Keith Thurman: Soto Karass is going down!

By Eric Thomas: Keith Thurman (21-0, 19 KO’s) is hoping to put in a good performance tonight to justify him being mentioned among the top names in the sport like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Thurman, 25, will be defending his interim WBA 147 lb. title against an opponent that he feels isn’t in the same league as him in Jesus Soto Karass (28-8-3, 18 KO’s).

Thurman has to be able to beat this guy easily for him to be classified as being at the same level as a Mayweather, because this is someone that wouldn’t do well against a fighter as good as Floyd.

If Thurman can’t breeze through the likes of Soto Karass, then he needs to save his breath about wanting to be respected as a top guy because it would mean that he has a long ways to go before he’s up there with the top echelon at 147.

Thurman and Soto Karass will be the co-feature in tonight’s Showtime card headlined by Adrien Broner vs. Marcos Maidana a the Alamodome in San Antonio. Texas. It’s likely that the large crowd will favor Soto Karass over Thurman, as there might be a large Mexican crowd that shows up for the fight, and Soto Karass is Mexican and he’s got a lot of fans.

Thurman said this about Soto Karass: “This guy is going down, and that’s what’s going to happen. I’m ‘one time, every time.’ Soto Karass is tough, but so is my grandma. That don’t mean he belongs in the same ring with me.”

A knockout win for Thurman would be a good thing, because it would help create interest for a fight between him and the winner of the Broner-Maidana fight. Thurman wants to fight Broner in 2014, and if he can get Soto Karass out of the way tonight then he’ll be in position to fight Broner or Maidana next year.

If Thurman overlooks Soto Karass tonight, then we might see an upset because this is a much tougher type of fight for Thurman than the guys he’s been fighting. Soto Karass is a difficult opponent due to his long arms, good power and his looping shots that he throws a lot of. Thurman took some big shots in his wins over Diego Chaves and Jan Zaveck, and he didn’t confident when he was getting hit. But Thurman’s offense is so good that he was able to beat both of those guys definitively. But there’s still questions about Thurman’s ability to take punishment. Soto Karass should answer some of those questions tonight.