WBC welterweight champion Shawn Porter appears headed towards a unification fight, but not against Errol Spence Jr.
According to Sky Sports Boxing, Porter is currently negotiating a potential rematch with mandatory challenger and WBA "super" champion Keith Thurman. Spence spoke to Sky Sports regarding the fight and said an update on whether or not it is actually happening will be announced. The fight would be Porter's first title defense since winning the title back in September when he defeated Danny Garcia.
"Right now the mandatory is Keith Thurman and I know the negotiations got underway about three weeks ago and we should know really soon, whether it is going to happen and where it will take place. He wants the fight. I know for a while he said he wanted a comeback fight and now he's saying he wants to fight me and accept the mandatory challenge," Porter said.
Thurman became the mandatory challenger as a result of him vacating the WBC title earlier this year. Thurman won the title in March 2017 when he defeated Garcia to unify the WBA and WBC titles, but since that win, Thurman has been sidelined with elbow surgery and other injuries, prompting him to vacate the title without making single title defense.
Porter and Thurman previously fought in 2016 with the WBA title at stake, but it was Thurman who emerged victorious in the fight. Before the fight against Garcia, Porter spoke to Fightful regarding his interest levels in a rematch against Thurman and while Porter was open to the idea, he said he would much rather see Thurman have a tune-up fight before fighting him again.
