Shawn Porter is picking former unified welterweight champion Keith Thurman to defeat unbeaten Tim Tszyu next month on March 30th in their non-title fight at 154 on Amazon Prime PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Shawn says Tszyu “has the perfect style for Thurman” to defeat.
Porter feels Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) will use his superior boxing skills to move around the ring and walk the younger fighter Tszyu (24-0, 17 KOs) into shots.
Shawn says fans will see the best version of the 35-year-old Thurman they haven’t seen since the two of them fought eight years ago in 2016. Thurman has only fought four times since that fight, which is shockingly inactive.
It’s been two years since Thurman last fought in 2022 and five years since he last fought an A-level opponent, Manny Pacquiao.
Porter: Thurman will Outmanuever Tszyu
“He’s not the smaller fighter, and on fight night, he’s going to be just as big as Tim Tszyu,” Shawn Porter told ProBox TV, referring to Keith Thurman and Tim Tszyu’s fight next month on March 30th on Amazon Prime PPV.
“In this fight, Tim Tszyu has the perfect style for Keith Thurman. If you look at the last two fights he [Thurman] had in the last couple of years [correction: last five years], those opponents [Mario Barrios in 2022 and Manny Pacquiao in 2019] didn’t have the perfect style for him, which is why the fights ended up looking the way they looked.”
Thurman’s inactivity didn’t haunt them in his last fight, coming off a 2.5-year layoff because he was fighting a beatable guy, Mario Barrios; it could be a different story with his 2-year layoff for Tszyu.
Thurman’s Resurgence
“Tim Tszyu is going to do one of two things. He’s either going to wait on the perfect shot. If he’s not waiting on that perfect shot, he’s walking directly towards you.
“Either way, Keith is going to bounce around the ring and pull whatever patience Tim thinks he has at this point of his career. He’s going to pull that all out of him and force him to walk into shots.
“Keith at 154 lbs, I think he’ll have the power that he once upon a time years ago. I think we’re going to see a version of Keith that we haven’t seen since he was in the ring with me.
“Keith Thurman is going to defeat Tim Tszyu on March 30th on Prime,” said Porter.
