Spence vs. Thurman expected to be ordered by WBC today at convention

By Boxing News - 11/09/2022 - Comments

By Brian Webber: Errol Spence Jr vs. Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman is expected to be ordered by the WBC board today at the convention in Mexico.

Spence won’t be pleased with the WBC ordering him to take the fight with Thurman, considering that he’s vowed in the past that he wouldn’t give the Florida native a shot after the way he chose not to face him earlier in their careers.

IBF, WBA & WBC welterweight champion Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) is about to be put in the position where he’ll have no choice but to take on the dangerous former WBA/WBC 147-lb champion Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) unless he chooses to vacate his WBC belt.

If Spence vacates his WBC belt to swerve Thurman, then we’ll see ‘One Time’ take on the next highest-ranked contender in the World Boxing Council’s welterweight rankings, which would be #2 Vergil Ortiz Jr (19-0, 19 KOs).

That would be an excellent fight between the former #1 welterweight on the planet, Thurman, battling a young gun that is destined for big things in the 147-lb division.

Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, on Tuesday, Golden Boy Promotions petitioned the WBC for them to order a fight between Thurman and Vergil for the WBC mandatory spot. If the still bitter Spence opts not to give Thurman the time a day, then Thurman-Ortiz will battle for the WBC belt that will be stripped from Errol.

Ideally, Spence should do the right thing by taking on Thurman, as that’s a fight that the boxing world wants to see right now, given that WBO champion Terence Crawford is currently busy fighting David Avanesyan on December 10th and isn’t available to face Errol.

Spence won’t make the same kind of money defending against Eimantas Stanionis or Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. Of course, I don’t think Spence wants any part of fighting Boots Ennis because he’s like an improved version of Crawford, but with more power, size, youth, and boxing ability.

Thurman looked like his old self in his last fight, beating Mario Barrios by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision last February in his first fight back from a two-year layoff. That version of Thurman looked identical to the one that had dominated the welterweight division from 2012 to 2017 before nagging injuries began to take their toll on ‘One Time.’

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