Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter Give Boxing Fans an Instant Classic
Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York Keith “One Time” Thurman, 27-0, 22 KO’s and Shawn “Showtime” Porter, 26-2-1, 16 KO’s treated fight fans to a definite fight of the year candidate. It was boxing on CBS prime time television for the first since Muhammad Ali stepped in the ring 38 years ago when he took on Leon Spinks. Saturday night Thurman defended his WBA welterweight title with a 12 round unanimous decision over Porter in a bout that was all action from the opening to the final bell.
From the start Porter chased Thurman landing heavy shots to the head and body, with Keith using precise defensive and positioning to land big shots and take rounds away from Porter. Through the first 2 rounds Shawn definitely had the attention of the heavy handed Thurman, with his combinations and heavy shots landing flush for most of the first few rounds. In the 4th Thurman landed a a huge right to the face of Porter but Shawn re-positioned his feet spun around and kept coming forward. Throughout the middle rounds Thurman was able to counter Porter coming in on a number of occasions, and wobbled and seemed to hurt him several times, but the Shawn never wavered.
In the 9th round and best of the fight Porter rocked Thurman with a huge overhand right opening up a laceration over the left eye of Thurman. Thurman stood toe to toe with Porter for the remainder of the round as fans rose to their feet inside of the Barclays as they cheered this all-out war. Two of the judges awarded Thurman four of the last five rounds, and in the end, all three judges awarded Thurman the unanimous decision as they turned in identical scorecards of 115-113. Thurman retained his WBA welterweight title, but the crowd of 12,718 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center booed the decision and gave Porter a thunderous applause during his post-fight interview. “I want to thank Shawn Porter for a tremendous fight, he’s a great warrior,” said Thurman. “Defense is the key to victory.” He smothers his punches a lot and makes it difficult for the judges to score. I was able to rock him with clear, effective blows and I believe that was the difference today. “It’s all about defense. I had a great defense today.” After the fight Shawn stated “At the end of the day, I’m blessed,” we worked hard, Keith is a great champion. My dad says to keep your head up. I think I won the fight, but I’m satisfied because the competitor came out tonight. Per CompuBox, Thurman connected on 203 of 405 power punches (50%); Porter landed 177 of 460 (38%).
Last week Abner Mares wasn’t cleared to fight against Jesus Cuellar due to an eye injury. So the Hurd vs. Molina was bumped up to the Co-Main Event by PBC. It was a battle of two undefeated fighters as “Swift” Jarrett Hurd, 18-0, 12 KO’s took on Oscar Molina, 13-1, 10 KO’s. “Swift” wasted no time as he dropped Molina with a vicious counter right uppercut in 1st and controlled the rest of the fight as he out boxed and and used his impressive fighting style to dominate Molina. Hurd also showed that for a tall fighter that he could use different angles and come in and box if needed. Hurd hurt Molina in the 10th and final round and after landing a barrage of shots on the face of Molina, it forced referee Ricky Gonzalez to halt the fight at 2:02 mark of round 10. After the fight Jarrett stated, Molina is a great fighter. This is definitely a big win for my career. He was taking a lot of shots, but he “knew how to survive”. “It was a big uppercut that knocked him down in round one.
People know from my last fight that I have a great right uppercut.” CompuBox had Hurd landing 275 of 744 (37%) of his total punches, including 220 of 559 (39%) of his power shots, easily outpacing Molina, who landed 126 of 376 (34%) total punches, and 107 of 302 (35%) power punches.
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