By Ryan Burton

The highly anticipated WBC, WBA welterweight unification showdown between undefeated fighters Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia may not have produced fireworks in the ring but it was a big ratings hit, averaging over 3.7 million viewers over the CBC televised fight. Thurman boxed his way to a twelve round split decision victory.

The fight was Thurman's first since his June battle against Shawn Porter that was in the running for 2016 Fight of the Year honors. Thurman won a close and very competitive twelve round decision to retain his WBA belt.

That fight also was broadcast by CBS and was very successful as it averaged over 3.1 million viewers.

BoxingScene.com recently caught up with Porter to get his reaction to the Thurman-Garcia fight and the big ratings that it produced.

Porter admitted that he felt partially responsible for the big number the fight produced.

"I can't lie I did think about that. Obviously Keith and I made some fans the night we fought so I think people were tuning in to see what he was going to do next. In some ways - I will say it humbly - that I contributed to the viewing that night but it wasn't me in the ring. I gotta do my part in the ring in April," Porter said in reference to his upcoming April fight against former champion Andre Berto.

Porter will battle Berto in a World Boxing Council final eliminator, with the winner becoming the mandatory challenger to Thurman.

As for the unification fight itself, Porter strongly feels that Thurman clearly deserved the victory and he was very surprised that one judge actually scored the contest in favor of Garcia. 

"I thought Thurman won the fight very clearly. I think I scored it 8-4 Thurman," Porter told BoxingScene.com.

Send questions or comments to ringsidewriter@gmail.com. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter