Keith Thurman not in Spence’s plans, prefers Danny Garcia

By Boxing News - 04/06/2020 - Comments

By Sean Jones:  In what looks like a case of payback, Errol Spence Jr. says he doesn’t want to fight Keith Thurman and that he prefers to face Danny Garcia when he comes back in September or October this year.

Is Spence taking the easy option in picking Danny over Thurman? Danny isn’t considered a bigger fighter than Thurman in the eyes of the hardcore boxing fans. Thurman’s win over Garcia in 2017 was clear proof that he’s the better fighter.

Spence Jr. (26-0, 21 KOs) is picking Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs), a fighter that Thurman has already beaten because he’s “tough” and has done a lot 13-year professional career. Garcia has captured world titles at 140 and 147. However, he won those world titles against less than the best opposition. Danny didn’t beat any talented fighters to his belts.

Image: Keith Thurman not in Spence's plans, prefers Danny Garcia

Spence not happy that Thurman didn’t fight him earlier

Errol doesn’t like that Thurman never threw him a bone when he was coming up, and ‘One Time’ was a world champion. Thurman didn’t want to take the fight with Spence years ago because he had better options at the time. He wasn’t excluding him just to mess with him. Spence didn’t have a name until recently, and his future is already in doubt after he crashed his Ferrari last October.

Thurman also has a victory over former Danny Garcia conqueror Shawn Porter. On paper, it doesn’t make sense for Spence to pick Danny over Thurman. There’s no comparison to the promotional ability that Thurman possesses. He’s arguably superior to Danny when it comes to hyping his fights.

An example of that was the way that Thurman built up interest in his pay-per-view fight last July against Manny Pacquiao. Thurman single-handedly got boxing fans excited about that fight.

Spence: Keith Thurman isn’t on my level

“Danny Garcia this year or next year, maybe Keith Thurman, I don’t know. Probably not. I don’t really care about him anymore,” said Spence in talking to Premier Boxing about his plans. “He didn’t give me an opportunity when I wanted it. So I don’t care about fighting him.

“I was calling him out and wanted to fight him, but he didn’t want to give me an opportunity. He didn’t want to fight me. So now I don’t need him. I don’t need him at all. He’s not even on my radar. I feel like he’s not even on my level. Just because he fought Pacquiao, they gave him a little bit of kudos,” said Spence.

Right now, you can’t say that Thurman isn’t on Spence’s level, as he performed better than him in his last fight. Although Thurman lost his last match to Manny Pacquiao last July, he fought well enough to get a decision. The judges gave it to Pacquiao, but a lot of people saw Thurman doing enough to deserve the win.

Spence didn’t look good in beating Porter last September in winning a controversial split decision. Porter took the fight to Spence and was getting the better of him throughout the 12 round contest. The difference between Spence and Thurman is Spence didn’t adapt when he fought Porter. Thurman dealt with Porter’s pressure a lot better in using movement, and explosive combinations.

The car crash that Spence was in last October has a lot of people wondering what he’s got left. If that’s the reason why Spence wants to fight Danny over Thurman, then you’ve got to give him a pass. Why take a dangerous fight with Thurman if you don’t know if you’re 100% back.

Image: Keith Thurman not in Spence's plans, prefers Danny Garcia

Danny Garcia has accomplished a lot – Spence

“I’m looking for big names like Pacquiao, Terence Crawford, Danny Garcia. So I’m not worried about Keith Thurman at all,” said Spence. “It’s a fight that makes sense. Danny Garcia is a very tough fighter. He’s accomplished a lot in boxing. So that’s a fight that makes sense, and that’s a fight that can happen next,” said Spence.

Danny Garcia has won his past world titles against these fighters:

  • Erik Morales – WBC 140-lb
  • Amir Khan – WBA 140-lb
  • Robert Guerrero – WBC 147

Morales was a superb fighter during the prime of his career, but by the time he fought Danny, he was 36-years-old. He was fighting four divisions above his best weight class. This wasn’t the Morales that had gone to war with Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao many years before. Morales was past his best by the time he fought Danny, and yet he gave him a lot of problems in their first fight in 2012.

Danny is a good fighter, but he didn’t stay around the 140-lb division to fight Terence Crawford when he was down there. Likewise, in moving up to 147, Garcia won a paper title in capturing the WBC welterweight belt against Robert ‘The Ghost’ Garcia. That’s another fighter that was out of his best weight class. Guerrero was an elite level fighter at featherweight.

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