Keith Thurman boxing news
By Dan Ambrose: Former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) is already excited about his proposed December 12th fight against WBA “regular” welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs). Porter was interviewed tonight by ESPN during the Devon Alexander vs. Aron Martinez fight on the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) card in Arizona.
Porter said that his fight with the 26-year-old Thurman will “be one of the great fights of all time.”
(Photo credit: Hogan Photos) By Dan Ambrose: WBA “regular” welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) will be defending his WBA 147lb title against former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) on December 12th on Showtime Championship Boxing at a still to be determined venue, according to Dan Rafael.
This is a very big fight and easily the biggest of the 26-year-old Thurman’s career. It’s what you would call a proving fight for Thurman, because he’s had it pretty easy in his eight year pro career with all the soft opponents that his adviser Al Haymon has put him in with thus far.
By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Virgil Hunter doesn’t buy the excuses coming from IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin’s team that a fight between Golovkin and his fighter WBA 168lb champion Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) wouldn’t be a big fight that would have a large impact at the gate.
Hunter thinks that a fight between Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) and Ward would be a sellout, and would attract a great deal of interest in the boxing community.
By Dan Ambrose: WBA welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) thinks he’s got the knowledge to crack the May-Vinci code to give Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. (49-0, 26 KOs) his first loss of his career if he ever gives him the chance to fight him. But Thurman, 26, is reversing the talk by asking whether Mayweather has the ability to solve the Thurman question.
Thurman says no one has answered the question in his 22 fights as a pro. Thurman is confident that if Mayweather comes back in 2016 and faces him, he’ll defeat him. Mayweather hasn’t given any indication whether he’ll be returning to the ring next year to fight at this point.
By Dan Ambrose: #10 WBA welterweight contender Errol Spence (18-0, 15 KOs) is going to need a while longer for he can possibly get a fight against WBA “regular” welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs), because Thurman is saying that the 25-year-old Spence needs more experience before he can get a world title shot.
Thurman thinks that Spence is reaching too high by calling him out without having fought enough top guys to earn the title shot. Thurman thinks that Spence won’t be ready for a title shot for a little over a year until the first quarter of 2017.
By Scott Gilfoid: WBA “regular” welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) says he’d really like to fight #1 WBC Amir Khan (3-3, 19 KOs) because he believes the British fighter wouldn’t be able to handle his punching power if a fight between them took place.
Thurman feels that Khan is being matched up against pretty much mostly former light welterweights without a lot of punching power since he moved up to the 147lb division in 2013. Since then, Khan has fought former lightweight Julio Diaz, and former light welterweights Devon Alexander and Chris Algieri.
By Dan Ambrose: WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) thinks he’ll now be taking over the welterweight division at 147 as the No.1 fighter now that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is retiring and Manny Pacquiao is down to his final year of his career.
Thurman sees himself stepping into the vacuum left behind by those two fighters, and then taking over for him. Thurman is so confident that he’ll be the No.1 fighter at welterweight now, he’s thinking more in terms of not whether or not he’ll take the No.1 spot, but for how long he’ll be able to stay at the top.
By Dan Ambrose: WBA “regular” welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) doesn’t seem to think too highly of former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 24 KOs), who will be arguably getting an undeserved world title shot two months from now on November 7th against fellow Top Rank fighter WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (33-1-1, 12 KOs) at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Thurman, 26, doesn’t see Rios as a fighter with good defensive skills, hand speed, punching power or talent.
By Dan Ambrose: Floyd Mayweather Sr. doesn’t see IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) or WBA “regular” welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 21 KOs) as a big threat to his son Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0, 26 KOs) if they were to fight.
For starters, Floyd Sr. thinks that Mayweather would probably whip Golovkin because of what he feels is his superior fighting style. Floyd Sr. does think that Golovkin is the much bigger fighter than Mayweather, but he still thinks that Mayweather would probably still wind up beating him if he had the desire to take that fight, which he clearly doesn’t.
By Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. said he’s made good investments with the money that he’s made in his boxing career, and this in turn enables him to walk away from the sport after 19 years as a pro without having to worry about money the way most fighters do.
Mayweather defeated Andre Berto last night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada in a fight Mayweather said will make him $70 million. He’s got a guarantee of $32 million. So for Mayweather to make an additional $38 million, he’s going to need some fairly good pay-per-view numbers from Showtime.