Thurman wants Danny Garcia, hopes to take his WBC strap

By Boxing News - 06/28/2016 - Comments

Image: Thurman wants Danny Garcia, hopes to take his WBC strap

By Allan Fox: WBA welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs) is still talking about wanting to get a unification fight against WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs), because he wants his WBC 147lb title, which had previously been in the possession of superstar Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr.

Thurman was never given a fight by Mayweather, and he still seems to be a little perturbed about that. Thurman feels that by beating Garcia and taking his WBC title, he’ll have his name connected with that belt due to it previously belonging to Floyd.

In theory, it shouldn’t be a big deal for Thurman to get a unification fight against Garcia, because both guys are with the same manager Al Haymon. However, if Haymon, Garcia or his father/trainer Angel Garcia don’t want the Thurman fight, then it’s simply not going to happen. What Thurman has working against him right now is he’s still not a pay-per-view attraction. For it to be worth it for someone like Garcia, he would probably need Thurman to be a big star, which he’s not at the moment.

“Danny Garcia holds the WBC title. Everyone’s talking about the one after Floyd, the one after Floyd, the one after Floyd,” said Thurman to Fighthype.com. “I already obtained the WBA. I would like to have the WBC, and then the last person to have both of those titles was Floyd Mayweather, so I would like to have my name attached to that story. I believe that I deserved a shot and I never got it, so I want to go after the belts that I feel like I deserve a shot at,” said Thurman.

Even if Thurman could get a fight against Garcia, I don’t think it would turn him into a star and prove that he’s at the level of Mayweather. For Thurman to become a major star, he’s going to need to beat guys like Errol Spence and Kell Brook, as well as Tim Bradley. Thurman, 27, is also going to need to come out of his comfort zone by taking on some of the junior middleweights like the Charlo brothers, Erislandy Lara and Demetrius Andrade.

Thurman lost to Andrade in the amateur ranks, and it would be a big deal if he could move up to 154 long enough to try and avenge the loss. Thurman would also need to try and fight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs and David Lemieux. If Thurman wants to become a star, then he needs to take some risks that we saw Mayweather taking during his career.

Mayweather started out at super featherweight and moved up three divisions to fight at welterweight. Mayweather even moved up to 154 to beat Canelo in 2013. Thurman needs to take the risks that we saw Mayweather take if he wants to become a maor star because just going after guys like Danny Garcia isn’t a risk taking fight.

YouTube video

For the short term, Thurman should fight Spence or Brook. He needs to save the lighter work of fighting Danny Garcia for last if he can get the fight, Right now, I think Garcia would ignore Thurman because there’s no upside in taking that fight due him not being a star. That could change in the future if Thurman can beat the likes of Spence, Brook, Andrade, Lara, the Charlo brothers, Golovkin, Lemieux, Canelo and Jacobs.

Thurman defeated Shawn Porter (26-2-1, 16 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The fight was scored 115-113, 115-113 and 115-113. However, there are many boxing fans that believe that Porter either deserved the victory or a draw at the very least. I had the fight scored a draw. I would have liked to have given it to Thurman, but he was getting outworked much of the time, and he did too much running and holding for me to give him the victory. Porter was able to win six rounds on my scorecard.

Thurman needs to realize that you can’t always get what you want. Sure, he wants the Garcia fight, but he needs to learn how to walk before he runs. Thurman still has to accept the challenge that Spence made for him because he never took that fight.