By Dan Ambrose: Undefeated junior middleweight prospect Keith Thurman (18-0, 17 KO’s) sees himself as a future world champion in both the welterweight and junior middleweight divisions. Thurman takes that first step in realizing his dreams on Saturday night against contender Carlos Quintana (29-3, 23 KO’s) at the Citizens Business Bank Arena, in Ontario, California.

Thurman is one of those types of fighters that has supreme confidence in his ability, and perhaps too much confidence given the way he’s looked. Despite never having faced any 1st tier opponents until now, Thurman has already called out the big names in the sport such as Floyd Mayweather and Tim Bradley.

Boxing fans might take Thurman a little more seriously if he can destroy the 36-year-old Quintana on Saturday night. Thurman is getting Quintana at the right age because he’s not the young fighter he once was when he defeated Paul Williams in a big upset in February 2008.

Thurman said at the press conference “I plan on taking out many people during my career and being champion at 154 or 147…So don’t blink, as I have a lot of early knockouts and I have the abilities and skills to make that happen again on Saturday.”

Thurman does have a lot of early knockouts as he says, but what he doesn’t mention is that most of his early KOs have come against 3rd tier opposition and not world class fighters. He did beat a decent 2nd tier fighter in Brandon Hoskins by early knockout, but Hoskins has lost his last three fights and isn’t in the same class as Quintana is.

If Thurman wants to make it to the next level he’s going to have to beat Quintana and look good in doing so. A loss for Thurman here will be a big blow to his career because it’ll keep him in the 2nd tier for a little while longer. He’ll likely focus more on welterweight bouts if he gets beaten by Quintana, because at 147, the huge Thurman is like another Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. because of his huge size advantage over his opposition at that weight.