Errol Spence Jr vs. Keith Thurman: Is this fight PPV worthy?

By Boxing News - 01/11/2023 - Comments

By Adam Baskin: Errol Spence Jr has chosen to fight Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman next at 154 on PPV in April in a non-title match rather than the dangerous Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, or Vergil Ortiz Jr.

Spence-Thurman is a tough sell at this stage of Thurman’s career, given the inactivity and the way he’s disappeared off the grid for so many years. Thurman might as well have been living in a shack at the top of a mountain, playing his flute, letting his hair grow for all the fans cared. He’s been forgotten.

A lot of boxing fans are going to be hesitant to purchase the Spence vs. Thurman fight on PPV because it’s not a pay-per-view-worthy match-up at this point. If PBC is willing to drop the price to a fan-friendly $30, it might do well and bring in respectable numbers. But if they’re looking at peddling the Spence-Thurman clash at $78 on pay-per-view, it could be a disaster.

That’s not to say that it wouldn’t have been had it taken place six to seven years ago when Thurman was still in his prime and dominating his competition with ease.

Back then, Thurman didn’t want to fight Spence because he wanted the let their fight marinate to build it up so would make a ton of money. However, Thurman let his career stagnate after his fight with Danny Garcia in 2017, and shockingly, he’s only fought three times in the last six years. Those are Adrien Broner-type activity numbers.

Thus far, Spence has kept quiet about whether he will return to the 147-lb division after his match against Thurman at 154. Given the murderer’s row that will be waiting for Spence to return to the welterweight division, it’s likely that he’s going to stay at 154 and not risk getting chewed up by them.

Spence is playing it safe by choosing the faded 34-year-old veteran Thurman, who has only fought once in the last four years since 2019. Fans want to see Spence face the relevant fighters at 147, and Thurman doesn’t fit into that category due to inactivity.

Unfortunately, boxings fans aren’t showing much interest in paying out their noses to watch Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) fight a depleted, injury-plagued, part-time fighter like Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) on pay-per-view.

Six years ago, before adopting a sedentary lifestyle and gaining massive amounts of weight, Thurman was the #1 welterweight on the planet and one of the best in promoting his fights.

Sadly, injuries and the enjoyment of the fruits of his labor parked Thurman on the bench where he’s been for the last six years, totally forgotten by boxing fans that knew of him in the past.

Younger boxing fans have no clue who Thurman is because they weren’t around back in 2016 when he was still fighting regularly.