Thurman: I’m similar to Canelo, but I’m not flat-footed

By Boxing News - 07/12/2015 - Comments

thurman3455By Dan Ambrose: WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) made an interesting comparison today in comparing himself to former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) with his fighting style, but he sees himself as having better boxing skills, head movement, and not being flat-footed like Canelo.

Thurman sees his boxing ability and punching power as something that would give him a real chance to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. if he chooses him as his next opponent on September 12th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“I see myself as similar to [Saul ‘Canelo’] Alvarez, but more of a boxer,” Thurman said to ESPN.com. “I am not flat-footed. I move my head more. I believe I have better conditioning. Alvarez was slow, flat-footed, and he died out early [in his 2013 fight against Mayweather]. So I think I bring a lot to challenge Floyd Mayweather Jr,” Thurman said.

I don’t see any comparison at all between Thurman and Canelo. Thurman moves around a lot, and more similar to Erislandy Lara than he is with Canelo. You can make an argument that Lara and Thurman are almost identical with their fighting styles, but Thurman loads up on his pot shots a lot more than Lara does. Lara is better with his movement and defensive skills than Thurman, but both guys seem to move about as much as each other. I see Canelo as being a much more entertaining fighter than Thurman, mainly because Canelo is willing to stand in the pocket and exchange with his opponents. We haven’t see Canelo fight Gennady Golovkin yet, but I would suspect that Canelo would at least try and slug with him rather than moving for three minutes of every round like Thurman typically does.

If Thurman fought like Canelo, I think he would way more fans than he does now. But I also have doubts whether Thurman could win by fighting stationary or fighting going forward all night long. Thurman seems to wilt when getting hit, whether to the body or to the head. He doesn’t take a good shot well. If Thurman could hold up to the kinds of punches that Canelo or even Marcos Maidana typically take, he’d be a very exciting fighter, if he were willing to fight in the pocket in a stationary manner rather than running all around the ring like we saw last night.

I think Canelo would absolutely destroy Thurman if the two of them fought each other. I don’t think it would be even a fight. Thurman struggles against the non-punchers he’s been facing at welterweight. If you throw Thurman in the ring with the 175 pound Canelo, he’s going to walk right through Thurman’s punches and eat him for dinner. Canelo would love to fight someone like Thurman, and it would likely be one of Canelo’s easier fights.

Thurman really needs to prove himself before he starts talking about wanting to fight Mayweather. That means, Thurman needs to fight the likes of Amir Khan, Shawn Porter, Maidana, Errol Spence Jr., Danny Garcia, Lamont Peterson, or Adrien Broner. Even Chris Algieri would be step up for Thurman right now from the guys he’s been facing.

Mayweather will need to make a decision about his next very soon if he wants to leave enough time to promote his September 12th fight. Thurman and the other top contenders will find out within the next two to three weeks who Mayweather will be picking. If Mayweather waits until August to pick his next opponent, then he’ll doom the fight to low numbers unless he picks out a popular fighter.



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