I changed lanes/ skidded / I hydroplaned on some black sh*t / my critics is Kris Kross, y’all backwards…
While scribbling on a note pad, I referenced a line with WBA welterweight champion Keith ‘One-Time’ Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) in mind, as he actually ate criticism while having to sip from a straw following a horrific accident that derailed his March 12 showdown with ‘Showtime’ Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs).
Just weeks ahead of that bout, it wasn’t Thurman’s fault that his Mustang hydroplaned before running off the road and crashing. Along the way, the impact caused the air bag to deploy- which struck Thurman in devastating fashion. That strike to the side of his head alone (despite its lifesaving abilities- an airbag strike can be fatal) caused major whiplash and slight tendon tears in the neck of the St. Petersburg, Florida product.
Initially, the Porter camp accused Thurman of using the accident (if there even was one in their estimation) to back out of the fight. Now on the mend and once again going full bore in training camp for the fight re-scheduled for June 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, Thurman has his sights set on spanking Porter to put himself at the top of the elite welterweight field.
“It was tough for the year to start out like that,” Thurman reflected. “We were presented an opportunity that was taken away for health reasons. But at the end of the day, this fight is still happening, and the timing might end up being better.”
Porter won’t disagree with that notion, as he used the postponement to engage in a 12-round Las Vegas exhibition against tough veteran Lanardo Tyner on that same March 12 date. The iron-willed tandem of Porter and his father/trainer Ken feel the added time to prepare will really doom Thurman in Brooklyn.
“More than anything, through the time of waiting and training, you see more ? more of [Thurman’s] mistakes, more of the openings, and how to create those,” Porter revealed.
What Porter is notably referring to is Thurman’s 2015 campaign that consisted of a 12-round unanimous decision over the shopworn Robert Guerrero last March (in the debut of Premiere Boxing Champions on NBC), and his intense 8th round stoppage of a game Luiz Collazo at the USF Sundome in Tampa, Florida. There are those who will say that Collazo was even more damaged goods than Guerrero at the time (who was never-the-less fed to WBC champ Danny Garcia in January by Al Haymon), yet he nearly had all of the air taken out of him by the crafty southpaw– courtesy of a lethal left hook under the ribs.
For his part, Thurman could probably also point to Porter’s June 2015 triumph over four-division champion Adrien Broner as proof that he can’t deal with him for a full 12-rounds. Porter, who had to deal with a contractual 145 lb catchweight for Broner, appeared to lose strength as the fight progressed, and was dropped hard by “The Problem” in the final round with a nasty left hook to the jaw.
The question now becomes, what will happen when these two former teenage training partners collide at star-studded welterweight as men?
KEITH THURMAN VS. SHAWN PORTER: A WAR OF ATTRITION
Ken Porter will tell anyone who will listen that his son served a teenage Keith Thurman like he was a tennis ball in the hands of Novak Djokovic- and that he’ll do it again. Shawn Porter, 28, was an exceptionally strong two sport athlete in High School (Porter was a highly touted football player) and has progressed into a solid all-around fighter. The former IBF welterweight champion was able to benefit greatly from his time around a Manny Pacquiao at the height of his powers, which ultimately, allowed him to become a world champion. His energy and ferocious tenacity will present Thurman with the toughest challenge of his career.
But the same will also apply to Porter.
Even though Kell Brook (the man who snatched away the IBF belt from Porter) is the most polished and technically sound fighter in the very deep welterweight waters, Porter’s style and mindset could get him drowned against the much more aggressive Thurman. Both men are in their absolute prime, with Thurman relying more on an athletic power game with movement, while Porter favors a rough and gritty style that smothers his opposition.
Keith Thurman, 27, has the advantage in hand and foot speed, which will probably serve him well in the early going. The balance and overall ring generalship of ‘One-Time’ has gotten better over time and he should control most of the action. He does have a tendency to load up on shots while fighting “Tall” and leaving his chin up, something that will occasionally get him in trouble from Porter’s looping hooks.
Thurman has also shown a propensity for lapses in concentration, the type that can lead to absorbing the kind of money shots he took from old warrior Collazo in round 5 of their duel. It’ll happen in this fight as well, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see the bottom of Keith’s shoes at some point in this fight from a flash knockdown.
But overall, Thurman’s height and reach advantage – to go along with his greater speed and sudden striking ability, will be the biggest factors that determine the outcome of what will be an absolute firefight. Porter is flawed just enough in his rough-house technique, that he’ll catch a bomb from Thurman that puts him in “The Twilight Zone”. I see Keith ‘One-Time’ Thurman – in the first fight on CBS in prime time since Muhammad Ali vs. Leon Spinks in 1978 – stopping a rugged Shawn ‘Showtime’ Porter by 11th round TKO in a Fight-Of-The-Year worthy thriller. Reports are that the WBA is set to give the winner of this Saturday’s bout between dinosaur Shane Mosley and David Avanesyan a crack at the winner of Thurman/Porter.
Let’s hope that’s not true, as Mosley’s #3 WBA rating (who’d he beat to get that, a terrible Ricardo Mayorga and a pedestrian Patrick Lopez?) is Daffy Duck despicable. With a welterweight gauntlet of Adrien Broner, Kell Brook, unbeaten Danny Garcia, Amir Khan, Timothy Bradley, Andre Berto, Jessie Vargas and rising star Errol Spence, its not like Thurman – or Porter, won’t have viable options in boxing’s deepest and most glamorous division.
