Keith Thurman is up for this week’s fight with Brock Jarvis but Shawn Porter is not convinced just yet.
Porter a former world champion knows Thurman having shared the ring with him. Porter is also one of the best pundits in the game.
Speaking to Fight Hype Shawn Porter’s analysis was:
“Even with this fight, there’s the possibility of Keith getting hurt. But I think that, between Keith’s inactivity and the way Tim’s last fight went, it’s kind of 50/50. We’ll have to analyze that question after this fight and after Tim’s fight with Joey. How much are we going to get from the guy who is supposed to face Brock? Yeah, I honestly think the best version of Keith we saw was the Keith that fought me, and the Keith that fought Danny. I think he had some injuries in his fight with Danny, but I think those were the two best versions we saw. The version of Keith we saw against Manny, he got dropped in the first round. Manny (Pacquiao) had the whole first half of that fight, then kind of pulled back, being a little older and long in the tooth himself, and Keith stayed in there with him. So, I really don’t think that was the best version of Keith. The fight he had with Mario (Barrios) was one-sided on points, but Mario made him work every round, and then he had that infamous body shot, which Keith seems to get hit with almost every fight. So, there’s your key—boxers need to go to the body. If you go to the body of the older fighter, you break him down. So, I think the best versions of Keith were in 2016 and 2017. Can he be that again? I don’t know. Back then, he was training at such a high level. I think now he kind of coasts through training, just trying to keep himself healthy and fit. So, I don’t know. We’ll see. I don’t know what grade I can give Keith now. I can’t imagine he’s an A+ fighter like he used to be, but I can imagine him being a B+ fighter now. Maybe even a B or B-minus fighter. I think Brock is able to make adjustments on the fly in a fight, especially without his trainer in his corner.”
Thurman beat Porter on a close unanimous points decision when they fought back in 2016.
Perhaps the two are not the best of friends, which is normal, too.
Porter brings up some good points and the main thing for Thurman is inactivity and he will need to get the cob webs off in a hurry this week.
Time will only tell.
One thing Porter doesn’t cover above is heart and desire either, Thurman has put himself through hell fire in the gym for the fight which cannot be discounted.
As usual game plans, the many different versions of them, will be key, and as always, are subject to change at any time mid fight due to adjustments needed to be made — Thurman likely will be able to do that a little better than Jarvis.
