By Dan Ambrose: WBA welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) made weight on Friday for his title defense against Luis Collazo (36-6, 19 KOs) this Saturday night on Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN from the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida. A suntanned Thurman weighed in at 146.2 pounds and looked in good shape. The 5’7 ½” Thurman appeared to be a little shorter than the 5’9” Collazo, and not quite as big as him in terms of his frame.
By Danny Esch Keith “One Time” Thurman has gone on record now to let the boxing world know that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is throwing Errol Spence’s name out there to distract the boxing public from talking about Mayweather vs. Thurman. The comments that were made by Keith Thurman came via “Sidestep Boxing” during the Thurman vs. Collazo media day.
(Photo credit: Przemek Garczarczyk) By Dan Ambrose: WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) feels that he’s proven himself in his career to where he now deserves to get a fight against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) on September 12th.
Thurman feels like he’s justified to ask for the fight with Mayweather. Unfortunately for Thurman, his resume is rather empty of the top names at welterweight. Thurman has done a nice job of getting the middle and bottom ranked contenders at 147, but he’s not fought the top caliber guys yet.
By Dan Ambrose: WBA World welterweight champion Keith Thurman’s persistence in trying to get a fight against WBA/WBC 147lb champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is starting to remind some boxing fans of the way that Amir Khan has been after Mayweather lately in trying to land a big payday fight on September 12th.
Thurman insists he’s in on the Mayweather conversation in terms of potential candidates for his September fight despite the fact that Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellberbe is saying that he’s not someone they’re thinking about after he turned down a fight against unbeaten Errol Spence Jr. (17-0, 14 KOs), who they wanted Thurman to fight on the Mayweather undercard on September 12th for one of Mayweather’s world titles.
By Dan Ambrose: WBA World welterweight champion Keith Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) got the door to a Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight shut in his face hard today by Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe, who said that the 26-year-old Thurman isn’t in the cards for Mayweather for his September 12th fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ellerbe points out that Thurman was asked by Mayweather to fight the talented #8 WBA 147lb contender on his undercard in September, but Thurman said no to that fight. Ellerbe said he doesn’t see Thurman as a good enough fighter to beat Spence, so he’s dismissing him as a viable candidate for the Mayweather fight.
By Dan Ambrose: WBA World welterweight champion Keith Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) believes he’s one of the names that are being looked over for Floyd Mayweather Jr’s next fight on September 12th. Thurman thinks that if he looks real good against 2nd tier fighter Luis Collazo (36-6, 19 KOs) this Saturday night on ESPN, then Mayweather might pick him out for the fight.
Thurman doesn’t say why he agreed to fight the 34-year-old Collazo rather than a top 15 contender, because Thurman already had two easy fights in a row against Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero and Leonard Bundu. After those two fights, Thurman should have stepped it up against much better competition instead of taking his career backwards against Collazo.
By Dan Ambrose: WBA World welterweight champion Keith Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) will be putting his unbeaten record and WBA 147lb title on the line this Saturday, July 11th against 34-year-old warhorse Luis Collazo (36-6, 19 KOs) on Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN from the USF Sundome, in Tampa, Florida, USA. The Thurman-Collazo fight will start on ESPN, which is free television, at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT on Saturday, July 11th.
Thurman, 26, will get an opportunity to showcase his talent against a guy that shouldn’t give him too many problems.
By Allan Fox: WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) isn’t in any kind of rush to get the huge mega-fights that are out there awaiting him in the future. While he’d like to get the big match-ups against the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, he realizes that he’s the new generation of fighter and he’ll be getting the big fights once those guys walk away from the sport within a year or two.
The 26-year-old Thurman sees the welterweight division running through him in the future, as he takes over the 147lb class and becomes the big king of the division. It’s unfortunate that he can’t get a baton-passing fight against the likes of Mayweather or Pacquiao before they retire from boxing, but he’s not worried about it.
By Allan Fox: WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) has hit a dry streak in his career where he’s no longer knocking guys out like he was before when he was fighting lower level, record-padding opposition.
Thurman, 26, said earlier today that he’s now facing crafty opposition who are focusing on not getting knocked out, and that’s why he’s not getting the KOs like he had before. He says his power is still the same, but he’s now facing guys that trying to survive.
By Jonathan Gonzalez: Having exploded onto the boxing scene over the last years, Keith Thurman hasn’t wasted any time in carving out his name amongst the greatest of boxing’s hottest division today. It’s one thing to be a standout where competition is scarce but to become the known as the “boogeyman” in a realm where boxing’s #1 pound-for-pound fighter resides is something in and of itself.
That’s not to say that Thurman would handle Mr. Money Mayweather easily, but to be considered a potential threat to the throne merits enough credit considering the countless number of fighters in the world struggling to make names for themselves.