Kenny Porter: “I hope that Keith Thurman is a man of his word and he gives Shawn Porter the rematch”

Boxing trainer, Kenny Porter is the father and lead corner man for his son, former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter. The two are coming off a fight of the year candidate bout with Keith Thurman, a fight that ended after twelve rounds with Thurman getting a close decision, 115-113 on all judges scorecards. In the aftermath of the bout, many fans feel there is unfinished business between the two fighters.

I recently had a chance to speak to Kenny Porter and get his thoughts on the fight from this past weekend, getting his views on Thurman as a fighter, the scorecards and if he thinks they will get a rematch. Kenny also talks about moments in the fight and if he think his son had Porter hurt. Additionally Porter speaks on his sons future going forward and if he thinks this loss will effect Shawn. Here is what Kenny Porter had to say.

Robert Brown: What did you make of Shawn’s fight with Keith Thurman?

Kenny Porter: I thought it was a great fight. I thought Keith Thurman brought his A-game, Shawn brought his A-game and I believe both fighters showed up and showed out and they lived up to the hype of the fight.

Robert Brown: Do you feel that Shawn won the fight?

Kenny Porter: Yes I did feel Shawn won the fight. I felt that Shawn was in control of the fight on the inside and the punch stats show that from the outside Shawn landed fifty eight jabs in the fight, compared to twenty three jabs for Keith Thurman. I just thought to myself, “If he’s controlling him on the inside with body work and punches on the inside and he’s landing more jabs than him on the outside, I think we deserve the decision.”

We didn’t get the decision and you gotta take that one and learn from it, but I was very pleased with Shawn’s performance and if I had been in the opposite corner, I would not have felt good going into the end of the fight, I would have felt that the fight was in jeopardy of him losing it. He got the decision and we give him congratulations.

Robert Brown: When the fight ended, did you feel it was a close match?

Kenny Porter: I felt the fight was a close fight, no doubt, but I felt Shawn was in control of the fight. When he was working Keith on the ropes and getting body shots off and coming back to the head, Keith at that point was not fighting back, he wasn’t in control. The computer stats on the punches showed that Shawn landed fifty eight jabs.

Robert Brown: Do you feel the judges didn’t give Shawn enough credit for his body work and inside fighting?

Kenny Porter: Obviously they didn’t give him enough credit for it. Can you believe that we landed fifty eight jabs and Keith only landed twenty three? I just don’t see how that constitutes to a unanimous decision even though the scores were close.

Robert Brown: Will you and Shawn be after an immediate rematch?

Kenny Porter: I don’t think we’re going to get an immediate rematch. I do believe that we deserve one. I believe the crowd after the fight was over that totally booed the decision, feels that we deserve one. I hope that Keith Thurman is a man of his word and he gives Shawn the rematch.

Robert Brown: Do you think there’s anything more that Shawn could have done in the fight?

Kenny Porter: After the fight you always think that there’s something more that you could have done but I made a suggestion to one of the commentators who was calling the fight, I said, “I want you to tell me what you think the scores would have been if Keith had the type of fight style that Shawn was using and the gameplan that Shawn was using, and Keith used that against Shawn. What do you think the scores would have been like?”

I told him that I thought if Keith was doing the things to us that we did to him, that Keith would have got a really wide score. That’s just my opinion, I think that the judges were somewhat leaning towards that champion in this fight.

Robert Brown: When Shawn hurt Keith with a body shot, did you think it would be a matter of time?

Kenny Porter: No, I always felt that Keith was fighting back the entire way, so I didn’t think there was a point where Shawn should have taken him out. I think it was one of those fights that was kind of going back and forth. But anything that Keith landed on Shawn, Shawn came right back immediately.

Robert Brown: Thanks for joining me, best of luck in the future.

Kenny Porter: Just so you know, Shawn’s head is held up high, he doesn’t feel that he lost the fight. We felt very good about his performance. Thank you very much.