WBC/WBA welterweight world champion, Keith Thurman, is coming off of the biggest win of career after unifying the belts against Danny Garcia. With that win, Thurman has established himself as the #1 fighter at the weight and the first unified champion at welterweight since Floyd Mayweather Jr. Thurman, now 28, has set his sights on getting the rest of the belts in the division, a goal he hopes to move closer to before the end of the year.
In part 2 of my “On The Ropes” boxing radio interview with Keith Thurman, I discuss with him the fight he always wanted to have in his career, a fight that never happened, a Floyd Mayweather Jr bout. Thurman also talks about Kell Brook vs. Errol Spence and who he would be favoring to win that match-up. Additionally, Keith shares his views on who would win a potential Manny Pacquiao vs. Amir Khan bout. Here is what Keith Thurman had to say.
Jenna J: Earlier in your career you stated that you wanted to fight Floyd Mayweather, but now it appears he’s not willing to fight a legitimate fighter. Are you disappointed you didn’t get to face Floyd?
Keith Thurman: Oh yeah, there were times in my career where I was adamant about trying to fight Floyd Mayweather. There was a moment in my career where I was his mandatory and I earned that position and then I politically got pulled out of that position when he got elevated to what I now currently hold, which is the WBA Super title.
The Super champ is not obligated to fight mandatories, and with that, Floyd Mayweather would only face Keith Thurman if he wanted to face Keith Thurman but he had other fights scheduled and other plans that he had for the end of his career. It is what it is, I believe that when you see that he fought Robert Guerrero, Victor Ortiz and other fighters of that nature, there’s no reason why Keith Thurman shouldn’t have been a legitimate opponent for Floyd Mayweather.
Another reason why I wanted to fight him so much is because he’s a legend and I wanted to create my own legacy in the sport of boxing and one way of doing it is by beating legends. Now that Floyd is retired and has no intentions of coming back into the ring, it’s my job to create my own legacy. The ultimate goal is to one day be the undisputed champion and hold all three world titles.
For now, it is what it is. The disappointment is mild, it’s minute. Everyone who faces Mayweather gets the biggest paycheck of their career, but it wasn’t about the money for me, it was about the legendary status. Now that I don’t have that opportunity, I just have to stay on my grind and create my own legacy.
Jenna J: Keith, there was talk that the WBO belt holder, Manny Pacquiao, would face Amir Khan next but now that fight is up in the air. If that fight were to happen, who would win?
Keith Thurman: It’s interesting, some people think that Amir Khan can’t take a punch, so Manny Pacquiao should be able to stop him or hurt him. Other people would say that it’s a challenging fight for Manny Pacquiao, he’s not that big of an individual and Amir does have the high and reach advantage over him, and Amir knows how to box.
Manny Pacquiao has not faced tremendous boxers throughout his career and when he fought Floyd Mayweather, he wasn’t able to do much at all. Styles wise, some people would favor Amir Khan as long as his defense doesn’t loosen up and Pacquiao doesn’t hit him with a big punch.
It’s an intriguing matchup, it reminds me a little bit of when Amir Khan faced Marcos Maidana, though I would say that Manny Pacquiao does have better boxing abilities than Marcos Maidana, but they are similar in nature and they are both known for being power punchers. The fact that Amir Khan pulled out the Maidana fight, he may pull out the Pacquiao fight, I wouldn’t hold it against him.
Jenna J: What do you think of the bout between Kell Brook and Errol Spence?
Keith Thurman: The best man will win. The funny thing is, Errol Spence is an undefeated welterweight coming up through the welterweight rankings, calling out everybody and waiting for an opportunity like the one he has been granted. I know he’s eager to showcase his skill and his talent to the world and bring the belt back home to the US.
Kell Brook has never ducked or dodged anybody, I don’t think he’s fought a lot of tremendous fighters ranked in the top ten in the welterweight division, but he did move up two weight classes and he got beat by Golovkin. That shows you that he has no fear and he’s willing to fight anybody and he’s willing to fight the best in the world and because the only blemish on his record is to Golovkin, at the end of the day, Kell Brook is still an undefeated welterweight. He has not been defeated by any welterweight in the welterweight division to date.
In my opinion, we are still watching two undefeated welterweights, even though one has a blemish on his record. They both have a lot to prove and it’s going to be a big platform for them to prove it on. I believe it’s Errol Spence’s toughest fight to date. Kell Brook does have good boxing experience, he knows how to hold his own in there, he has good defense, he has good size as a welterweight. It’s an intriguing match-up and I’m interested in seeing the outcome myself, I may even fly out there to be a spectator.
