By Chris Williams: WBA interim welterweight champion Keith Thurman (23-0, 21 KO’s) says he’ll be shooting for a big fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s) next year in 2015, after he hopefully fights IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter next. Thurman believes he knows how to beat Mayweather now after studying his style, and he’s going to try and overpower him the same way he overpowered 34-year-old former IBF lightweight champion Julio Diaz last Saturday night in stopping him in 3 rounds at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
“I want to fight Shawn Porter based off of the fans want it,” Thurman said. “We’re gunning for Mayweather in 2015.”
Porter is a very good fighter, and Thurman could be making a mistake of assuming that a win over him is a given. The way that Porter dismantled Paulie Malignaggi this month and former IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander last December, he’ll be a real threat to Thurman. That could be a fight where Thurman tastes defeat for the first time unless he improves with his game. Diaz kind of showed that Thurman doesn’t react well when pressured hard.
Diaz had Thurman fighting sloppy and taking head shots. Porter will be doing to the same thing, except he’ll be pressuring from the moment the bell rings in the 1st round rather than waiting until the midpoint of the 3rd round the way that Diaz did last night.
When asked how he can beat Mayweather, Thurman said “With power, baby. With power. Two things will beat Floyd Mayweather: power with semi-boxing. If you can’t semi-box, you ain’t going to beat Floyd. You’ve got to have an in and out move, you’ve got to be able to counter punch. He’s a counter puncher. You’ve got to be able to play his game and hopefully beat him. Obviously, Mayweather is close to retirement, because he’s getting gray hairs every day. I only train for Floyd Mayweather, and that’s why these boys don’t stand up to me.”
Thurman has good power, but he needs to work on his hand speed because he looked slow last night. If he could stop putting everything he has in each punch, he might be able to create a little – but not a lot – more hand speed. But if Thurman was facing Mayweather last night instead of the past his prime Diaz, he would have been clowned and beaten with ease.
Thurman tends to load up with his shots to try and impress the fans. It worked against an older fighter like Diaz, but we’re not talking about the quality of the division, are we? Thurman is saying that the “boys don’t stand up to me,” but we’re talking about guys like Jesus Soto Karrass, Diego Chavez, Jan Zaveck and Diaz. Thurman has yet to beat a good fighter. He’s beaten fringe contenders or past their prime fighters as of recently. Facing Mayweather would be a huge step up for Thurman even if he gets past Porter, which I have serious doubts about.
Thurman is like Adrien Broner 2.0. He’s someone that talks a good game, but his skills and his experience don’t back up his talk.
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