By Jeff Aranow: Trainer Angel Garcia says WBA Super World welterweight champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman will be fighting former junior middleweight world title challenger Josesito Lopez next when he makes his comeback. Angel, who is the father/trainer of former two division world champion Danny Garcia, says Thurman will never be the same fighter he once was after he suffered an elbow injury I his close 12 round split decision victory over Danny last year on March 4.
Angel wants Thurman to be stripped of his WBA title so that the title is freed up for Danny Garcia to go after. However, Garcia will be lucky if he beats Shawn Porter.
Angel believes that not only is 34-year-old Josesito Lopez (36-7, 19 KOs) going to be Thurman’s opponent for his next fight, but he’s also going to beat him. For Lopez to beat even a one-armed Thurman, he’s going to need to raise his game considerably from what we’ve seen from him in the last three years. ‘The Riverside Rocky’ Lopez looked poor in his last four fights against Miguel Cruz, Saul Corral, Todd Manuel and Andre Berto. Lopez was stopped in the 6th round by Berto on March 13, 2015. The fight earned Berto a big payday match against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2015. For all intents and purposes, Berto is the last serious fight of Mayweather’s career. Mayweather fought last year in beating novice fighter Conor McGregor by a 10th round in Las Vegas, Nevada. McGregor, a former UFC star, was making his pro debut in the boxing ring.
”He didn’t vacate. They stripped him,” Angel Garcia said to Thaboxingvoice about the World Boxing Council supposedly stripping Thurman of his WBC welterweight title on April 24. ”Let’s get that straight. What’s the WBA waiting for? Strip him, he’s hurt. He’ll never be the same ever again,” Angel said about his theory that Thurman’s injured left elbow will keep him from ever being the fighter he once was. ”I promise you that. I’m going to give you the straight scoop gossip. He’ll never be the same, man. Josesito Lopez is going to beat him like he did Victor Ortiz,” Angel said.
Josesito Lopez’s claim to fame is beating an injured Victor Ortiz by a 9th round stoppage in June 2012. The fight earned Lopez a title shot against former World Boxing Council 154 pound champion Saul Canelo Alvarez. Lopez moved up two weight divisions from the 140 pound weight class to challenge Canelo for his WBC 154lb title. The result was disastrous for Lopez with Canelo stopping him in the 5th round after dropping him three times in the contest. It’s unclear why Golden Boy Promotions matched Canelo against a fighter two weight classes below him in Lopez. Whatever the case, it make Canelo look sensational against the much lighter looking Lopez, who had no business being inside the ring with the red-headed star. In Lopez’s next fight, he was stopped by Marcos Maidana in the 6th round on June 8, 2016. Lopez’s last defeat came against Berto in 2015.
