Welterweight titleholder Keith Thurman officially welcomed Adrien Broner to the 147-pound division, telling RingTV.com he views Broner as a welterweight even if he thinks the 5-6 Broner is small for the division and Broner has flirted recently with staying at 140 pounds.

“Broner’s been a welterweight for a while now,” Thurman told RING last week ahead of his welterweight unification clash with Danny Garcia on March 4 at Barclays Center on CBS. “He’s been in and out of the welterweight division. He’s been playing double-dutch and then he hops back in. At the end of the day, he’s a small welterweight. The kid has lots of talent. He says he’s rededicating himself, so we’ll see how he does. There will be a lot of people at 147 who will be bigger than AB. But if he’s up to the challenge and if his team is up to the challenge then it is what it is. He’s got great energy. He understands the boxing fundamentals and it’s just about executing the knowledge that you have and being the best athlete you can be.”

Thurman spoke before Broner won a hard-fought split decision against Adrian Granados on Saturday at 147 pounds. The fight was initially contracted at a catch-weight of 142 before, according to Granados, Broner’s camp asked for the fight to be changed to 147 pounds.