Keith Thurman: “Pacquiao is fighting Floyd, but I’d fight Timothy Bradley, I’d fight Amir Khan, and I’d fight Kell Brook next!”

Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman is quickly becoming one of boxing’s biggest stars with his recent introduction to network television as part of the new series, Premier boxing Champions. Thurman took on what was to be the toughest test of his career in former champion, Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero, and passed that test in convincing fashion.

In part 1 of my “On The Ropes” boxing radio interview with Keith Thurman, I discuss with him his dominant performance against Robert Guerrero. Keith speaks in detail on the fight, and what he believes it did for his career. I also talk to Thurman about his future and who he would like to fight next. Additionally ‘One Time’ shares his thoughts on the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight. Here is what Keith Thurman had to say.

Jenna J: Last time we saw in the ring you looked as good as ever, you beat Robert Guerrero definitively over twelve rounds. How did you feel about it?

Keith Thurman: Overall I feel good. I wanted to make a statement, I wanted to show him that I can stand and throw punches, trade, that I came to fight and I was ready to fight. I wasn’t scared of Robert Guerrero, I felt like he had nothing for me in the ring and pretty much on fight night he brought nothing.

Guerrero decided to dig deep and show his true colors in the eleventh and twelfth round after being knocked down. All-in-all it was a good fight, the crowd was cheering pretty much after almost every single round of the fight and that made me really happy, to know that the fans were having a great night that night.

Jenna J: Keith in the ninth round you knocked him down pretty significantly, were you surprised he was able to recover from that?

Keith Thurman: No, because I only caught him with like one punch and in the replay — for those who’ve seen the fight more than once — the replay doesn’t even show me actually landing the punch that hurt Guerrero. It was the left hook that I threw right before the double right hand that really is the punch that knocked him down, and I felt like he would have stayed down if those right hands that I threw would have connected cleanly, but they didn’t.

He was hurt and down in the mat for a little while, he got up and you know he recovered and I got right back on him and started to throw some heavy punches and he gets hit and he takes them and the bell rings. He is a tough dude most definitely, you got to give him credit.

Jenna J: How important do you think it was for the Premier Boxing Champion series, that your fight with Guerrero was a success?

Keith Thurman: You know, I’m not the CEO of NBC, so I can’t speak on their behalf, but for the most part I think it’s great. They got what they wanted. They got what they paid for, which is for two world class athletes to put on a world class performance, and that’s what we did. We both pretty much fought our hearts out.

I think I could have boxed a little smarter and I think I could have fainted more and used certain tactics that maybe would have gotten Guerrero to open up, and I think I could have traded on the inside more or at least tried to make a few attempts more than I did in the fight.

It was great man, I was looking forward to the fight and the fight happened and we would have liked a KO but we had a knockdown, a great performance. I had the headbutt but I wasn’t really injured, so everything all-in-all was great. We got the next show on April 11th for PBC on NBC and hopefully I’ll fight sometime this summer maybe on June or July.

Jenna J: People want to know what’s next for you, they want to know what the future lies. You fought your biggest named opponent in Robert Guerrero last time out, who do you want next?

Keith Thurman: Well first off, I want whoever wants to fight around the same time I want to fight. I think that’s going to be my biggest challenge, getting somebody to fight me on my date or the date that I think would be the best to step back in the ring. If the fight is worth it, I’ll wait a little longer to step back into the ring. If it’s worth the opponent, like a Marcos Maidana, Amir Khan or something of that nature, but I would like to fight anybody.

I checked out Ring magazine just like a day ago and I saw that they got me ranked number five right now. They got Amir Khan, Timothy Bradley, Kell Brook and Manny Pacquiao above me right now. Manny is fighting Floyd but I’d fight Timothy Bradley, I’d fight Amir Khan, and I’d fight Kell Brook next. I know there are fans that probably still wouldn’t mind seeing me fight Shawn Porter. Berto just fought and won.

There are a lot of fights for me as a welterweight champ right now. I don’t know which one is going to come next. I’m probably going to make the phone call to Al Haymon this week. I’ve yet to talk about what’s next, so that’s why I really don’t have any answers for you guys. But we will see, hopefully something good.

Jenna J: I got to ask you this, you said Floyd Mayweather’s last fight didn’t interest you — that it wasn’t exciting. Floyd is now fighting Manny Pacquiao, do you think that’s the kind of fight that’s going to bring something exciting to boxing fans?

Keith Thurman: Of course. This fight is one of the most waited for fights of all time, Floyd and Manny. Manny has been at the top of the welterweight division for some time now, for years, and Floyd has been on top the whole time, so it’s just real good for the sport boxing to see two top contenders go toe-to-toe.

When it comes to boxing this is like our Super Bowl. This is like the New York Giants vs. San Francisco or somebody you know. It’s just going to be a great event, I can’t wait to get out there. I’m ready to go back to Vegas for this fight, this is going to be a great fight. And I hope to see a great fight when it comes to action from Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.