By Steve Kim
Currently Shawn Porter (28-2-1, 17 KOs) is in limbo as he waits for the World Boxing Council to make a ruling on their welterweight title.
The WBC champion at 147, Keith Thurman (who also has the WBA title), has been sidelined again for the time being.
Thurman has been out of the ring since last March, when he won a twelve round split decision over Danny Garcia to unify the WBC, WBA world titles.
Currently, the welterweight division is stacked with talented fighters in their prime.
But match-ups between them have been few and far between.
Kenny Porter, the father/trainer/manager of his son, who at one time held the IBF title and lost a close decision to Thurman back in June of 2016, states - "I think to myself - and I've said it enough times and you can print it again - in order for these guys to be great they have to fight each other."
Porter harkens back to another era of boxing.
"You had (Marvin) Hagler,(Thomas) Hearns, (Ray) Leonard, and (Roberto) Duran, so now you've got Thurman, Porter, (Danny) Garcia, (Errol) Spence and (Terence) Crawford... these guys need to fight each other in order to be great and I was asked earlier, 'Shawn is in his prime, do we expect Shawn to be great or be a prime time fighter that we expect in the next fight?' The only way he can be great or be the prime fighter when he fights again is against another great fighter," Kenny Porter said to BoxingScene.com.
"So therefore, Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, 'Bud' Crawford, Errol Spence - in no particular order, other than obviously we are the number one rated fighter( in the WBC) to fight Keith - they all need to fight each other. We want to fight all those guys."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
