Keith Thurman says Errol Spence fight is happening in 2021

By Boxing News - 09/14/2020 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Keith’ One Time’ Thurman says he’ll be fighting Errol Spence Jr in 2021, and he can’t wait for the opportunity.  Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs) wants his WBC belt back that Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) recently picked up last September. Keith was forced to give up the title when he was out of action with injuries from 2017 to 2019.

The winner of the Spence vs. Danny Garcia will need to defend against WBC mandatory Shawn Porter in their first fight, a match that neither guy is interested in taking. The World Boxing Council wants the winner of the match to face Porter. He picked up the mandatory spot recently in beating fringe contender Sebastian Formella by a 12 round unanimous decision on August 22.

Spence just beat Porter last September by a 12 round split decision. There is not much interest from fans in seeing a second fight, but oh well.

Thurman states that he didn’t lose the WBC title inside the ring against anyone. It was a situation in which he had to give it up because he was dealing with elbow and hand injuries.

Keith is picking Spence to beat former two-division world champion Danny Garcia on November 21, and he sees that as total schooling for Errol. With that said, Thurman does believe that Garcia has a chance of winning if he can time Spence and connect with one of his big shots.

In addition to saying he’ll be fighting Spence in 202, Thurman says he wants a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, who just barely squeaked by him with a 12 round split decision last year in July 2019. Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) won’s prestigious WBA Super World welterweight title with his victory last year, but he hasn’t defended it since.

Pacquiao has been sitting on the WBA title, doing nothing with it. The Filipino star reportedly won’t be fighting at all in 2020, which means that there’s going to be pressure on him in 2021 to either defend the belt or vacate it.

Image: Keith Thurman says Errol Spence fight is happening in 2021

Thurman shooting for Spence in 2021

“That’s right, Pacquiao vs. Thurman II, baby. That’s my belt [WBA welterweight title]. I want my belt back. That’s what real champions do. Give me my get back. Let’s get right back, you know? Thurman-Spence, that’s 2021, I can’t wait. I want that fight. I can’t wait.

The whole goal was to beat Pacquiao, and then make it happen in 2020 to unify. Two undefeated champions [Spence and Thurman] bringing together three world titles. With or without my WBA, I still want that fight against Spence.

That WBC title was my title. I gave that up to let Shawn have it, and EJ have it, but nobody saw me. Nobody took it from me. They took my WBA. Pacquiao got that, but nobody took the WBC. I still want that back too.

“It’s going to be a great fight coming up, but he’s got to get past Garcia,” said Thurman about Spence. “He hasn’t fought a lot of punchers in his career. Styles make fights. Let’s see what happens, man,” said Thurman.

It would increase Thurman’s chances of fighting Spence next year if he got back in the ring in 2020 and got a win under his belt first. Thurman already missed out on an entire year in 2018 without fighting, and he lost in 2019 to Pacquiao.

What Thurman needs is a solid victory over someone like Yordenis Ugas, Sergey Lipinets, Amir Khan, Josh Kelly, David Avanesyan, or Ray Robinson. Those are all available fighters, guys that would give Thurman a good fight.

Image: Keith Thurman says Errol Spence fight is happening in 2021

If Thurman is hesitant about fighting those guys, then he doesn’t belong inside the ring with Spence or Pacquiao. Those are fighters that Thurman, back when he beat Danny Garcia, would have had no problems beating. He was a lot more gung ho to take on the bet back then, but the injuries and the inactivity has hurt Thurman.

Keith reveals what Danny Garcia told him about Spence

“Spence-Garcia, I definitely got to go with Spence, but he’s got to respect Danny’s power,” said Keith Thurman on social media. “We were both commentating on that fight [Spence vs. Shawn Porter], and I remember how happy Danny was.

“When the fight was over, Danny was like, ‘EJ took way too many shots. Let me hit him. You’re going to let Shawn hit you like that?’ Only if Shawn could crack an egg, that fight wouldn’t have been what it was. Danny is a 140-pounder, but he sits down like he’s King Kong.

“With his flat feet, but his arms are slow, but you already know he’s about that timing. If EJ gets caught up in that timing, we might see him get really rocked.

“That isn’t what it’s going to be. What you saw him get hit with by Shawn Porter and what you saw him get busted up by from Shawn Porter, that’s not what Danny’s bringing, Bro. Danny’s bringing some haymakers, but you’ve got to offset his timing and work that defense,” said Thurman.

Image: Keith Thurman says Errol Spence fight is happening in 2021

Danny seems to believe that he can hurt Spence, and it has nothing to do with his car accident. He saw how many shots that Shawn Porter was able to land on Erroll, and he feels he can do the same.

It sounds like Danny Garcia plans on unloading on Spence with his best power shots on November 21. That’s probably the only chance that Garcia, 32, has of beating Errol because he’s not going to be able to outbox him.

Spence is too talented for Danny to beat him by a decision unless he knocks him down three or four times. Garcia will be an excellent barometer to judge the condition Spence is in after his car accident last October.

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If he can no longer take a good shot without getting hurt, Danny is the one to expose that if he can get close enough to land.

Errol can school Danny

“EJ has to work that jab, and I think he can school him,” Thurman continued. “I think he can make it an easy day, and I also believe he has what it takes to hurt Danny. We saw him [Spence] drop Shawn Porter.

“I almost dropped Danny in round one, and I believe EJ can hurt him just as bad as he was hurt in that fight. So I love that fight coming up. I’m definitely not going to miss that fight.

“I missed a lot of these PBC events, and I don’t really watch TV. I don’t really be on that big screen. When I’m going to happen, I’m going to go to my boy’s house. I know he loves to throw some fight parties.

“I ain’t been invited, and I ain’t done a lot of stuff because of COVID, but I know people are getting a little bit more lax.

“He’s got a big living room anyways, so we’re going to be good up in there, and I’m going to watch that fight,” Thurman said about the Spence vs. Garcia match,” said Thurman.

Spence does have a good chance of schooling Danny as Thurman says. If Spence stays on the outside, using his jab as he did against little Mikey Garcia, he can outbox Danny and make him look bad.

Danny is going to be attempting to time Spence the entire fight and try and catch him with a big left hook as he did against Amir Khan. Spence has a pretty good chin, and he might be able to handle Danny’s power without any problems.

Image: Keith Thurman says Errol Spence fight is happening in 2021