"We’re both true warriors." http://t.co/AnhMaU5Rhs #OneTime #PremierBoxingChamps pic.twitter.com/1PDDH2NHKU

— Keith Thurman Jr. (@keithfthurmanjr) March 8, 2015

By Dan Ambrose: The CAT scan test on WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman’s head turned up negative for damage from the head-butt he suffered last night in his 12 round unanimous decision win over Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (32-3-1, 18 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Thurman suffered a bad hematoma on the left side of his forehead early in the fight in the 3rd round. It was initially thought that Thurman may have also suffered a fractured left orbital bone, but the tests at a nearby Las Vegas hospital showed that there was no fracture.

The hematoma was drained at the hospital, but some of the blood drained into Thurman’s left eye, according to premierboxingchampions.com. Thurman won the fight by the scores of 120-107, 118-109 and 118-108. However, it was a lot tougher bout than the scores would indicate, as Guerrero landed a lot of hard shots in the fight that really tested Thurman’s chin on a frequent basis.

Even after Thurman knocked Guerrero down in the 9th, Guerrero came back to land some big shots to the head of Thurman in rounds 10, 11 and 12. Thurman looked shook up from a big punch he ate in the 10th round from Guerrero. To Thurman’s credit, he took the shot well and was able to make it out of the round without tasting the canvas.

“I was excited about the fight, and I wanted to show Robert Guerrero who I was as a man and change his opinion of me,” Thurman said via premierboxingchampions.com. “I’m sure his opinion has changed, and in the same moment, my opinion of him has changed. We’re both true warriors.”

Thurman showed that he was willing to fight Guerrero in toe-to-toe battle in the first three rounds. But after the 3rd, Thurman started using a lot of movement to keep from getting hit on his hematoma. Thurman kind of had to start moving at that point in the fight, because he was taking a lot of hard shots from Guerrero, and things weren’t going too well for Thurman.

The fight was too even, and it might have resulted in Thurman getting knocked out if he’d stayed in the trenches with Guerrero instead of using movement. Thurman’s ability to take punishment continues to be a question mark after this fight, because he didn’t appear to take the shots as well as Guerrero did.

As for who Thurman wants to fight next, he said “I just want whoever wants to fight the champ. I’m 26 years old. It’s the first time in my career I own a world title. Whoever wants to fight the champ Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman can come get it.”
Who Thurman winds up facing next will be determined by his adviser Al Haymon.

You’d like to think that Haymon will pick out someone at least as good as Guerrero, if not better, but that’s not likely to be the case. There aren’t a whole of talented fighters in the welterweight division to match Thurman against right now. He’s not going to get a fight against Amir Khan, Kell Brook, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Brandon Rios or Tim Bradley.

Haymon won’t likely get any of those guys to face Thurman, even if Haymon were interested in making those fights, which I doubt he is. Thurman has talked about wanting to fight Marcos Maidana, but I’m not sure that Haymon will make that fight after all the punishment that Thurman took last night.

Maidana is a fighter who potentially could knock Thurman out due to his heavy hands, and even if he doesn’t hurt him, Maidana could force Thurman to literally run from him for the entire 12 round fight.

If Thurman has another fight where he runs from an opponent for the entire fight like he did against Leonard Bundu, it would be huge blow to Thurman’s career, because he’ll lose fans due to fans seeing him as a coward who can dish it out but can’t take it.

My guess is Haymon will match Thurman against either #6 Andre Berto or #7 Josesito Lopez. Those are two easy marks for Thurman to pad his record without risk of him getting beaten or having to resort to running again.