WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman has suffered an injury as a result of a car accident which has forced the postponement of the heavily anticipated March 12th welterweight title defense against Shawn Porter. The news was announced by Lou DiBella, the promoter of the card.
Although Thurman’s injuries aren’t considered serious, they were serious enough to derail the fight, despite the fact that Thurman is expected to resume training in the coming weeks.
The Thurman-Porter fight was scheduled to take place at the Mohegan Sun and televised on a prime time CBS spot. However, the fight will resume on the network once the bout has been officially rescheduled.
DiBella is considering his options, as are arena officials and ShowTime, and, as it stands, the card could likely continue with the card being moved to ShowTime—specifics will be announced as they are released.
“While it’s unfortunate that we must temporarily postpone this marquee matchup, a main event of the magnitude of Thurman vs. Porter requires both fighters be healthy and at their best,” said DiBella. “Keith is anxious to resume training as soon he is able and both he and Shawn are looking forward to a new fight date.”
It is unknown whether or not Porter would want to fight in the interim and continue with the date, although most of that will depend on how quickly Thurman could be ready. That said, Team Porter has made it clear on many occasions that they are not afraid to fight and would prefer to stay active for the sake of maintaining Shawn’s abilities at the highest level.
Shawn Porter was last seen in the ring on June 20th of last year in his winning effort against Adrien Broner. Thurman fought a month later on July 11th in his winning effort against Luis Collazo.
