(Photo credit: Przemek Garczarczyk) By Dan Ambrose: WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) feels that he’s proven himself in his career to where he now deserves to get a fight against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) on September 12th.
Thurman feels like he’s justified to ask for the fight with Mayweather. Unfortunately for Thurman, his resume is rather empty of the top names at welterweight. Thurman has done a nice job of getting the middle and bottom ranked contenders at 147, but he’s not fought the top caliber guys yet.
Some boxing fans feel that Thurman has a chin problem and they feel that he’s being matched carefully to keep him away from the harder punchers. The fans note that Thurman moves frequently and refuses to stay in the pocket, even against lighter punchers like Leonard Bundu.
Thurman, 26, was told by Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe on Wednesday that he doesn’t rate a fight against Mayweather because he still hasn’t proven that he’s any better than #8 WBA Errol Spence, who Ellerbe and Mayweather both rate really highly. Ellerbe sees Spence as a better fighter than Thurman, and for that reason he doesn’t feel that Thurman is deserving of a fight against Mayweather.
“I believe I am in the Mayweather sweepstakes,” Thurman said via Fightnews. “I believe deserve the fight. I worked hard. I made myself up in the ranks, higher than most people he would even consider. I may get it [the Mayweather fight] or I may not get it. I don’t need Mayweather in my career. But it is an exciting fight for the America people. It is an all American battle to do down,” Thurman said.
Thurman says he’s in the Mayweather sweepstakes, but Ellerbe says differently. Within the next few weeks, Thurman might need to come to terms with the fact that he’s not in the Mayweather sweepstakes when Mayweather makes his choice in which guy he’ll be fighting on September 12th. Mayweather will be making that decision very soon, and it’s not likely going to be Thurman.
Thurman will be fighting former WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo (36-6, 19 KOs) this Saturday night on Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN at the USF Sundome, in Tampa, Florida, USA. This fight is another lower level fight for Thurman, who still hasn’t stepped up to the higher level fighters in the division for some reason. Thurman mentions guys like Mayweather, Amir Khan, Shawn Porter, Marcos Maidana and Adrien Broner, but then he never fights them.
Instead of fighting those guys, Thurman has been fighting the likes of Robert Guerrero, Jesus Soto Karass, Julio Diaz, Diego Chavez and Leonard Bundu. Those are the only known guys that Thurman has been fighting. He’s fighting basically fringe contenders thus far, and not taking on the true top guys.
“Amir Khan is a great fight for me. Shawn Porter is a great fight for the fans,” Thurman said. “Marcus Maidana is a great fight for the fans. Kell Brook would be a good fight. There are so many great fights out there for me in the welterweight division. I’m just looking forward to this performance [against Collazo]. I’ll be doing my best, showcasing my skills and talent. From there moving forward towards something, anything better.”
Thurman isn’t likely to get Khan, Porter, Brook or Maidana. I can’t see any of those fights happening for Thurman. The one guy that Thurman can fight is Spence, but he doesn’t want to fight him. In the absence of those other guys agreeing to fight him, Thurman needs to agree to fight Spence because it’s probably the best fight out there for him right now and the easiest of the bunch to make.
It’s going to be sad if Thurman’s next fight is against someone like Chris Algieri or another 2nd tier fighter. Collazo isn’t ranked in the top 15. If Thurman is willing to fight non-top 15 contenders, it’s possible we won’t even see him fighting a contender in his next fight.
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