Thurman wants fans to encourage Mayweather to fight him

By Boxing News - 06/11/2016 - Comments

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By Chris Williams: WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) says he’s tired of talking about Floyd Mayweather Jr. He thinks that fight fans should let Mayweather retire and stop asking about him. Thurman does want to fight Mayweather, and but he does not see that fight taking place. However, Thurman would like the boxing fans and the media to talk to Mayweather to try to encourage him to fight him.

It is not likely that Mayweather will be persuaded to fight Thurman though, because he seems to have his sights set on fighting an easy non-boxer in UFC fighter Conor McGregor in what would be a big money fight if it takes place.

Mayweather has been talking frequently about McGregor. The fight isn’t going to happen in September because McGregor has a fight scheduled in own sport and he won’t be able to fight Mayweather until after – if there is an after.

“Errol Spence is going to have his time; he’s going to have his shot. How old is Floyd going to be after that fight is done and over with? If y’all want Floyd to fight me, talk to him about me, get in his face about me. If you want to back me, back me!” said Thurman to Fighthub.

There isn’t a great deal of interest in a Mayweather vs. Thurman fight right now unfortunately. Perhaps the interest might pick up if Thurman defeats former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter in their fight on June 25, and if he then defeats Errol Spence (20-0, 17 KOs).

Thurman needs some solid victories on his resume because he’s lacking quality wins right now. Thurman has been fighting as a pro for nine years, and his best wins are against Luis Collazo, Robert Guerrero, Leonard Bundu, Julio Diaz, Diego Chaves, Jesus Soto Karass and Jan Zaveck.

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Thurman has been matched carefully throughout his career. Thurman is only now fighting his first high quality opponent in Porter. There are major questions whether Thurman an win that fight. If he does win it, he’ll need to do it in an impressive fashion because he cannot afford to run from Porter for 12 rounds like he did in his fight against Bundu. That was an ugly to watch fight that caused many boxing fans to boo Thurman after and during the fight.

“I’ve been waiting for him to stay retired, because really, I’m tired of people talking about him. I’m ready for his name to go in the books and be straight up what it is, which is history. He ain’t the future, he’s history,” said Thurman.

The fact that boxing fans are still talking about Mayweather suggests that Thurman isn’t doing his job by facing better fighters and being an entertaining fighter. You can’t expect the boxing public to get excited about Thurman with him fighting old timers like Collazo, 35, and Guerrero, because those fighters are already old and haven’t done anything with their careers in many years. Thurman should have fought those guys many years ago if he wanted to get credit for beating them. The way Thurman can get the fans to quiet down about Mayweather is to beat Porter and Spence in back to back fights.

Thurman is really behind Mayweather with the pace of his career. Thurman should have taken Mayweather up when he offered him a fight against the unbeaten Errol Spence in the past. That fight at least would have given Thurman his first quality opponent of his career, and it would have shown the boxing fans whether he’s a talented fighter or not. right now, you can’t say Thurman is a good fighter because he’s been hurt several times by the weak fighters that he’s faced in the past.

Only Thurman knows why he turned down the Spence fight. What we do know is that Spence was ready to take the fight, and Mayweather was offering up one of his titles for Spence and Thurman to fight over. If nothing else, it would have given Thurman a chance to show off his talent to Mayweather to show him that he’s a worthy opponent. Thurman didn’t take Mayweather up on his offer and that’s too bad. It was a golden opportunity Thurman had to prove to Mayweather that he could beat the next Mayweather in Spence and Thurman wouldn’t take the fight.