BROOKLYN, New York -- Aside from his boxing skills, Keith Thurman has an innate ability to make his eyes seem far larger than they actually are. It’s as if his eyes are aliens trying to escape his body. Some fighters cower at his bulging gaze. Others, like Shawn Porter, merely blow it off.
That’s fine with the 28-year-old from Akron, Ohio. Porter has been placed in a similar spot before, but this time it’s different. This time, Porter’s chance to shine comes in front of the largest audience he has ever fought before, with the real opportunity to let people beyond boxing fans know who he is. Do you think Thurman’s bugged-out look will throw a scare into him?
“No way, I’m used to it. [Thurman] can’t do anything to me that I haven’t come across before, and one thing he knows he can’t do is intimidate me,” Porter said. “This is the biggest fight I’ve had so far, and the great part is that it’s against someone I know. Keith and I go way back. His trainer [Dan Birmingham] and my father go way back. Keith will bring out the best in me, I can tell you that. There are some guys that make you better and that bring out a competitiveness that you always wanted. That’s Keith for me. It’s a level I expect. This guy is going to challenge me more than ever. Me and Keith Thurman are going to put on a show. Everything he talked about, he’s going to get it.
“I wasn't surprised when Keith said he would knock me out,” he added. “He has to find a way to pump himself up and be confident. When he looked at me, I think he was trying to convince me that he was being real. I was looking at him to find out if he was convinced. Those eyes can bulge out of his skull only so far. He thinks he’s going to knock me out. Let him think that. That tells me that he’s not. I’m going to do everything it takes to beat him; and I’m going to make it look easy. Wait and see.”
Porter will need to put pressure on Thurman that he has never previously encountered. Thurman is a boxer-puncher and can land with authority, but whether or not his power can gain Porter’s respect remains to be seen. Since losing the IBF welterweight title in a majority decision to Kell Brook in August 2014 -- a fight in which Brook was cut over his left eyelid from an accidental head butt in the second round and Porter cut over the right eye for the same reason in the sixth -- Porter has faced far better opposition. He stopped overmatched Erick Bone in the fifth round and then dominated Adrien Broner in June 2015. Broner is not as good as he thinks he is, but he is better than Leonard Bundu, the faded Robert Guerrero and shopworn Luis Collazo -- the last three opponents Thurman has faced.
“You learn from your mistakes, and I made some dumb ones against Brook,” Porter said. “There were lot of things I still had to learn against Kell Brook. I won’t make those mistakes again. I didn’t fight a smart fight. I thought pressure would win, and I didn’t have a Plan B. Keith is a fighter. He’s going to fight me more than Brook did. Brook’s game plan was hold, hold, hold. I don’t think Keith is going to do that. I’m sure this will be a harder, more exciting fight than the Brook fight -- with a better outcome.”
Joseph Santoliquito is the president of the Boxing Writer's Association of America and a frequent contributor to Sherdog.com's mixed martial arts and boxing coverage. His archive can be found here.