By Jeff Aranow: Amir “King” Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) took to Twitter last Saturday night to call out WBA/WBC welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) following Shawn “Showtime” Porter’s 9th round knockout victory over grizzled veteran Andre Berto (31-5, 24 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The Berto vs. Porter fight was televised on Showtime Championship Boxing, as presented by Premier Boxing Champions.
Khan says he wants to fight Thurman at the end of the year. If Khan gets that fight, it would be the only fight for him in 2016. He only fought once in 2016, and once in 2015. You get the picture. Khan is no longer an active fighter at this stage in his career.
Khan, 30, hasn’t fought in the last 11 months since losing to former WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez by a 6th round knockout on May 7, 2016 in a catch-weigh fight at 155 pounds. Khan was supposed to be returning to the ring in April in a tune-up fight, but now he plans on staying out of the ring until perhaps September.
“Forget Porter, get your gloves on Keith Thurman. I want you at the end of this year. More money & bigger fight. #ponytail,” said Khan on his Twitter last Saturday night.
Would a fight between Khan and Thurman make more money for “One Time” than rematches against Danny Garcia and Porter? I don’t know. I think the U.S boxing public would be less interested in seeing Thurman fight Khan right now, simply because the British fighter has been inactive for almost an entire year since his loss to Saul Canelo Alvarez last May. Khan also hasn’t beaten a top fighter in many years. He’s not fighting the right opposition.
I don’t know if Thurman, 28, is thinking about a fight against Khan right now. There was a time when Thurman wanted to face Khan in the worst way to help build his name and prove himself to the boxing world. Thurman has options for rematches against Danny Garcia next and then Porter after that. Porter is now the WBC mandatory challenger to Thurman, so he’s going to get a rematch with him soon.
Thurman also has the option of fighting the winner of the Kell Brook vs. Errol Spence Jr. fight on May 27. Brook is defending his IBF welterweight title in that fight. If 2012 U.S Olympian Spence wins the IBF strap, it would set up a potential mouth-watering fight between him and Thurman. With all the choices that Thurman has in front of him for 3 big fights, Khan is more of yesterday’s news. He’s more of a Berto type of fighter, a guy that at one time was viable and relevant fighter, but who now is no longer fighting frequently and no longer beating the best.
Khan needs to get active again with his career. Fighting once a year for 3 consecutive years isn’t good for Khan’s boxing skills to keep him sharp, and it’s definitely not going to help build his name. It’s unclear whether Khan still loves the sport enough for him to get more fights in. He seems to travel all the time different places. Khan is almost like someone that is retired and on permanent vacation.
Khan has the money to live like that, but it’s clearly getting in the way of him fighting. When you compare active fighters like Thurman to Khan, it’s like night and day. Thurman is making sure he fights at least 2 times a year, and he’s facing the best. He’s not messing around for 4 years fighting tune-ups the way Khan has been mostly doing since he lost to Danny Garcia in 2012. Saul Canelo Alvarez was Khan’s first non-tune-up fight in 4 years when he fought him last year. Khan fought like a rusty fighter that didn’t have the stamina to fight hard.
Keith Thurman rooting for Errol Spence Jr. over Kell Brook
WBA/WBC welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman made it clear last Saturday night that he’s open to fighting the winner of the Kell Brook vs. Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr. fight, and he’s hoping that Spence will be the one that wins against the British fighter in their fight on May 27. Thurman is also interested in fighting other top guys like Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter. Those fighters could come first for “One Time” Thurman before he looks to tackle the tough task of facing the winner of the Brook-Spence fight.
Spence and Brook believe that their fight represents the 2 best fighters in the 147 lb. division today. They could be right. That’s possibly why Thurman isn’t chomping at the bit to fight the winner of that match just yet. The Brook vs. Spence winner will likely have to wait for Thurman to take care of business against Porter and Garcia in back to back rematches.
“At the end of the way, I wear red, white and blue, so I look forward to Spence bringing that belt back home, and creating more opportunities for the welterweight division, and your boy Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman is at the top and I’m willing to fight everybody,” said Thurman when asked by Showtime Boxing interviewer Jim Gray if he would be willing to fight the winner of the Brook vs. Spence fight.
I don’t know if Thurman wants the winner of the Brook-Spence Jr. fight anytime soon unless perhaps Brook comes out on top. Brook is more tailor-made for Thurman’s style than a pressure fighter like Spence. Thurman hasn’t fought a classic body puncher yet in his career like Spence, and it would be a very hard fight for him, because Thurman uses a lot of head movement to keep from taking shots. The head movement works well for Thurman to save him from taking punishment.
“I was just wishing he would say] yes, that’s the fight I want next,’” said Porter about the Thurman rematch. “He kind of did. He said a whole bunch of words. I didn’t understand them. All I know is ‘yes,’” said Porter.
Thurman then said this:
“Negotiate, all we got to do is negotiate,” said Thurman in answering Porter’s question. “He is my mandatory. His team was adamant about getting the rematch, and now they’ve fought themselves in position for a rematch. They truly deserve it. It’s nothing but sitting down and talking to Al Haymon and making the fight happen. I’m still not thinking about anything right now per se, but outside of that, this is a great fight. It’s a great match-up. We got fight of the year last year. We got fight of the year later on this year. He’s hungry. You seen the way he fights. It’s going to be a great fight,” said Thurman about his fight with Porter last year,” said Thurman.
Thurman needs to get back in the gym and lose some weight, because he looked pretty heavy last night. That weight is going to need to come off Thurman for him to be able to beat Garcia or Porter. Thurman will likely take the fight with Garcia next because he’s easier style for him than Porter. Thurman had a lot of problems beating Porter last year in winning a narrow 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 115-113, 115-113 and 115-113.
Thurman added the WBC welterweight title to his collection last March in beating champion Danny Garcia by a 12 round split decision. Thurman built up a big early lead over Garcia, but then he coasted in the second half of the fight, making it closer than it should have been. Thurman took criticism for making the fight boring for the boxing fans by not attacking Garcia hard until the end of the fight.
Porter defeated Andre Berto by a 9th round knockout last Saturday night in knocking him down twice in round 9 to get the stoppage at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.