By Matt Lieberman: Two years after his defeat against Manny Pacquiao in 2010, Keith Thurman reveals that his hands felt like they were “cement,” and he wished he’d had testing.
‘One Time’ Thurman, 32, is late in bringing up his suspicions at this point because it’s been two years, and fans are going to see it as sour grapes on his part talking about it now.
It’s unclear whether Thurman is implying that Pacquiao had loaded gloves or if he was using PEDs. Either way, Thurman is hinting at the Filipino star having potentially cheated during their fight two years ago.
With the way Thurman angered Pacquiao with his trash-talking during the build-up to their fight, Manny probably wanted to knock him out with every shot.
The former WBA/WBC welterweight champion Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs) lost the fight to Pacquiao by a 12 round split decision on July 20th, 2019, and he hasn’t fought ever since. Thurman was down in the first round from a shot to the head.
‘One Time’ wasn’t hurt, though, and he was able to come back and fight Pacquiao to a standstill going into the championship rounds. Where Thurman lost the fight was in the 10th round when a body shot from Pacquiao hurt him.
“Listen, I did not regulate any form of testing in that fight. He did do the majority of his training camp in the Philippines, and his hands felt like cement,” said Thurman to World Boxing News.
“Apart from rust and dust and a little bit of hesitation, that was my downfall,” said Thurman.
It’s Thurman’s fault for not getting the testing. To be talking about it now, it makes him look like he’s looking for excuses to try and explain away his loss to Pacquiao.
Instead of coming up with possible reasons for why he came up short against Pacquiao, Thurman should be returning to the ring to resume his career. He was 30-years-old when he last fought, and now he’s 32, and he has nothing to show for the last two years.
Keith says he wants to return to the ring this summer against Errol Spence Jr, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, Pacquiao, or Yordenis Ugas. Thurman can probably get a fight against Danny Garcia; as he said in an interview this week, he’d be interested in fighting him at 154. As fat as Thurman has been looking, 154 would be a good weight class for him now.
“Later this summer and bring them all on. Manny, Danny, Errol, Shawn, Ugas. I want my belts back,” said Thurman.
If Thurman is serious about fighting one of those guys next, he needs to get the fight made now. The summer is only a few months away, and he affords to wait to set something up.
If Thurman misses another year, it’s doubtful he’ll be able to regain what he lost from his game. There aren’t too many fighters that can stay out of the game for three years and work their way back to where they were before they stopped fighting.
Thurman’s money from the Pacquiao fight likely has something to do with his lack of ambition since 2019. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Thurman’s net worth is $3 million.
That’s not a lot of money than some fighters, but Thurman has missed out on a lot of time in his career. Keith didn’t fight at all in 2018, 2020, and now 2021.
If Thurman were a hungry fighter in need of money, he would have returned to the ring likely immediately in 2019 after his loss instead of sitting around, getting fat, stuck on reliving the past, wishing he’d done things differently.
What Thurman should be kicking himself over is the way he’s given up two of his careers not fighting. That wasn’t a smart move on his part.
Thurman has been calling Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) out, asking for a rematch, but the Filipino star hasn’t shown any interest in giving him a rematch.
You can’t blame Manny for not wanting a second fight with Thurman because it wasn’t an easy victory for the Filipino star.
Also, it was one of the 42-year-old Manny’s best wins of his career, and he might not pull off a second win against Thurman. Pacquiao won the fight by the scores 115-112, 115-112 for Manny, and 114-113 for Thurman.