Thurman defeats Diaz by injury stoppage

By Boxing News - 04/26/2014 - Comments

thurman344By Dan Ambrose: WBA interim welterweight champion Keith Thurman (23-0, 21 KO’s) stopped 34-year-old former IBF lightweight champion Julio Diaz (40-10-1, 29 KO’s) in a 3rd round stoppage on Saturday night at the StubHub Center, in Carson, California, USA. In between the 3rd and the 4th rounds, Diaz’s corner decided to halt the fight due to a rib injury that he had suffered in the 3rd.

Thurman hit Diaz with a hard right to the body in the 3rd round. Diaz didn’t show any sign signs of being hurt during the round, though, and he seemed to get the better of Thurman during that round.

Diaz was knocked down in the 2nd round from a short left hook to the head. It didn’t look like a big punch, but the shot caught him while he was coming in.

Thurman looked good in rounds one and two when he was pushing the fight forward against a cautious Diaz. However, Thurman was far from impressive in the 3rd round when Diaz came at him and started clipping him with shots.

“Everyone wants in the Mayweather sweepstakes,” Thurman said after the fight. Thurman also said he was open to fighting IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter, although he said it’ll be up to his manager Al Haymon who he faces next.

It’s not likely that Thurman will get a fight against Mayweather yet, because Thurman still needs at least 2-3 big fights before he’s ready for a Mayweather fight.

It would be interesting to see how Thurman does against a pressure fighter like Lucas Matthysse. Thurman looked vulnerable in the 3rd when he was being backed up and forced to fight in a frenetic pace. Thurman definitely isn’t the same fighter when he’s being forced to fight in an out of control manner, and Matthysse would force Thurman into a war. Tonight, Thurman looked much better when he had time to pick his shots and initiate the action, but he’s a much different fighter when it’s all out action.

Thurman loads up too much with his shots for him to have a chance against Mayweather. If he tries to load up on his shots against Mayweather, he get picked apart and likely embarrassed worse than Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Thurman vs. Canelo would be a good fight. I think Canelo would destroy him though, but it would be a good fight for a while. Porter would give Thurman all kinds of problems with his pressure, because Thurman does not look good when he’s being backed up.



Comments are closed.