Shawn Porter making best of extra time Keith Thurman gave him

LAS VEGAS —  A yearlong absence at a career peak is in no one’s interest, especially an athlete.

Former welterweight boxing champion Shawn Porter, however, has found contentment now that he’s only one month away from ending the layoff that’s preceded his June 25 fight against unbeaten World Boxing Assn. welterweight champion Keith Thurman at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

“There’s a saying about blessings in disguise. I feel that,” said Porter (26-1-1, 16 knockouts), of Akron, Ohio. “Everything has moved in the direction I wanted it to move in.”

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Since Florida’s Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) pulled out of their scheduled March 12 bout with a late-February neck injury sustained in a minor traffic accident, the anticipation for the first prime-time CBS fight since the first Muhammad Ali-Leon Spinks bout in 1978 has heightened.

The venue was changed from a casino in Connecticut to the NBA/NHL arena, a better undercard fight (Jesus Cuellar defending his WBA featherweight belt against Southland product Abner Mares) has been added, and television ratings are expected to be high.

Those involved with staging the fight are hopeful the Thurman-Porter action will prove so compelling it can clinch a more steady stream of championship-level fights on network television.

“The more time you give us, the more prepared we’ll be,” Porter, 28, told The Times Saturday while watching a fight card at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Under his father Ken’s guidance, Porter trains in Las Vegas.

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During the hiatus, Porter opted to take a March 12 exhibition bout against veteran Lanardo Tyner, which became effectively a 12-round sparring session.

“That was our compensation, but we just really wanted to show the camp in a good way and show everyone that we’re working hard and that we’re ready for Keith,” Porter said. “It allowed me to work and I had my dad in my corner, which is something you don’t really simulate in training. Training’s usually focused on learning. We could correct what we were doing [in the exhibition] like we do in a fight.”

The added time has also provided Porter more opportunity to study Thurman’s past bouts. Thurman, 27, most recently stopped veteran Luis Collazo in July after knocking down veteran Robert Guerrero in the seventh round of a unanimous-decision triumph in March 2015 while headlining the debut Premier Boxing Champions card.

“More than anything, through the time of waiting and training, you see more – more of [Thurman’s] mistakes, more of the openings, and how to create those,” Porter said.

Defeating four-division champion Adrien Broner by unanimous decision on June 25, 2015, restored Porter to the elite status that was dented at StubHub Center in August 2014, when he lost his International Boxing Federation title by majority decision to England’s Kell Brook.

The welterweight division is boxing’s deepest, with Broner, Brook, unbeaten Danny Garcia, Amir Khan, Timothy Bradley, Andre Berto, Jessie Vargas and Errol Spence.

“Incredible division … you’ve got to take one fight at a time, and eliminate these guys one fight at a time,” Porter said. “This is a big fight coming, and the good part is that any fight I’m going to be in is going to be a big fight. There’s nothing but greatness ahead.”

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