Keith Thurman-Shawn Porter Claim Welterweight Supremacy in Rematch-Quality Duel

At long last, boxing fans woke up to a pleasant morning after.

Rather than the walk of shame prompted by sought-after fights performing far below expectations, the Saturday night duel between Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter warranted a beaming stride of pride.

The 12-rounder at Barclays Center was not only competitive from the first bell to the last and maintained a level of excitement that left 12,000-plus fans—not to mention a few media guys—gasping for breath, but the immediate reaction from both combatants in the afterglow was that they’d welcome the chance to do it all again.

Yes, you read that right.

There were no “I’m going to meet with my team” hedges or “I fight who my promoter tells me to fight” cop-outs. Just two 20-somethings in the primes of their athletic careers recognizing that they each needed the push from the other to reach a level of acclaim neither had sniffed before.

A new era where the best fight the best without half-decades of posturing?

Imagine that.

“I would do a rematch. It was a great fight. He’s a great opponent,” Thurman told Showtime’s Jim Gray, moments after he retained his WBA welterweight belt with three official scorecards that read 115-113.

And on the other side, Porter, though he certainly thought he’d won the fight—a view, if volume is indicative, shared by much of the Brooklyn crowd—spent less time grousing about injustice and more time sharing Thurman’s sentiment that it was a war worth fighting again:

"

At the end of the day, I'm blessed. We worked hard, Keith is a great champion. My dad says to keep your head up. I think I won the fight, but I'm satisfied because the competitor came out tonight. We need that rematch. I know the fans want that rematch. If he gives me another chance, I'm going to work hard in the ring and leave with his title.

"

Truth told, if Saturday was an accurate blueprint, it might take a few more to settle things.

Thurman entered the ring claiming his accuracy and jolting power would separate him from his No. 2-ranked challenger, and there were indeed several times when he was able to punish Porter’s recklessness with shots that buckled his foe’s knees or stood him straight up. But none did lasting damage on the Ohio-reared 28-year-old, who continued to press the fight and clearly made Thurman uncomfortable while frequently keeping his back pinned to the ropes and forcing him to rumble.

The contrast was an intriguing test for the judges, who agreed across the board on only six of 12 rounds, yet still managed to each give seven of the 12 to the defending champion.

Porter got the consensus nod in just two rounds—the second and seventh—while Thurman won on all three cards in the first, fourth, eighth and 11th. The rest were up for grabs, and leeway of a couple of points in either direction based on switching out those close rounds would by no means seem criminal.

Gregory Payan/Associated Press

The optics favored Porter. The meaningful blows favored Thurman.

The prospect of a rematch, or two, favors any welterweight fan eyeing regime change.

The apparent exits of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao within a year of their 2015 summit meeting has left a vacuum at 147 pounds that both of Saturday night’s fighters—in addition to IBF champion Kell Brook, WBC titleholder Danny Garcia and WBO claimant Jessie Vargas—are anxious to fill.

Thurman and Porter are each more decorated on the welterweight level than either Garcia or Vargas, who either came to the division recently (Garcia) or were simply fortunate to pounce on a vacant title (Vargas) without relevant street cred thanks to the sport’s insipid political nonsense.

In fact, if anyone has a contrasting claim that holds water it’s Brook, who won a 2014 decision over Porter that, in spite of its majority rather than unanimous nod, left a clearer feel that superiority had been established. And it’s perhaps that uncertainty that’ll goad a defiant Thurman into a return bout while channeling Apollo Creed’s lament in Rocky II that “I won, but I didn’t beat him.”

Brook would be a handful for either guy thanks to his overall skill level and may ultimately prove to be the rightful owner of the crown set aside by Money.

But if what we’re left with is a full-on series of compelling, relevant and entertaining Saturday nights involving willing competitors while we’re trying to sort it all out, so be it.

Just make sure to wear comfortable shoes for the next stride.