By Jake Donovan
While no fight is final until the two boxers are in the ring and the opening bell sounds, the exhausting search to secure a date, venue and network for the long-rumored welterweight showdown between Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter finally appears to be over.
Assuming that nothing else changes in the next few days (and anything is possible given this one), the clash will land on March 12 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. Rumored to be the suggested co-feature, Edwin Rodriguez - who lives an hour away in Worcester, Mass. - and Thomas Williams - who fights out of the greater Washington D.C. area - will collide in a dangerous light heavyweight crossroads bout, with event handlers attempting to have the fight sanctioned as a title eliminator.
The event will air live in the primetime debut of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on CBS, immediately following network coverage of NCAA men’s college basketball Big 10 conference semifinals and the Mountain West championship game. The series has previously aired on the free-to-air network in Saturday afternoon editions, as well as two special Sunday afternoon showings.
American cable network Showtime – which is part of CBS Corporation – was planning to formally announce the event during Saturday’s televised doubleheader, headlined by unbeaten heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder in his third defense versus hard-hitting southpaw Artur Szpilka at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
No fewer than four working dates were previously attached to the welterweight fight, which has been in the works since last fall. Original plans called for the bout to headline a December 12 edition of PBC on NBC, but were scuttled for a number of reasons – none of which, quite frankly, made any sense.
From there came rumors of the fight landing on a February edition of PBC on free-to-air Fox, before FightHype.com learned of plans to bring the PBC on CBS series to primetime. As February dates no longer worked given the time frame to announce and properly promote the event, plans fell into place to have it headline on March 5 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The March 5 date would have served as an anniversary celebration, with the very first PBC event launching 52 weeks prior, also at MGM Grand. Thurman starred in that event, scoring a 12-round decision over Robert Guerrero last March. The bout aired live in primetime on NBC, serving as the most watched televised fight of 2015 in drawing an average of 3.4 million viewers, with the telecast peaking at 4 million viewers.
It was a sound plan until Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) punched boxing squarely in the jaw in announcing plans to bring a loaded UFC 197 event to Las Vegas on that very same evening. A hold was previously placed on the MGM Grand by TGB Promotions – a regular promoter in the PBC rotation – but ultimately withdrawn as announced during the Nevada State Athletic Commission monthly agenda hearing held Tuesday at its Las Vegas headquarters.
While the fight was forcibly removed from Las Vegas, there remained hope of keeping the fight on the March 5 date. It was ultimately decided to push back the clash one week to March 12, with a number of venues under consideration before landing at Mohegan Sun.
Once finalized, Thurman will serve as the headliner for the third time in a PBC network launch. Following his NBC-televised win over Guerrero, the unbeaten welterweight from Clearwater, Florida enjoyed a homecoming of sorts, stopping Luis Collazo after seven rounds in the inaugural PBC on ESPN debut show last July in Tampa, Florida.
His showdown with Porter (26-1-1, 16KOs) will make for another watershed moment in the PBC universe, though not before enduring months of speculation as to whether or not the fight would happen at all. The months-long delay has left both fighters out the ring since early summertime.
Whereas Thurman hasn’t fought since the aforementioned win over Collazo, Porter has been anxiously waiting on the sidelines since a 12-round win over Adrien Broner last June. The victory over his in-state rival (despite the billed ‘Battle of Ohio’ taking place in Las Vegas, where Akron-raised Porter now resides) marked his best career performance since claiming a welterweight belt with a 12-round nod over Devon Alexander in Dec. ’13. His reign was short-lived, conceding his crown with a decision loss to Kell Brook in Aug. ’14.
The win over Broner should have served as a career revival, but Porter has been stuck in idle awaiting his next big break in the form of a coveted showdown with Thurman.
The co-feature players haven’t been forced to wait quite as long, in fact both appearing on the same PBC on Spike TV telecast last November live from Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. Their combined five rounds of action featured eight knockdowns, with both fighters climbing off the deck to score knockout wins in perhaps the single best stateside telecast of 2015.
Williams opened the show, trading opening round knockdowns with Humberto Savigne before putting away the Miami-based Cuban export in round two. Rodriguez followed suit with a thriller of his own in the main event, flooring Michael Seals in the opening seconds of their main event bout, only to hit the deck twice in the same round. The former super middleweight contender miraculously recovered, dropping the previously unbeaten Seals again in round two before putting him away early in round three.
The win marked Rodriguez’ fourth straight since suffering the lone loss of his career – a 12-round decision at the hands of unbeaten Andre Ward in their World super middleweight championship clash in Nov. ’13. His entire run has taken place at light heavyweight, having outgrown super middleweight prior to his clash with Ward, in which he missed weight and was ineligible to win the title.
Rodriguez and Williams acknowledge a tough test ahead of them, though perhaps not as tough as having to sit on news of when their fight would take place.
For all fighters involved and for fans waiting on official confirmation of the clash can come a collective sigh of relief as the finish line finally appears well in sight.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
