On April 11, prior to Danny Garcia’s majority decision victory over Lamont Peterson at the Barclays Center, Tha Boxing Voice’s Nestor Gibbs interviewed Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman simultaneously about the possibility of the two of them fighting.
Thurman told Gibbs that a contract was all he needed to make the fight happen and Gibbs pressured Porter about whether he could come up with the paperwork to make the fight happen for the people.
Porter seemed ecstatic about his chances to fight for the WBA World welterweight title.
“Hey! That’s all he said. The contract is all we need – same here – this fight is going to happen,” Porter said. “Everybody knows it. It’s just a matter of time.”
Thurman seemed just as ecstatic as he brought up that they knew each other before they became big-name boxers.
“We grew up together. We were in the amateurs, we were taking tournaments together, we were taking out Ukraine together,” Thurman said. “We were the only two U.S. boys that hold down the house for the USA. Everybody else in the United States lost vs. Ukraine besides Shawn Porter and myself.”
Porter ended it by saying that it’s going to be a historic bout in more ways than one.
“Bottom line it’s a lot of history here, and it’s going to be a lot of history when we get in the ring.”
Thurman has mentioned in past interviews that he would fancy a big fight with Porter before the end of the year. Making the fight happen has been more difficult than expected.
Ken Porter, the father and trainer of Shawn Porter, told 5 Star Boxing that he’s called Thurman about making the fight happen, but he has received no response from the champion.
“Keith Thurman said he wanted to have a big fight before the year was over, so I consider him and Shawn to be a big fight,” Porter stated. “So, I made the call on that, but I have not gotten any response?”
What’s the real story? Is it only about the contract or is there something else going on?
