By Dan Ambrose: WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) thinks he’ll now be taking over the welterweight division at 147 as the No.1 fighter now that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is retiring and Manny Pacquiao is down to his final year of his career.
Thurman sees himself stepping into the vacuum left behind by those two fighters, and then taking over for him. Thurman is so confident that he’ll be the No.1 fighter at welterweight now, he’s thinking more in terms of not whether or not he’ll take the No.1 spot, but for how long he’ll be able to stay at the top.
I don’t know that Thurman is going to be able to just step in to take Mayweather and Pacquiao’s place as No.1 at 147 without Thurman actually beating some of the top fighters. Right now, he’s been beating a lot old timers that are arguably over-the-hill like Luis Collazo, Robert Guerrero, Leonard Bundu and Julio Diaz. Thurman hasn’t beaten anyone really good as far as the contenders go, and he’s looked poor in many of his fights.
“I see Floyd ready to leave. I see Pacquiao ready to leave, and I see myself taking over the welterweight division,” Thurman said to Fighthype. “I’m turning 27 in November. I got years and years and years to keep dedicating myself to the sport and staying at the top. I don’t see myself as not being No.1. The question is how long do I stay at the top? How long was [Roy] Jones Jr. No.1? Before Floyd Mayweather Jr., Roy Jones Jr. was pound-for-pound. It’s about holding the top and how long you can stay at the top,” Thurman said.
Thurman is going to need to persuade his adviser Al Haymon to start matching him against guys like Shawn Porter, Amir Khan, Danny Garcia, Tim Bradley, Brandon Rios, Errol Spence and Marcos Maidana if he wants to be seen as the No.1 welterweight in the division. Thurman is not going to be able to take the top spot by being a granddaddy beater, and going to the old folk’s homes to find his opposition each time he fights. Thurman has got to break the habit and start fighting some guys that are youthful, and in their prime like Errol Spence.
Mayweather Jr. offered Thurman a fight against Spence for one of his world titles that he would put on the line for the fight, but Thurman turned down the offer. He didn’t want to fight Spence, and instead, Thurman fought Collazo, an aging fighter in his mid-30s. Thurman later said that Collazo’s name was the only one offered to him by his adviser. Thurman could have insisted on fighting Spence, but instead he agreed to fight Collazo.
I don’t think Thurman will ever be seen as the No.1 fighter in the welterweight division like Mayweather was. To be recognized as No.1, you’ve got to clean out the division, and beat the top fighters. Thurman can continue to fight guys like Diaz, Collazo and Bundu for years, and I don’t see him ever being seen as anything more than a paper champion.
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