Thurman Will Focus on Danny Garcia's WBC Belt After Porter

By Victor Salazar

New York - Although it took a bump in the road, the fight between Keith Thurman (26-0, 22 KO’s) and Shawn Porter (26-1-, 16 KO’s) is slated to take place on June 25th. 

Regarded as one of the better fights to make on paper, the move in date changed the location of The Mohegan Sun in Connecticut to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn New York.

The venue move along with the anticipation makes the bout bigger, according to the WBA welterweight champion Thurman.

“At the end of the day, the fight is better now, then it was before,” Thurman stated during a recent media stop in New York City.

“The venue’s better, the network is still the same, me and Shawn are still the same. The fans, I hate to say it but I’m glad to make you wait. This isn’t just the biggest fight of my career, but it’s the most anticipated fight of my career. Sometimes it pays to add a little drama to the game. It wasn’t our intention but that’s how it played out. The Barclays Center makes it bigger. Being here in New York makes the fight that much bigger. New York is a boxing town, rich in boxing history. It just happened to work out for the best. ”

Though many big fights that get postponed go down the road of never happening, Thurman believed this fight would happen no matter what the circumstances were.

"Ken Porter and Shawn Porter are on a mission,” explained Thurman. “I been asked to fight them but this time they asked to fight me, so I know this fight was going to go down. Outside of that, they wanted the opportunity to be a world champion again. They could have gone another fight but not for a world title fight, they had to come to me.”

Thurman feels that all factors coming together make this the biggest fight at 147 and expects plenty of the best 147 pounders to be ringside.

"When it comes to the welterweight division, practically the whole welterweight division should be there,” stated Thurman. “Right now the welterweight division is in a frenzy. Everybody wants to be the top dog. Now you get the spotlight to be the top dog, not that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are gone.”

So to be the top dog, Thurman feels he needs to add more belts to his resume.

“You have Shawn Porter. You have Danny Garcia. I was there when he got the green belt. I like the way the green belt looks. I’m the guy talking about guys coming from 140 to 147 wanting to be the big dog. You want to be a big dog, you fight a big dog. Plus for me this year, I envision myself having another world title two titles by the end of this year," Thurman said.

"The media will ask ‘Keith with your performance over Shawn Porter, are you the next man to take over after Floyd Mayweather?’ To be the man you just can’t beat one man. Floyd was the man for over a decade by being at the top and staying at the top, and that’s my goal. I want to grab another belt and being another welterweight having two world titles separates me from the pack and Keith ‘One Time Thurman is the big dog at 147.