman with a body shot in 2015, and Diego Chaves and Jesus Soto Karass hurt him as well.
You know The Senator was watching. 👀
Is @ErrolSpenceJr vs @MannyPacquiao the next welterweight mega fight you want to see? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/MU1CqJnxgH
— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) September 29, 2019
