Boxing

Keith Thurman wants Terence Crawford, winner to face Errol Spence


Via Dan Ambrose: Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman hopes Terence Crawford will choose to fight him first in a warm-up match with the winner to face Errol Spence Jr later this year for the undisputed weightlifting championship.

Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) feels that a fight between him and 147-lb WBO champion Crawford will help build an undisputed matchup with IBF/WBA/WBC champion Spence to make it a bigger contest if the fight goes on now.

Unfortunately, Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) seems to have decided that he wants to take on Spence right away in his next game.

Unless Al Haymon can convince Crawford to change his mind about joining the fight with Spence next, Thurman will need to face someone else.

Former WBA/WBC champion Thurman looked good on his comeback after two and a half years out of the ring last February, beating former WBA 140-lb champion Mario Barrios by 12-round unanimous decision.

Thurman is waiting for the phone call

“I expect to have that phone call with Al soon [Haymon]. We are at a point where we have a little bit of time. When I look at elite warriors, you always look at a period of five or six months going back. So I think we’re still on the right track to making all of that happen,” Keith Thurman told Podcasts PBC when asked when he will fight again.

“The question is who will we meet in the ring now? For now, I’m just patiently waiting. I hope we can make the best fight we can. I’ve done that in the past and I continue to want to do it.

“The hardest thing about watching the game [Errol Spence Jr. vs. Yordenis Ugas] the previous Saturday was not the fight that was supposed to be watched.

“We were supposed to be watching Thurman vs. Spence, two undefeated welterweight champions, but when I lost and fell in 2019 it opened a new window. Spence can’t fight Pacquiao.

“Part of me just has a reminder of 2019. Despite my state of health, I competed in that fight. I’m back in that fight, and just a bunch of punches toward victory.

“The [WBA ‘regular’ welterweight ]champion [Eimantas Stanionis] Thurman said. “I like belts that much, I don’t like the confusion between the regular champion and the super champion.

“I like the old school way, but a title is a title. It all goes down in history and I definitely want a champion. When it comes to Boots [Ennis]I’m trying to go back and get back into the championship skins.

“Although he is an excellent fighter to come, it is not because of that that I look down on him. I would consider any contract to be an actual fight against a real date for a real salary. That’s what it means to be a world-class boxer and an award-winner,” Thurman said.

Keith wants the next Crawford

“I am always willing to step into the ring. I’d love to have a big fight or maybe we’ll just keep moving,” Thurman said. “We will see how we are advised to participate this year. I think Thurman-Crawford, I think the fans just have the patience for it to happen if the winner of that bout faces Spence right after that’s going to be an incredibly big showdown of events.

“I just hope I get the call. I would love to play against Crawford. They’re acting as if there’s a need, but if you put Thurman in the mix and the winner is in it, I think it creates more demand. That’s just me. You can always rush and do something or you can build something.

“For me, it doesn’t matter to me, if you win, lose, or draw, it rebuilds. That’s how I feel,” Thurman said.

“I just wanted to be a part of the real action. That’s all it’s about. I’m sorry but your boy Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman was an undefeated world champion before elbow surgery, before hand surgery. I’m just addicted to the game.

“I know what it feels like to be on top of that mountain and I try to conquer it again. So all these young boxers, they’re just a younger version of me, climbing to the top and I love it, and that’s why we love boxing. So I’m looking forward to the person they put in the ring.

“We’ll see but I feel at 33, when you think about weight gain and you look at the weight class and the way fighters use to move and fight in so many weight classes, I just love the weight class. weight class.

“I love its history and I want to make history here, and I have always wanted to make history here. So my morale doesn’t want to go up, but if I have to get busy in a good fight and maybe a chance for a title has been awarded, I’ll have to seriously consider that. But right now, it’s not in my sights.

Thurman picks top three heavyweights

“I’ve seen Boots Ennis highlights and he looks great,” Thurman said. “I heard a lot of talk. I haven’t seen many movies, but people are saying a lot about Vergil [Ortiz] child.

“I am not so convinced about the young man who just won the world championship, the ‘regular’ WBA champion [Stanionis]. He looks less like a puncher than Errol Spence, and the only reason why is not because of Southpaw, but the way he presses after the stab.

“The only thing is that he doesn’t look like he has the power to actually make Spence the ‘Truth’. It’s not just technical.

“It’s about him being able to cut down trees and take out world-class boxers like he did with Ugas and like he did with Kell Brook in the past.

“This young man is a paced fighter who throws a lot of punches in one round and seems difficult to deal with. But I think the heavyweight boxers include two other young men, Boots and Vergil.

“From some of the people, I’ve seen on film, you have Errol Spence, Terence Crawford, Keith Thurman,” Thurman said as he assessed his top heavyweights. “It’s just skill and talent and the way these fighters move in the ring and throw their arms,” ​​Thurman said.




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