By Ryan Burton
On March 12th WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman and former champion Shawn Porter will collide at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut in a CBS televised showdown. The fight was first rumored to take place in December and then again in January and February before being officially announced.
Porter and his father/trainer Kenny were very vocal about making the fight and his father admitted that he was a bit bothered by the numerous delays in the announcement of the fight.
"You know what, I wouldn't say (I was) worried but I was frustrated that it was taking so long but the people who are in charge of putting it together assured me that it would happen," Porter explained.
Porter last fought in June when he dominated four-division champion Adrien Broner. Porter likes to stay active but even with the large gap between fights, Kenny doesn't believe his son will show any ring rust.
"I'm not worried about it because we have continued to train. We have had camps with 3-4 sparring partners thinking we were going to fight in December then thinking we would fight in January and then February so we have stayed in shape," the elder Porter revealed which lead me to ask if his son may actually be overtrained.
"(Overtraining) is a myth. Anything you are doing, if you are tired stop. It is as simple as that. If you are training and you don't feel good today then stop and go get a massage and then go do yoga then you feel good and go back to training. The key is being in shape and training so that you can stop and take a break if you need one."
With Floyd Mayweather retired and Manny Pacquiao insisting that his April 9th trilogy bout against Tim Bradley is his last, the Thurman-Porter winner will be in prime position. Porter feels that the winner will be the new king of the division.
"In my eyes the guy that wins this fight is taking over the welterweight division. As far as the pound for pound list I don't know because I don't pay attention to that stuff," Porter told BoxingScene.com.
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