Keith Thurman might sit out remainder of 2016

By Boxing News - 10/05/2016 - Comments

Thurman vs Porter

By Patrick McHugh: WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs) isn’t quite sure whether he’ll fight again in 2016. He says he may sit out for the remainder of 2016 and come back in 2017 to resume defending his World Boxing Association 147lb title.

Thurman, 27, will be turning 28 next month in November, and he wants a meaningful fight. However, there aren’t a lot of options for him in that direction. Unless he fights a rematch against Shawn Porter, it doesn’t look promising for Thurman to get an interesting fight. Thurman manager Al Haymon would be the one that would need to find an opponent for him.

#1 WBA David Avanesyan might be the best option Thurman has going for him right now, because guys like Amir Khan and Kell Brook aren’t available. WBC champion Danny Garcia is being mentioned as possibly fighting light welterweight contender John Molina Jr. Errol Spence Jr. is waiting to find out if he’s going to get a fight against IBF champion Kell Brook. Jessie Vargas is fighting Manny Pacquiao next month on November 5. Tim Bradley looks like he’s finished for the year after getting a nice payday in losing to Pacquiao last April in their third fight.

“I don’t know if I’m going to do a [mandatory defense],” said Thurman via Premier Boxing Champions per Fight News. “I’d rather make something more meaningful happen. But I enjoy looking down realizing that after a power struggle, I’ve attained the top spot…I have time to step into the ring this year and I’m open to that, but I’m also willing to sit back and reflect on the fact that I’ve worked 20 years of my life to get where I am. If we sit out the rest of this year, we’ll walk into the ring early next year at 28 years old as the undefeated welterweight champion of the world in our prime.”

You never like to hear champion’s sound content when they’re looking at being inactive like Thurman. We’d had too many champions resting on their laurels and wasting years of their careers doing nothing while waiting for big fights to fall into their laps. By the time they do return to the ring, they’ve lost a lot of their skills due to inactivity. Thurman should be looking to stay busy no matter what, because he’s only fought once in 2016.

If Thurman doesn’t fight again this year, then his only fight will be his close 12 round decision win over Shawn Porter last June. That was a really close fight. Thurman makes it sound like he showed conclusively that he’s the best fighter in the division, when in fact the only thing that Thurman proved was that he was tiny bit better than Porter.

Based off on how Thurman looked against Porter, it’s hard to imagine him being able to beat the likes of Errol Spence Jr. or Pacquiao. Those fighters look better than Thurman right now. There’s nothing wrong with Thurman being the No.3 fighter in the 157lb division just as long as he knows where he stands. With Thurman believing he’s the best fighter in the welterweight division, he might not want to work hard to become the top fighter. That would be sad if Thurman kids himself believing that he’s the best in the division and not pushing his manager Al Haymon to keep him busy no matter what.

Thurman has only fought one really good fighter during his entire career unfortunately. Porter is the only real quality win on Thurman’s resume. The rest of the top guys that Thurman has beaten are from this punch of fringe contenders: Luis Collazo, Leonard Bundu, Robert Guerrero, Julio Diaz, Jesus Soto Karass, Diego Chaves, Jan Zaveck and Carlos Quintana. Diaz and Quintana no longer fight. Zaveck hasn’t fought in 2016, and it’s unclear whether he ever will. Collazo hasn’t fought in 2016 since his loss to Thurman in 2015, and it remains to be seen whether he’ll fight against.

Guerrero and Bundu both lost their last fights, and they appear to be nearing the end of their careers. Unfortunately, Thurman has been matched up against a lot of older fighters that were at the ends of their careers. He’s just had the one fight against a prime Porter to show for himself as a top fighter. The rest of the guys have been old lions and/or 2nd and 3rd tier fighters. Why then is Thurman sounding like he’s accomplished something with his boxing career? He’s not. Thurman has done nothing yet and beaten only one good fighter.

If all Haymon can get for Thurman is a fight against Avanesyan, then he needs to take that fight and be happy that he’s getting it. What we don’t want to see is Thurman fighting once in 2017 against some scrub fringe contender, and then saying,”I’m also willing to sit back and reflect on the fact that I’ve worked 20 years of my life to get where I am.

If we sit out the rest of this year, we’ll walk into the ring early next year.” If all Thurman can get is one fight in 2017 as well, then he’s going to have wasted two years of his career fighting as a part-time fighter. Thurman should be trying to fight at least twice if not three times per year. Thurman says he wants to be the guy that replaces Floyd Mayweather Jr. as the top fighter in boxing. He’s not going to do that fighting once a year against guys like Collazo, Guerrero or Avanesyan.

Thurman needs to fight often like Gennady Golovkin does by fighting three times per year against the best possible opponents available. If that means fighting someone that isn’t a big name, then so be it. I wouldn’t expect Haymon to get a big name for Thurman after all this time. It took nine years for Thurman to be finally put in with a quality fighter in Porter. I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes another nine more years before Thurman is matched against his second high quality opponent. Thurman will be 37 by that point, and likely no longer a factor in the 147lb division, but better late than never.