Jeff Mayweather says he’s leaning in the direction of Keith Thurman defeating WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu when he challenged him for his title in their 12-round main event contest on March 30th on Amazon Prime Video PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The thing that concerns Jeff is the former WBA & WBC welterweight champion Thurman’s inactivity of 2+ years and the fact that he’s never fought at 154. Mayweather says that under ideal circumstances, he’d like to see the 35-year-old Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) take a tune-up first at junior middleweight before challenging Tszyu (24-0, 17 KOs).
Jeff thinks that Thurman was likely offered the fight, so he agrees without thinking about his need for a tune-up first. It’s likely that if Thurman had told PBC that he wanted a warmup fight first, they would have gone in another direction for someone else to fight Tszyu.
Leaning Towards Thurman, But Tszyu Not Ruled Out
“It kind of caught me off guard because Keith hasn’t done anything in a very long time,” said Jeff Mayweather to Fighthype, reacting to the news of welterweight Keith Thurman moving up to 154 to challenge Tim Tszyu for his WBO junior middleweight title on March 30th on Amazon Prime Video PPV.
“It’s almost like Keith is brand new again. I just hope that the long, long layoff don’t hamper his performance. Sometimes it can help, and sometimes it can be the reason why you lose.
“If I was to pick a winner, I’d still lean slightly towards Keith Thurman, but I think Tim Tszyu has a great chance of winning also. So, it won’t surprise me. Either guy can win that fight.
“A tune-up is what should be done, but it’s probably one of those fights that came his [Thurman] way, and he said, ‘Okay, let’s do it,” said Jeff Mayweather about Thurman.
