A “Haggard” Return: Signs of Age and Wear Raise Concerns for Thurman

Commentator Shawn Porter says Wednesday’s comeback fight on March 12th for former unified welterweight champion Keith Thurman and Brock Jarvis is a “60-40″ one in his eyes in their 10-round headliner at the Hordern Pavilion, in Sydney, Australia. Porter is giving the 36-year-old Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) the edge based on his experience, skills and mobility.

What worries Porter about Brock (22-1, 20 KOs) is he told him he wants to start slow against Thurman, and “react” to what Keith is doing. Porter sees that as a wrong strategy to defeat Thurman, who has only fought once since 2019 against Marios Barrios in 2022.

The Wrong Strategy?

Shawn feels that Brock should push a fast pace and make Thurman fight harder than he’s equipped to do at his age after being inactive for most of the last eight years. He’s only fought four times since 2017. This is just based on youth and punching power.

Yesterday, Thurman looked like he’d been living underneath a bridge. He had the haggard, aged appearance of someone who had lived a hard life in the last three years. If I were to guess Keith’s age without knowing, I’d say 45 at the least. What on Earth has Thurman been doing to himself to look like this?

Brock started slow in his last fight against Adrian Rodriguez before unloading on him with big shots to score a knockout in the fourth round. He looked like he could have stopped him in the first round if he’d gone on the attack right away.

“What Brock said to me is he’s known for being aggressive and starting fast. He doesn’t want to do that. He wants to kind of start slower, and kind of react to Keith. That’s not a good game plan,” said Shawn Porter to the media about what Brock Jarvis said to him on what he plans on doing in his fight against Keith Thurman this week on Wednesday, March 12th.

“Keith is so unpredictable and can do so many things. You try to get on his rhythm, and that’s literally what he wants you to do. I don’t know if Brock can see that and make an adjustment. That being said, it’s a 60/40 fight. Keith can control the range, the distance, the rhythm, speed and tempo,” Porter continued.

Brock has got to put it on him and really push his heart rate. If he does that, I think he can pull this one out,” said Shawn.