By Cole Johnston: Immediately after Keith Thurman (29-0, 22 KO’s) retained his WBA Welterweight title this past Saturday night, Danny Garcia (34-2, 20 KO’s) called for a rematch against the man they call “One-Time”. Garcia sent out a tweet after Keith Thurman was announced as the winner, which included one word, “Rematch”. It’s obvious that Garcia wasn’t impressed by Thurman’s performance on Saturday and feels he can take Keith Thurman’s title from him.
It would be very interesting to see how a Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman rematch would play out if it were to happen in the near future. Thurman had a tougher than expected time this past Saturday against fringe welterweight contender Josesito Lopez (36-8, 19 KO’s), in which Thurman looked less than impressive. Even though Thurman managed to outpoint Lopez in most of the rounds, and even managed to knock down Lopez in round 2, there were a few occasions where Lopez seemed to be taking the fight to Thurman, including a rally by Lopez in the 7th round that seemed to have Thurman hurt. If Lopez would have landed a few more clean punches in that round, there is a good chance the fight could’ve been stopped, as even PBC on FOX commentator Joe Goossen noted that the referee was getting ready to possibly step in. It’s not a very far reach to say that the 2-year layoff and the history of injuries showed in Thurman’s performance on Saturday, and if Saturday night’s version of Keith Thurman was facing Danny Garcia, Garcia probably would’ve gotten the best of him. The two fought once before in March of 2017, where Thurman won an extremely close split decision over Garcia.
Danny Garcia, however, is coming off a loss himself. He was defeated last September to Shawn Porter (29-2-1, 17 KO’s) in a heavily debated bout, where some believe that Garcia had done enough to win that fight. It seems that Garcia wants to regain another world title as soon as possible and sees Thurman as the easiest choice in the welterweight division. It is becoming more and more improbable that he will get his wish anytime soon, however, as Thurman seems to be headed in another direction for now. Thurman stated after his victory on Saturday that he would like to fight Manny Pacquiao and Errol Spence in the future and made no mention of Danny Garcia. Realistically, Thurman may take another tune-up fight later this year to stay busy and continue to regain his skills after such a long period of inactivity. With the fight unlikely to happen anytime soon, Garcia will have to just keep beating the guys his promoters put in front of him while he waits. Garcia is scheduled to face Adrian Granados on April 20th, live on FOX.