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NEW YORK (September 4, 2018) – Welterweight World Champion Keith Thurman has an acute understanding of what it takes to beat Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter. Den obesegrade, former unified champion edged both fighters in blockbuster matchups and will be watching intently from ringside at Barclays Center as the two face off for the WBC Welterweight World Championship Thurman vacated due to injury.
The reigning WBA 147-pound champion, Thurman defeated Porter via unanimous decision in a 2016 Fight of the Year kandidaten (FULL FIGHT VIDEO: https://s.sho.com/2MAUoNH), and narrowly beat Garcia via majority decision in 2017 (FULL FIGHT VIDEO: https://s.sho.com/2MZB6kA). The matchups were so closely contested that both fights would have been ruled draws if a single round were scored differently.
Thurman spoke with SHOWTIME Sports® Hall of Fame analyst Steve Farhood to break down what he calls “one of the best matchups of the year” in seven key categories – slagstyrka, physical strength, defense, fart, boxing ability, ring IQ and chin.
See below for Thurman’s analysis of the showdown of consensus top-5 welterweights, which airs this Saturday live on SHOWTIME.
PUNCHING POWER: Edge GARCIA: “Danny can punch with both hands. He does load up, so you can’t be right there in front of him.”
PHYSICAL STRENGTH: Edge PORTER: “Shawn is clearly the more physical fighter.”
DEFENSE: Edge GARCIA: “Porter’s defense is his offense. With Danny, I’ve never seen anyone so willing to just stare at me without throwing a punch. He’s committed to being second, a pure counterpuncher.”
SPEED: Edge PORTER: “Shawn is faster and a little more athletic. He’ll triple on the jab to get inside and use stutter-steps. Danny’s real relaxed, but that doesn’t necessarily come through in his hand speed.”
BOXING ABILITY: Edge GARCIA: “Neither one is known for boxing. Danny’s a counterpuncher, and Shawn outworks you. Danny has nice boxing movement when he wants to be evasive. He’s underrated when on his back foot. We saw that against (Lucas) Matthysse och (Brandon) Rios.”
RING IQ: EVEN: “Hard to judge. These are two world champions with tremendous amateur pedigrees.”
CHIN: EVEN: “In my fights, Porter took more big punches than Garcia did. I had to hit hard to keep Porter off me. They both have enough power to hurt each other.”
PREDICTION: “This is one of the best matchups of the year. I try not to overthink it. It’s Porter by decision or Garcia only by KO. I lean toward PORTER.”
SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® Telecast börjar vid 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT and features a welterweight title eliminator between Yordenis Ugas and Cesar Barrionuevo and heavyweight action that pits unbeaten Polish slugger Adam Kownacki against former heavyweight champion Charles Martin.
Undercard streaming coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING COUNTDOWN as five-division world champion Amanda Serrano attempts to win a world title in her record sixth weight class when she faces Yamila Esther Reynoso for the WBO 140-pound title.
Biljetter för live-event, som marknadsförs av TGB Promotions och DiBella Entertainment, i samarbete med DSG-kampanjer, börja på $50 och finns det erbjudanden nu. Biljetter kan köpas på ticketmaster.com, barclayscenter.com, eller genom att ringa 800-745-3000. Biljetter kan också köpas på American Express Box Office i Barclays Center. Grupprabatter finns genom att ringa 844-BKLYN-GP.
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