By Raj Parmar: As the WBA welterweight championship clash between Manny Pacquiao and Keith Thurman approaches, IBF champion Errol Spence Jr. has recently made negative comments about one of the fighters. Spence has a huge interest in this fight as it will significantly re-shape the welterweight division.
Speaking on a PBC podcast, Spence has stated that he is not a fan at all of Keith Thurman as a boxer or of the way Thurman carries himself outside of the ring. He referred to Keith as being “corny” and someone that is scared to get in the ring with him.
Spence says that he has always been eager to get in the ring with Thurman, even from years ago when both were not very known and were just prospects. Errol feels that the reason they have never squared off as yet is due to Thurman being hesitant to sign off on a potential match.
Thurman is aiming to bring in a new era into boxing by taking out Pacquiao on July 20. He will be putting himself in a very strong position from a marketing standpoint with a impressive win over Manny who is a household name due to his legendary boxing career.
Spence’s biggest name on his record would be multi weight-division champion Mikey Garcia, who is a great fighter however does not compare on any level to Pacquiao in terms of popularity. Therefore even though both are undefeated champions, Thurman could make a bigger name for himself over Spence due to having the chance to get into the ring with and beat Pacquiao.
Errol will be fighting in a welterweight championship unification fight with Shawn Porter later on in 2019 and if he can hold two belts in the division, he will put himself in line to finally fight Thurman should Keith get the win over Manny. Therefore although he may not like Thurman, the two of them may set themselves up for a financially lucrative and legacy defining fight sometime next year if they can each get a victory in their next fight.