By Allan Fox: Once Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs) picks up the IBF welterweight title in early 2017, he’d like to face WBC champion Danny Garcia and WBA belt holder Keith “One Time” Thurman to pick up their scalps and world titles to add to his growing collection of fine pelts.
Spence doesn’t like how Garcia and Thurman are making excuses for they don’t have to fight him in saying that he’s not ready for them.
Thurman and Garcia are just a little bit older than Spence, and neither of them has really done much in terms of fighting high quality opposition. Thurman has the one fight against Shawn Porter as being his only high quality opponent.
The rest of the guys Thurman has fought have been older fighters like Robert Guerrero, Luis Collazo, Julio Diaz, Carlos Quintana and Jesus Soto Karass. Thurman is about as experienced as Spence is. The only difference is Thurman has the WBA title, which he won outside the ring rather than inside it.
It could prove impossible to get Garcia and Thurman to fight Spence, because they simply don’t have any interest in taking on the unbeaten fighter. It’s like asking them to touch the third rail. They’re not going to do it. Why should they? Garcia is making good money fighting the likes of Rod Salka, Paulie Malignaggi and Samuel Vargas. Thurman is getting paid well to Collazo, Leonard Bundu, Guerrero, Soto Karass, Diaz and Porter. Why would Thurman want to interrupt the money flow by taking on someone that could scalp him like Spence?
Spence said to fighthype.com about Thurman and Garcia:
“It’s annoying that Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia keep writing me off. I don’t think Keith Thurman had anything to say recently. I put on a better performance than he did against Bundu. If you look at Keith Thurman’s face after the fight, he was all bruised up and swollen. If you look at my face after the fight, I went out that same night and hung out with my guys.”
It was interesting how Thurman was talking about wanting to see how Spence would do against Bundu recently. Bundu was a fighter that Thurman had a lot of problems beating two years ago in a fight in which Thurman had to get on his bike and move for 12 rounds after getting nailed early.
Thurman didn’t have much to say about Spence after he dispatched Bundu in six rounds last August. It was strange. You would at least like to have heard Thurman talk about wanting to fight Spence, but that didn’t happen. You can argue that once Thurman saw how dangerous Spence is with his one-sided win over Bundu, he decided not to even comment on him. I think the only way Spence is going to get a fight against Thurman in the future is if he gets ranked by the WBA and becomes the mandatory challenger to him. Even then, I wouldn’t assume anything.
Thurman can’t say that Spence needs to prove himself, because he himself was totally unproven as a fighter when he was given the WBA title outside of the ring in 2015. At the time that the WBA elevated Thurman to their WBA champion, his best wins were over Bundu, Julio Diaz, Soto Karass, Diego Chavez, Jan Zaveck and Carlos Quintana. Those are not major players at 147. Thurman can’t come from up high and say that Spence needs to prove himself when he unproven when the WBA gave him the WBA title. I don’t consider beating the guys that Thurman had beaten as being proven. Quintana, Diaz and Zaveck were old. Soto Karass is a journeyman, Chaves little more than a fringe contender
“It gets frustrating when they keep writing me off,” said Spence about Thurman and Garcia. “They try to find a reason why I’m not ready for them or the top guys and that does get kind of frustrating. But I’m going to get there. I’m right in line and once I get this title, we will see if they have another excuse why they shouldn’t unify the belts with me. Hopefully Danny and Keith fight each other and then I’ll fight the winner.”
I think what Spence is going to need to stay in his own lane and make his own success without Thurman and Garcia. It’ll be like how Top Rank has their champion at 147 holding the WBO title, and they don’t appear to mix with the other champions in the division. They’re kind of sectioned off in exchanging the belts with other fighters in the Top Rank team. It was Manny Pacquiao, then Tim Bradley, and now Jessie Vargas. Spence will take the IBF title in early 2017, and then be his own guy.
Thurman will stay in his lane fighting the contenders for his title. Even if Thurman beats Garcia in a unification fight with Garcia in 2017, I don’t see him wanting to face Spence in a unification match. The only way I see that fight happening is if Spence becomes another Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Thurman has nothing to lose if he gets dominated by him.