By Jake Donovan
What was supposed to be a big reveal instead turned out to be just another night at the fights for Shawn Porter at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The former welterweight titlist was live at ringside, where an announcement was supposed to be made for his planned March 12 showdown with Keith Thurman, due to take place at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. The bout will headline the inaugural installment of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on CBS in primetime.
That's assuming the fight ever gets announced.
It didn't happen on Saturday evening, where Porter was briefly interviewed during the main event. Deontay Wilder erased a forgettable fight with a single right hand to knock out Artur Szpilka in the 9th round of their Showtime-televised headliner. Fans were hoping for a bomb to drop earlier once the mic was passed to Porter but instead just received an update rather than breaking news.
"I'm being told it's being finalized and it will happen March 12," Porter told Showtime's Jim Grey of the planned showdown with Thurman, which has literally been months in the making with neither boxer having taken a fight in the interim. "I've still been sparring and training. I'm staying ready."
The bout was first discussed shortly after both welterweights posted separate wins last summer. Porter - who briefly reigned as a welterweight titlist before losing his crown to Kell Brook in Aug. '14 - rebounded with two wins in 2015. Included among them was a 12-round nod over Adrien Broner in their catchweight bout last June at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, with the fight showcased in primetime on free-to-air NBC.
One month later, Thurman - who headlined the very first PBC card last March, also on NBC - helped launch the series on a new network, topping the first edition of PBC on ESPN in July. The unbeaten welterweight titlist from Clearwater, Florida scored a 7th round corner stoppage of former beltholder Luis Collazo in nearby Tampa.
From there, talks first swirled of a possible showdown on December 12 in San Antonio. Thoughts of staging the fight on the date were coupled with the rationale that not only would Year One of the PBC model end with a bang, but that the winner would plead a case for Fighter of the Year.
An assortment of reasons were instead offered as to why the fight was delayed. No fewer than four more working dates have surfaced. The bout seemed to finally settle on March 5 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which would have served as the one-year anniversary of the PBC series, which began in the very same venue.
Because event handlers sat on the news for so long, a door was left open - and kicked in - by UFC to claim the date and city for a UFC 197 event including a pair of title fights big enough to where any boxing event would be foolish to attempt to compete head-to-head.
With that came the command decision to move the fight out of Las Vegas and away from the March 5 date. Because of the need to marry up to a working CBS primetime slot, March 12 is all that's left before the network turns over its weekend coverage to NCAA March Madness (the 68-team college basketball tournament).
"It's been talked about for a long time and for a very good reason, March 12," Porter insists.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
