With the boxing world’s attention turning to the next big fight weekend two weeks from now, it’s time to start examining whether Keith ?One Time? Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) has made any real progress from ?live prospect? to legitimate champion as he prepares to face Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) for the WBA Al Haymon Championship of the World at welterweight in Brooklyn on June 25.
Thurman’s been getting push that would do Vince McMahon proud thanks to Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions series, but that hasn’t translated to wider legitimacy outside of the WBA’s sanction of one of the belts to give Haymon a marketing if not a bargaining chip. Despite most of his one-sided victories coming over second- and third-tier guys (since PBC got their hooks into Thurman, he’s beaten Diego Chaves, Julio Diaz, Leonard Bundu, a spent Robert Guerrero, and a spent, loaned, and defaulted-on-the-mortage Luis Collazo), we’re supposed to believe that Thurman is a champion and not merely some guy with a belt without a shred of evidence to back up that allegation.
The question then becomes one of whether Porter, a guy who is a former world champion whose lone professional loss came against the other guy?Kell Brook?who has a claim on the post-Mayweather/Pacquiao debate at welterweight, is a legitimate challenge or just a modest contender who doesn’t answer any questions and in fact raises a ton of them if Thurman can’t get him out of there.
The IBF belt Porter held before losing it to Brook has for years now been the equivalent of the old ?Inter-Continental? belt the WWF used as a holding pen to have something on the undercard when Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Andre the Giant were the undisputed kings of the wrasslin’ game. Having a place where Jake ?The Snake? Roberts and the Junkyard Dog and the Ultimate Warrior and their ilk could fight for a belt without fighting for a championship made for a good B-side on those old Saturday Night’s Main Event shows.
Consider this murderer’s row of titlists since 2009; Isaac Hlatshwayo, Jan Zaveck, Andre Berto, Randall Bailey, Devon Alexander, Shawn Porter, Kell Brook.
Now consider that Brook has defended his belt against Kevin Bizier, Frankie Gavin, and Ionut ?Jo Jo Dan? Ion. See my point? Just because someone is a former world champion does not make them a top tier contender. The IBF can’t even say it was the Not Named Floyd Or Manny Belt…that would be giving it too much credit.
So we’re left with an ?A-side vs. A-side? (as Michael Woods described it for Ring Magazine) tilt in what has become a wasteland division, with the real action happening either a division down the scale (where Terence Crawford and a cast of thousands have the 140-pound division as live as it’s been since Kostya Tszyu was the champ and Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti were the fan favorites) or in the giant hot mess a division or two up it (where Saul Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin have been reduced to pooping into their hands and throwing it at each other rather than actually making the fight people want to see.)
With any luck, this will be a proper stepping stone for the winner; either Thurman solidifies his position as someone who’s a unification fight or two away from becoming the Next Big Thing (and with Bob Arum possibly looking to play nice with PBC and the winner of the Kell Brook-Jessie Vargas unification fight for the WBO and IBF lurking as a guy who could force the issue, that may come soon as an opportunity), Porter gets a chip to use as a shot at revenge on Brook, or Haymon sits on the result and loses big in the title game, especially if the Vargas/Brook winner then unifies with WBC champion Danny Garcia.
With the boxing world ranged against him, this is a crisis moment for Al Haymon and Keith Thurman. Will One Time emerge as the real deal? Or is this fight just an entertaining scrap in the making that will have no broader significance?
We find out June 25.
