By Chris Williams: Shawn Porter surprisingly revealed today that he feels Yordenis Ugas is a better fighter than Errol Spence Jr. when rating his past opponents.
It through fans for a loop hearing Porter say that he rates Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs), Keith Thurman, and Terence Crawford above Spence.
Porter didn’t even mention whether Spence was #4 on his list, which makes you wonder if he believes there’s someone else like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis as being better than him.
Shawn Porter’s top 3:
1. Terence Crawford
2. Keith Thurman
3. Yordenis Ugas
The way that Porter saved most of his praise for Keith Thurman was strange, given that he’s clearly not viewed as being among the elite after nearly three years out of the ring.
In 2016, Porter lost a 12 round decision to Thurman when the two were in the prime of their careers, and it was pretty one-sided. Thurman controlled the action.
“I think he’d [Ugas] be flirting with #3 in terms of competition,” said Shawn Porter when asked to rate Yordenis Ugas. “#1 and #2 are Terence Crawford and believe it or not, Keith Thurman,” said Porter in making it clear that he doesn’t rate Spence in the top #3 of his past opponents despite losing to him in 2019.
“I know a lot of people would expect me to say, Errol Spence Jr.,” said a bitter-sounding Porter. “People talk about the intelligence that Errol has, Keith Thurman is HIGHLY intelligent.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t say on the Porter Way Podcast, he came on and broke down to me how he broke down the fight before we got in the ring.
“Keith is in a position now where I think we’ll see his intelligence over anything else he has to offer. We love the power, but at some point, if you’re not focused on the power and you’re not continuing to grow your power, that was Keith’s thing since we were kids,” said Porter in raving about Thurman.
Unfortunately, Chris Williams has serious doubts whether Thurman can ever be a major player. After three years out of the ring, Thurman didn’t look nearly good enough in his recent win over Mario Barrios to pick him to beat Spence, Crawford, Jaron Ennis, Vergil Ortiz Jr, or even Ugas.
Thurman was hurt to the body by Barrios, and that’s a guy that is nowhere near as good as Spence, Ennis, Crawford, or Ortiz. With Thurman, he’s too fragile to be counted on to beat any of the upper-level welterweights.
Also, Thurman tends to disappear for long periods after he beats the significant competition. Who knows how long it’ll be before we see Thurman fight again after his win over Barrios last February. A conservative estimate by Chris Williams would be a year before we see Thurman back in the ring again.
“Once that goes away and I’ve watched that from watching other pros when you can’t keep up with the hand speed and speed and somebody’s stronger here [mentally], that’s where you win the fight.
“When we talk about some of the smarter boxers in the game, we should talk about Keith Thurman.
“Both,” said Porter when asked who he would like to see the Spence-Ugas winner fight between Terence Crawford and Keith Thurman.
“I know that it’s hard for me to put bias aside, but even when I do that, I think Keith Thurman has with any of those top three guys amazing fights.
“There’s no secret that Terence Crawford is the guy. A fight between Yordenis and Terence Crawford would be amazing.
“Of course, we’ve been waiting on a fight between Spence and Crawford for a while. I would love to pepper in Keith Thurman. I think those fights would be exciting too,” said Porter.
