Keith Thurman faces Luis Collazo this Saturday, July 11th on PBC on ESPN

By Boxing News - 07/06/2015 - Comments

thurman444By Dan Ambrose: WBA World welterweight champion Keith Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) will be putting his unbeaten record and WBA 147lb title on the line this Saturday, July 11th against 34-year-old warhorse Luis Collazo (36-6, 19 KOs) on Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN from the USF Sundome, in Tampa, Florida, USA. The Thurman-Collazo fight will start on ESPN, which is free television, at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT on Saturday, July 11th.

Thurman, 26, will get an opportunity to showcase his talent against a guy that shouldn’t give him too many problems.

Collazo can punch a little, so Thurman can’t afford to get too sloppy in there with him, because otherwise he could wind up like Victor Ortiz in getting chopped down in the 2nd round. Thurman is usually really careful with the way he attacks his opponents nowadays. He had some problems in his fights against Diego Chaves and Jesus Soto Karass in getting staggered by both guys from hard head shots.

Since then, Thurman has rarely stayed in the pocket and has focused more on hitting and then immediately retreating backwards to avoid getting hit. Watching Thurman fight is kind of frustrating because he’s got the power to destroy his opponents if he were to stay in the pocket more, but he doesn’t seem to have the punch resistance or the defensive skills for him to stand in front of his opponents. This is why Thurman always backs up and starts moving a lot when his opponents come forward, because his chin isn’t that good. Even in Thurman’s fight against Robert Guerrero, he was forced to back off after taking punishment in the third round.

This will be Thurman’s second title defense of his WBA title. In his first defense, he defeated Robert Guerrero by a 12 round decision in a mostly one-sided fight. It wasn’t one-sided in the first four rounds when Thurman tried to stand in the pocket. It was very close with Thurman getting hit a lot. But once Thurman got on his bike and started with his hit and run fighting style, then it became one-sided because Guerrero didn’t have the foot speed or the timing to nail Thurman with right hands and left hooks when he would come forward.

Collazo could have a chance of winning this fight if he’s able to time Thurman and tag him each time he comes forward to throw one or two punches. Thurman won’t stand there for long in front of a guy like Collazo because he doesn’t have the chin, so it’s going to require for Collazo to time him.

I wouldn’t recommend Collazo chasing Thurman around the ring because that’s what Thurman likes for his opponents to do. It’s better to wait on him and then pounce when Thurman goes to throw his single pot shots.

Where Thurman is really vulnerable is when his opponents open up with a flurry of shots. Thurman’s technique breaks down when he’s forced into a brawl, and he becomes very sloppy and hittable. Collazo will need to block Thurman’s left hook that he always throws while he’s backing up, and nail him with right hands to the head. Thurman always throws the left when backing.

It’s very predictable, and he always backs up. He doesn’t stand there and lean backwards or try to stand his ground. He backs up because he does not have the punch resistance to stand in front of anyone with power.



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