Keith Thurman Exclusive
Keith Thurman has never been short on confidence. It really began to register on people’s radars during his fight against Diego Chaves for the interim WBA welterweight title back in 2013.
Thurman led on all three cards during that fight with scores of 87-83, 87-83, 86-84 thanks in part to a knockdown in round 9 which was the beginning of the end for Chaves. Thurman displayed his extremely effective body shots the entire fight and finally dropped Chaves in the ninth before taking him out with a hook to the body and a huge overhand right to the forehead in the tenth round.
From there Thurman would stop Jesus Soto Karass and Luis Collazo along with a body count that included the top tier names of the division: Danny Garcia, Leonard Bundu, Robert Guerrero, and a controversial win over Shawn Porter among others. Titles now under the Thurman era include the WBC and the WBA belt he started with. Now with Errol Spence holding the IBF belt and Jeff Horn holding the WBO title, Thurman would like to solidify his dominance by possessing all of the jewelry in the game.
“There will be a time, not today, not tomorrow, but this time is coming very soon where I believe there will be one champion at 147 (lbs),” said Keith Thurman to The Shadow League at the Showtime Boxing Upfronts held at Cipriani’s in late January.
With former undisputed light welterweight world champion, Terence Crawford now entering the welterweight ranks with a feverish buzz, Manny Pacquiao still fighting in the division, and Errol Spence calling Thurman out daily on social media, the world is watching Thurman’s next moves hawkishly.
“I wanted Manny Pacquiao for five years, baby. The dudes this tall he’d never want to step in the ring with Keith Thurman and he’s a washed up fighter. World champion, one of the best that ever did it, he’s a legend in the game but six losses, you know. He just got beat by a boy in Australia that was only 15-0. (Horn) was a contender, he was only a contender.”
When it comes to Crawford and Spence, Thurman sees the upside to those matchup with more clarity.
“When it comes down to Crawford, we all expect big things from him, he’s still yet to fight in the welterweight division. I look forward to him acquiring a world title. Politically everybody knows he’ll lean towards the WBO; after the WBO we can start negotiating whether or not Crawford is going to fight Errol Spence or is Crawford going to fight Keith Thurman and if one of those fights happen the winner of that fight fighting me. You got two belts vs two belts, the winner will have all four belts so there’s a lot of excitement in the welterweight division.”
