By Keith Idec
Shawn Porter still wants an opportunity to avenge his close loss to Keith Thurman.
The former IBF welterweight champion needs proof, however, that the Thurman he fought in June 2016 still exists. Elbow surgery and a subsequent hand injury have kept Thurman from fighting over the past 17 months and his return still hasn’t been scheduled.
Porter obviously is focused more on his upcoming fight against Danny Garcia, who lost a split decision to Thurman in their welterweight title unification fight in March 2017. But Porter is interested in how the 29-year-old Thurman looks in the ring following such a long layoff.
“I put it out of my mind,” Porter said regarding a Thurman rematch during a recent conference call. “And again, no disrespect to Keith, but we haven’t seen him. We don’t know what Keith is gonna look like when he gets back in the ring. And I would hate for Keith to get back in the ring and be any less than the first time we fought.
“And there’s too many questions and reasons why Shawn Porter would win the rematch right now. So I have definitely put the rematch a lot further behind me than it was prior to this fight being announced. This is the number thing on my mind right now.”
Thurman (28-0-1, 22 KOs), of Clearwater, Florida, beat Porter by unanimous decision in a what was an entertaining, highly competitive 12-round fight for Thurman’s WBA welterweight title two years ago at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Porter lost by the same margin, 115-113, on each of the three scorecards.
“I think the fight with Thurman was very, very close, very, very entertaining,” Porter said. “Obviously, [it’s] something that I wanna [run] back. But with him being out a year-and-a-half, almost two years now, I think I have to see him be the Keith Thurman that I fought, you know, way back in 2016, in order to want to get back in the ring with him.
“He’s still undefeated, but at the time he was regarded as the best fighter in the division. We don’t know if he’s still that guy, so I’d like to see him fight some other competition first. And trust me, when I get this belt, whoever wants it can come get it.”
Porter (28-1-2, 17 KOs), of Akron, Ohio, and Philadelphia’s Garcia (34-1, 20 KOs) will fight for the WBC welterweight title the inactive Thurman relinquished late in April. Thurman won that WBC championship from Garcia last year at Barclays Center.
Showtime will televise the Garcia-Porter fight as the main event of a tripleheader September 8 from Barclays Center.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.