THURMAN YOU ARE SO STUPID AND THINK PACMAN IS ORDINARY BOXER. FIGHT PACMAN AND IM SURE YOU WILL SUFFER FIRST LOSS. MARK MY WORD AND YOU ARE SO SLOW.
This is an interesting view of keith thurman for Manny vs Amir. If this is how sees it, he should not face Pacquiao by all means he will be mess-up. The man have crossed everyone the biggest names even the other is avoiding him. Anyway Keith nowhere near caliber of greats.
THURMAN STUPID ALWAYS FEEL JEALOUS TO GREAT PACMAN
GO AHEAD THURMAN FIGHT PACMAN AND SURE YOU MESS UP.
YOU THURMAN, MALIGNAGGI, MAYWEATHER FAMILY AND OTHERS BOXER’S ARE ALL FEEL JEALOUS TO THE GREATEST BOXER OF ALL TIME (PACQUIAO). YOU CANT BELIEVE 8 WORLD TITLE IN DIFFERENT WEIGHT DIVISION. PACMAN IS ONCE IN A LIFETIME HUMAN BOXER A REALLY PHENOMENON. FORGET FAKE MAYWEATHER.
Yeah, stupid indeed he said that Pacquiao didn’t tremendous fighter what do you think of Barrera, Morales, Dela Hoya, Cotto, Marquez and countless undefeated fighters. Good boxer but stupid one.
Marquez KO 6!
Pikon pikon pikuning bata!
Annoying, isn’t it?
the reality is nobody comes close to Manny Pacquiao – 8 weight division champ – make it 10 if he did not skip 2 weight divisions.bet, 120 -130 lbs.
Amir might be a better boxer than pacquiao but pacquiao is way better boxer than Thurman.. what does that tell u?
But make no mistake I think Thurman would beat amir but I don’t its a given he can beat paxquiao . Styles make fights and Thurman has size and range and one punch KO power to defeat amir.pacquaio speed and power will be too much for Thurman. And pacquiao would have hard time against amir cuz of his size and range
Thurman is an easy fight for Pacquiao.
KT dont have a gasp at history,Pacquiao defeated a lot of hall of famers type of opponents .The only 8 division champ in history.When is the guy get a little respect?Pacman at this time don’t need approval from anybody.He been there.His legacy has been rock solid already.
NO NEED APPROVAL FROM OTHER. PACQUIAO VERY OBVIOUS THE GREATEST BOXER THAT EVER LIVED. 8 WEIGHT DIVISION TITLE FROM SOUTH EAST ASIA, THE PHILIPPINES. DONT JEALOUS BE HUMBLE AND RESPECT ACCOMPLISHMENT OF PACMAN.
Thurman – Pacman Fight will not happen… Thurman handler/management knows what will happen.
Goofballs. Did you ever think that PAC maybe older and slower now? Live in the past.
Yeah Keith go ahead and fight Amir Khan make you some money and then fight boner make you some money hey fight all of them you can beat them Save The Best For Last don’t fight Pacquiao right now
I don’t see Pacquiao’s beating Keith Thurman I don’t see anybody beating him
Need glasses then ?
My money is on PACMAN !
Pacquiai is the best pound for pound in this era ..and yes above mayweather jr! He is a natural super lightweight camping and beating most guys in welterweight division even in his mid 30’s. Who else has done that or can even do that? Even ggg’s feared power were less effective in his fight last Sunday with an opponent most likely a division heavier during official weigh in. pacquiao has been fighting elite opponents 2 divisions above his natural fighting weight and winning most of them in the last 7 years. Funny but even the mayweather fight was actually a fight between a natural super lightweight and a natural welterweight. So how can the winner automatically get the higher pvp honor. Worse the win is not a rout as compubox had shown but a toss up if you base it on actual punches hits by both fighters ( and neither got really hurt ). If you watch the slow mo you will see that more hits of pacquiao were never registered in the compubox (an equipment which turned out to be more manual than automatic counting and prone to the same human errors). Even mayweather sr was worried and was saying they can loose the fight to floyd in the corner. Watch the fight again and see for yourself. Better yet Watch the slow mo.
pacfans don’t be too sensitive. when thurman said he ‘hasn’t faced tremendous boxers,’ he didn’t mean pac hasn’t faced great fighters. he meant the skilful, technical movers – boxers. it’s partly correct but manny did fight bradley, who is a tremendous boxer. that said, this thurman certainly thinks too highly of himself. wasn’t impressive at all against a plodding garcia. and it showed he doesn’t have that winner’s heart. played it safe in the second half and almost lost. manny, even at his age, still has all the tools to beat this pretender.