By Dan Ambrose: WBA World welterweight champion Keith Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) has set a goal for himself to unify the titles at 147 pounds in the near future. Unfortunately for Thurman, he’s turned down his first opportunity to do just that by choosing to not fight #8 WBA Errol Spence (17-0, 14 KOs) for one or more of the welterweight titles on September 12th.
By Dan Ambrose: The July 11th match-up between WBA World welterweight champion Keith Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) and former WBA 147lb champion Luis Collazo (36-6, 19 KOs) finally has a venue for the fight. It’ll be taking place at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida.
TAMPA (June 4, 2015) – Undefeated superstar Keith “One Time” Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) returns to the ring in his home state to face former world champion Luis Collazo (36-6, 19 KOs) on Saturday, July 11 in the main event of the inaugural Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN show live at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT from the USF Sun Dome in Tampa.
The first live Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN (PBC on ESPN) telecast will feature a star-studded 12-round welterweight matchup between undefeated Keith “One Time” Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) and Luis Collazo (36-6, 19 KOs) when the series debuts on ESPN on Saturday, July 11, at 9 p.m. ET. The opening fight will showcase a 10-round junior middleweight matchup between undefeated Tony Harrison (21-0, 18 KOs) and Willie Nelson (23-2-1, 13 KOs). ESPN3 will also carry live the preliminary bouts at a time to be determined. The card will be held in Tampa, Fla., at a site to be named.
By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (30-5-2, 23 KOs) has seen his once promising career go downhill since his 4th round knockout loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2011.
Ortiz, still young at just 28, has fought only three times since the Mayweather fight, and has lost two of those three fights. Ortiz did win his last bout against Manuel Perez by a 3rd round stoppage, but Ortiz suffered a hand injury that fight that required surgery to repair the problem.
(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Chris Williams: Tonight boxing fans will get the opportunity to see the replay of Floyd Mayweather Jr. (46-0, 26 KO’s) vs. Marcos Maidana (35-4,31 KO’s) on regular Showtime at 9:30 pm ET/PT from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Fans will also get to see the co-feature fight between Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KO’s) and Luis Collazo (35-6, 18 KO’s). Following the Showtime Championship premiere, Showtime will televise All Access: Mayweather vs. Maidana – Epilogue. This is the final episode of the Mayweather-Maidana All Access series, and it’ll go into the aftermath of their exciting fight last Saturday night.
By John Kelvin: Amir Khan (29-3 19 KO’s) thinks that Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KO’s) took the easy option is facing the now former welterweight champion Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31 KO’s) for his most recent fight last Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Khan thinks this because he already defeated Maidana in 2010 and that Mayweather is afraid of facing someone with fast hands like his. First off, how could Khan even think he deserved to face Mayweather when he and struggled to win against former lightweights Carlos Molina and Julio Diaz prior to Khan’s win last Saturday night against Luis Collazo.
Maidana on the other hand was undefeated at welterweight and a world champion. What is the harder fight, facing an undefeated welterweight champion or a guy with no fights at 147lbs and who has knocked out in his last world title fight. Khan has been knocked out twice and has been on the floor numerous times in his pro career.
(Amir Khan seen here showing beautiful form on one of his many headlocks put on Luis Collazo last Saturday night) By Scott Gilfoid: WBC Silver welterweight champion Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KO’s) is saying that WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. has assured him that he’s still on his list as possible opponents for one of his fights in the future, although he’s not saying when, if ever, the 27-year-old Khan will get that shot. But by Mayweather giving Khan hope with his assurance, Khan is holding onto that and talking the fight up 24/7, even though the chances are fairly high that the fight will never take place.
“He [Mayweather] assures me I’m still on his list. Of course, I’m still pursuing the fight with him, but the next window for that is this time next year,” Khan said via the LA Times.
By Bob Smith: The most appropriate response to the tremendous performance by Marcos Maidana is: Wow! Maidana clearly won 5 or 6 rounds of the fight, and I watched it live and had it in the end for Floyd Mayweather Jr by 1 or 2 points, though I could have seen a draw or even a slight edge on the cards for Maidana. One thing that I am sure of is that Mayweather did not deserve to win by more than the three points on the cards – two of the scorecards for the judges were much wider than they should have been.
I actually would have thought a majority draw would have been a reasonably outcome, but without a knockdown from Maidana, I think that in the end a majority decision for Mayweather was the most just.
(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Scott Gilfoid: In a fight filled with constant holding and pulling down on the neck by Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KO’s), he defeated former WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo (35-6, 18 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision tonight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Khan knocked Collazo down three times in the fight in dropping him in the 4th once and twice in the 10th round.
The final judges’ scores were 117-106, 119-104, and 119-104.
Collazo lost a point for hitting Khan low in the 8th round. Khan was leaning on Collazo’s neck, as usual, and Collazo got tired of it and nailed Khan low to get him to stop. Oddly enough, the referee took a point away from Collazo instead of Khan for pulling down on Collazo’s head.