By Allan Fox: Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman is glad to see former undisputed light welterweight champion Terence Crawford moving up to the 147 lb. division to start fighting in that weight class, but he wants to see him competing already.
Thurman says he’s heard all the talk about the Top Rank fighter. He wants Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) to show him something by winning the WBO welterweight title from champion Jeff Horn, and then start trash talking.
Crawford, 30, hasn’t done anything yet other than talk about wanting to fight Thurman at 147, but not fighting anyone in the welterweight division. Thurman says it’s time for Crawford to get to work already. It’s been 5 months since Crawford last fought in beating IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Julius Indongo by a 3rd round knockout in their unification fight on August 19 in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Crawford’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank needs to schedule him in a fight against one of the welterweights like Jeff Horn. Crawford is 5 months out of the ring and he still doesn’t have a fight scheduled. At this point, he may be looking at nearly a year out of action before he finally fights. That’s not a good thing for Crawford. He won’t have much to show for that lost year of his career.
“I’d like to see him fight at 147,” said Thurman to Fighthub in talking about Terence Crawford moving up to welterweight. “That’s how I feel about Terence Crawford. Everybody talks about him at 147. I want to see him go to work. ‘You’re in my division. Cool, bro. Go to work.’ That’s what he needs to do. Pick up the title, and then start more trash talking. But take a fight, move up, and take your fight at 147,” said Thurman.
Bob Arum wants to match him against Horn in the first quarter of 2018. There still isn’t a date for that fight, and it’s quite possible that it won’t take place until April or May if then. Crawford is in a position where his career may get stunted unfortunately. Unless the way that Top Rank matches their fighters, Crawford might be limited with the type of opponents he’s able to face. Thurman is with Al Haymon. He and Arum don’t frequently work with one another. If that situation stays the way it is now, Crawford might not ever fight Thurman unless he leaves Top Rank. It’s doubtful that they’ll let Crawford slip away once his contract runs out. They’ll likely give Crawford a big offer to keep him with Top Rank. If Crawford wins the WBO 147 lb. title from Horn, he’ll be able to defend against the World Boxing Organization’s top 15 contenders, and whoever Top Rank works with. With the political climate the way it is right now in boxing, Crawford might not face the likes of Thurman, Errol Spence Jr., Danny Garcia, Amir Khan and Shawn Porter.
“I don’t know if I’ll stay my whole career at 147, but I want my legacy at 147,” said Thurman. ”I want my greatest accomplishments to be at 147.”
Thurman will do well at 154 once the bigger fighters like Jermell Charlo, Jarrett Hurd and Erislandy Lara move up to middleweight. Those guys are big fighters for the 154lb. weight class. Thurman could rule the 154 lb. division once those fighters move up. Thurman is more of a natural junior middleweight than those guys are. Those 3 fighters are true middleweights, who met down to 154 to gain an edge in that weight class. Thurman is doing the same thing in melting down from junior middleweight to fight at welterweight. Pretty much all fighters fight in weight classes that are well below their natural weight.
WBA/WBC welterweight champion Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) is supposed to be fighting next on April 16 against Jessie Vargas in a title defense on Showtime Boxing. This is a tune-up level fight for Thurman, even though former WBO welterweight champion Vargas was only recently dethroned by Manny Pacquiao in 2016. Thurman says he’ll fight 3 times this year against Vargas, Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia.
