What once was the most uncertain matchup being negotiated or not being negotiated, depending on who you ask, is now the worst kept secret in all of Boxing as new terms seem to be leaked every other day for the proposed March showdown between young and talented welterweights Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter. The timeline is messy and unconfirmed, but we now know that Thurman-Porter was always the plan even if it wasn’t always in the works.
There is no telling how close we were to not getting this fight as so many sure things in boxing fall through, and it happens all of the time, but there is no way of knowing what percentage of stories floating around in the media were true and which ones were complete fabrications during the last few months.
Thaboxingvoice.com reported back in October that plans were ongoing for a Thurman-Porter fight. Then, TBV was able to get confirmation from sources close to the situation that Thurman-Porter was going to receive a December/January date, these were possibly the same sources behind the ESPN reports that surfaced toward the end of the year, but there is no way of knowing that, either.
USA Today was integral in providing fact from fiction in the final weeks of 2015 and into 2016 with more prevalent information was being confirmed.
In the past couple weeks, we’ve learned that Thurman-Porter is being negotiated, will happen on either March 5th or March 12th, will be at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT, and likely televised on CBS following March Madness coverage.
Most of those details are not finalized, but some have speculated that it is all but signed.
However, Shawn Porter confirmed tonight during an interview on ShowTime Championship Boxing that the bout with Thurman is still in the final stages of being finalized for March 12th, with CBS to air the fight. As for the venue, it is not technically confirmed, but it seems to be a likely scenario based on many different circumstances. But it all comes down to how much you trust Jake Donovan, which I do.
In the end, the Porter statement is great considering the Porter team had nothing to add when asked about the reality of a potential bout with Thurman only a couple months ago, and now he is willing to say that it is indeed the plan. Team Porter has admitted as much through a few outlets, including TBV, over the past week, so I could see some people arguing that the ShowTime interview was nothing new.
However, the point of that interview was the complete opposite of confirmation. Essentially, the words out of Shawn’s mouth were a reminder that Thurman-Porter is not yet done, regardless of how many outlets are reporting its inevitability. Saying the fight is being finalized is not the same as saying it is finalized. Still, Shawn admitted he “feels good” about things.
Of course, fans all over the world would be disappointed should the fight fall through. However, the person to feel bad for would be Shawn Porter because he has made it abundantly clear how badly he wants this fight. Shawn is always a happy guy, but when he talks about fighting Thurman he gets a twinkle in his eye. This is a fight that he wants and it is a fight that we want, so if it doesn’t happen then we’ll need a head to mount.
