By Allan Fox: Harold Lederman of HBO thinks Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) should face WBA World welterweight champion Keith Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) next in his fight on September 12th. Lederman believes that the 26-year-old Thurman is the best welterweight out there who could give Mayweather a good fight.
Thurman isn’t in the running for Mayweather’s next fight, however. The guys that are being talked about as the two leading candidates for Mayweather to fight are Amir Khan and Kell Brook. Of those two, Khan is seen as the favorite. Neither of those fighters are seen as being in the same class as Thurman though in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans.
“Keith Thurman,” Lederman said via Fighthype when asked who Mayweather should fight next. “You want him to fight the best guy out there. The best guy out there is Keith Thurman. He deserves it.”
Thurman has a fight scheduled on July 11th against former WBA 147lb champion Luis Collazo (36-6, 19 KOs) at the USF Sundome in Tampa, Florida. Unless Thurman can get out of that fight, which is unlikely, then he’s not going to have any chance of facing Mayweather in September. It’s too soon for Thurman to be back in the ring after the Collazo fight. Mayweather needs to make a decision quickly for his September fight in order to start promoting the fight.
Thurman doesn’t have a lot of experience yet, but he looks pretty good thus far against the limited opposition he’s faced. In his last three fights, Thurman has beaten Robert Guerrero, Leonard Bundu and Julio Diaz. Thurman also has wins over Diego Chaves and Jesus Soto Karass.
Thurman would definitely be the tougher fight for Mayweather than either Brooks or Khan due to Thurman’s left hooks and powerful right hand. He’s not as fast as Khan, but he’s got enough hand speed to make it interesting against Mayweather. But Thurman’s punching power would make it difficult for Mayweather because he would need to be on his guard the entire time for him to win the fight.
Thurman likely won’t get the fight against Mayweather due to him not being a huge name at this point. Khan and Brook don’t have big names either, but they’re both popular in the UK and would be able to bring in a lot of PPV buys over there. Mayweather could then get a cut of the UK money and it would make it worthwhile for him.
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