Thurman Defends Title Against Porter On June 25

An action-packed primetime doubleheader of world title fights, headlined by the explosive, eagerly-awaited clash between welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman and former champion “Showtime” Shawn Porter, will come to Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Saturday, June 25.

The co-main event features the featherweight battle between current champion Jesus Cuellar and former three-division world champion Abner Mares.

Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs), of Clearwater, Fla., and Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs), of Las Vegas by way of Akron, Ohio, are both coming off superb 2015 campaigns that solidified the fresh faces among the elite of arguably boxing’s most exciting division. With perennial pound-for-pound champion Floyd Mayweather now retired, the 27-year-old Thurman and the 28-year-old Porter are hungry to stake their claim as the future of boxing.

Cuellar (28-1, 21 KOs), of Buenos Aires, Argentina, will make the second defense of his WBA 126-pound title against Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs), a popular brawler from Southern California who has compiled a staggering resume over the past five years while earning titles at 118, 122 and 126 pounds. Cuellar vs. Mares joins a stacked lineup of featherweight bouts that showcases many of the world’s best 126-pounders aiming to unifying one of boxing’s deepest divisions.

"Keith Thurman against Shawn Porter is one of the best matchups that can be made in the welterweight division right now," said Lou DiBella, President of DiBella Entertainment. "Fans in attendance at Barclays Center and those watching on CBS will witness a passing of the torch as the hard-punching world titleholder Thurman and the highly skilled former champion Porter vie to prove who will be the next heir to the throne in the post-Mayweather era of the 147-pound division. The explosive co-main event between Jesus Cuellar and Abner Mares will give fans a fight to remember."

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April 16, 2016