Thurman defeats Chaves, wins interim WBA 147 lb. title

By Boxing News - 07/28/2013 - Comments

thurman333By Dan Ambrose: Keith Thurman (21-0, 19 KO’s) proved that he’s the real deal in overcoming the huge punching power of Argentinian Diego Chaves (22-1, 18 KO’s) to stop him in the 10th round on Saturday night to win the interim WBA welterweight title at the AT&T Center, in San Antonio, Texas, USA.

Thurman used a variety of approaches to try and solve the hard hitting Chaves. Initially he tried to slug with Chaves, but by the middle of the right, Thurman had figured out that wasn’t going to work. He then adapted and switched tactics by choosing to box Chaves and mix in hard power shots.

That worked perfectly, as he took control of the fight and dropped Chaves with a hard left to the midsection in the 9th. In the 10th round, Thurman hammered a now defensive Chaves with hard power shots and put him on the canvas with a hard right to the head. Referee Luis Pabon then stopped the fight at 0:28 after seeing that Chaves wasn’t going to be able to get up.

Thurman’s interview after the fight with Jim Gray of Showtime was kind of comical with Thurman mistaking San Antonio for San Diego as he thanked the crowd. This led to a loud chorus of boos as Thurman apologized repeatedly for his mistake.

Thurman said “I came here with multiple game plans. I knew he was going to be the toughest opponent I’ve faced. I wanted to punch him, I wanted to box him and that’s exactly what I did. We used in and out, we changed our game plan throughout the fight, and later on I was able to catch him with a body shot. I knew he was going to come in condition, but I knew he would die out later on.”

Thurman also said he wants to fight Marcos Maidana next for some reason. It seemed like an odd choice given that he’s now the WBA interim champion and should be targeting the WBA champ Adrien Broner, because that’s a much bigger fight than Thurman facing Maidana, a fighter that previously turned down a fight with Thurman.



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