By Dan Ambrose: Former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) is already excited about his proposed December 12th fight against WBA “regular” welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs). Porter was interviewed tonight by ESPN during the Devon Alexander vs. Aron Martinez fight on the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) card in Arizona.
Porter said that his fight with the 26-year-old Thurman will “be one of the great fights of all time.”
(Photo credit: Hogan Photos) By Dan Ambrose: WBA “regular” welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) will be defending his WBA 147lb title against former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) on December 12th on Showtime Championship Boxing at a still to be determined venue, according to Dan Rafael.
This is a very big fight and easily the biggest of the 26-year-old Thurman’s career. It’s what you would call a proving fight for Thurman, because he’s had it pretty easy in his eight year pro career with all the soft opponents that his adviser Al Haymon has put him in with thus far.
By Dan Ambrose: Ken Porter, the trainer/father for former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs), says he’s very interested in setting up a fight between his son Shawn and WBA “regular” welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) for a fight before the end of the year.
Thurman had recently mentioned Porter as one of the fighters that he’s interested in facing this year. Unfortunately, Ken Porter says he’s been unable to get in contact with Thurman when he’s attempted to call him.
By Dan Ambrose: WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) could be about to face his first real test of his career on October 3rd with him possibly facing former IBF 147lb champion Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) on Premier Boxing Champions [PBC], according to fighthype.com. The Thurman-Porter fight would be on the same card as former three division world champion Adrien Broner vs. former WBA 140lb champion Khabib Allakhverdiev.
The Thurman vs. Porter fight would be the main event on the October 3rd on the PBC card and the Broner- Allakhverdiev fight would be the co-feature bout.
By Allan Fox: If former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) is able to get past WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) in their fight on November 21st, trainer Kenny Porter would like to match his son former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) against the 24-year-ol Canelo.
Even if Canelo lose the fight, it’s quite possible that Kenny would still like to match Shawn against Canelo because it would still be a very big fight.
By Dan Ambrose: Former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter doesn’t think that former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) is the same fighter that he once was years ago, and for that reason Porter believes that Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) will defeat him in their fight in a little over a month from now on September 12th on Showtime pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Berto is a tremendous underdog with the odds-makers, with many of them seeing Mayweather as a 40:1 favorite in the fight. That doesn’t mean that Berto has no chance of winning, because he still has good punching power and hand speed. But the fact that he’s lost 3 out of his last 6 fights is hard to ignore when predicting the outcome in his clash with Mayweather.
By Dan Ambrose: WBA “regular” welterweight champion Keith Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) could be back inside the ring in less than two months from now on October 3rd at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. The possible opponents they’re looking at are Amir Khan or Shawn Porter. Thurman currently has a hand injury, and that would need to be healed before he can return to the ring.
“I’ve heard he might be back Oct. 3 if his hand is OK. I hear names like Khan or Porter maybe at Barclays Center,” Rafael said during his chat on Friday at ESPN.com.
By Scott Gilfoid: If and when Kell Brook and Amir Khan get around to fighting each other, former IBF 147lb belt holder Shawn Porter expects Khan to win the fight. Porter says he’ll then look to fight Khan afterwards. He’s open to fighting Brook if he wins too. Porter doesn’t care as long as he gets a chance to fight the winner of that fight.
Right now it’s still unclear whether Brook and Khan will actually be fighting in 2016. Khan told Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn that he’ll agree to fight Brook in 2016 if and only if Brook beats two high caliber fighters before that time.
(Photo credit: Lucas Noonan/Premier Boxing Champions) By Dan Ambrose: Fresh off of his 9th round stoppage win over high level journeyman Paulie Malignaggi (33-7, 7 KOs) last Saturday night, former 140lb champion Danny Garcia (31-0, 18 KOs) says he’s willing to face WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman or former IBF 147lb champ Shawn Porter next, as long as his adviser Al Haymon is interested in making one of those fights for him.
Garcia says he’s willing to do whatever Haymon wants to do. That could be a good thing or could be a bad thing if Haymon elects to continue to be very strategic in the types of fights he makes for Garcia.
By Dan Ambrose: If Floyd Mayweather Jr. wants to get former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) to fight unbeaten #8 WBA 147lb contender Errol Spence (17-0, 14 KOs) on his next undercard for one of his world titles on September 12th, then Mayweather is going to have to put up some money, says Porter’s father/trainer Kenny Porter.
He says Porter won’t face Spence, of whoever Mayweather wants him to fight, unless he’s paid. However, Kenny doubts Mayweather will do this because it would mean that he’d be overpaying Spence, and he thinks that setup a situation where the other young fighters would want to be overpaid as well for their fights with Mayweather Promotions.