Thurman not interested in facing Errol Spence

By Boxing News - 06/25/2015 - Comments

spence53By Dan Ambrose: WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) has rejected Floyd Mayweather Jr’s offer to defend his WBA title against unbeaten #8 WBA Errol Spence (17-0, 14 KOs) on his September 12th undercard at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the second fighter who has turned down an offer to fight on Mayweather’s undercard.

Former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter said last Saturday night that he won’t be fighting Spence. He said he doesn’t want to fight on Mayweather’s undercard.

Thurman is missing out on a lot of publicity by choosing not to fight on Mayweather’s undercard because the fight would be seen by millions. Of course, if the condition to fight on the card would be that he’d have to fight Errol Spence, then you can’t blame Thurman for saying no to the offer. Spence has the kind of punching power and talent to beat Thurman.

This wouldn’t be just an easy fight with Thurman facing another non-puncher like the guys he’s been facing his entire career. For example, in Thurman’s last two fights, he’s faced 40-year-old Leonard Bundu and Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero. Neither of these guys can punch. Thurman will next be fighting 34-year-old Luis Collazo (36-6, 19 KOs) on July 11th at the USF Sundome, in Tampa, Florida, USA. For Thurman, this is yet another non-puncher, and a safe fight for him. Collazo isn’t even ranked in the top 15 anymore by any of the sanctioning bodies at this time.

“Floyd ain’t no matchmaker. He was trying to promote AB [Adrien Broner], and now he’s trying to promote Errol Spence,” Thurman said to 78SPORTSTV. “One, he [Spence] doesn’t deserve the fight. Two, he isn’t right. Three, he hasn’t even fought a B-class fighter. They’re trying to push him to the top. They’re trying to push him into the baddest welterweight in the welterweight division. Believe me, Errol Spence can get ‘One Time’ all the time. I look forward to the boy’s progression. He needs to progress.”

Thurman has very little room to talk. He’s only fought Diego Chaves, Jesus Soto Karass and Robert Guerrero. Those are the only reasonably good fighters on Thurman’s entire resume. Spence’s last opponent Phil Lo Greco, who he stopped in the 3rd round last Saturday night, is in the same class as Soto Karass. Guerrero isn’t much better, and neither is Chaves.

Thurman was rocked by both Chaves and Soto Karass though, and he was forced to get on his bike and get mobile. Thurman literally couldn’t stay in the pocket against these guys because he was taking shots that were shaking him up.

Thurman ran from Bundu all night long in their fight last year. And in Thurman’s fight against Guerrero, he said he would stay in the pocket for the first six rounds before getting on his bike, but after 4 rounds, Thurman started moving after taking some big shots from Guerrero. Thurman couldn’t stay in the pocket against Guerrero because he was taking too many heavy shots, and was reacting badly to the punches, even though Guerrero isn’t a huge puncher.

“Like every other fighter, they’ve got to work their way to the top,” Thurman said. “Errol’s young. The fight will likely happen when it’s time to happen. I ain’t going to fight on no Floyd Mayweather Jr. undercard. I ain’t going to be no co-main event. We’ve reached the next level. We’re a main event fighter. I take that as an insult [to be offered a spot on Mayweather’s undercard.”

I get the impression that Thurman wants no part of fighting Spence. With the way that he went on a long rant about being challenged by Spence, it’s pretty clear that Thurman is bothered by the young fighter and is worried about what could happen if he fought him. He couldn’t run from a tall fighter like the 5’10” Spence because he cuts off the ring really well, and if he tries to stand in the pocket against Spence, he’d likely get rocked. The thing is if you get hurt by Spence, he’s a great finisher and would be all over Thurman looking to KO him.

Thurman would have room to talk about Spence needing to prove himself if he were fighting good fighters himself, but he’s not. Thurman is fighting soft jobs like Soto Karass, Bundu, Guerrero and now Collazo. That’s soft match-making. I think Spence would KO all those fighters.



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