Keith Thurman Breaks Down Garcia Vs Porter

Former undefeated world welterweight champion Keith Thurman has an acute understanding of what it takes to beat Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter. Thurman defeated both fighters and will be watching intently from ringside at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York when the two face off for the WBC Welterweight title Thurman vacated due to injury.

The reigning WBA 147-pound champion, Thurman defeated Porter via unanimous decision in a 2016 and narrowly beat Garcia via majority decision in 2017. The matchups were so closely contested that both fights would have been ruled draws if a single round were scored differently.

Thurman spoke with Cable network, Showtime to break down what he calls "one of the best matchups of the year" in seven key categories - punching power, physical strength, defense, speed, 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 and (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."

Click below to watch Thurman’s fight with Garcia and Porter

Thurman vs Porter (FULL FIGHT VIDEO: s.sho.com/2MAUoNH),

Thurman vs Garcia (FULL FIGHT VIDEO: s.sho.com/2MZB6kA)