Spence: I’ll probably stop Keith Thurman

boxingnews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: Unbeaten Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs) says he’ll be gunning for unified welterweight champion Keith Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) after he gets done beating IBF 147 pound champion Kell Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) in their fight on May 20 in Sheffied, England.

Spence says he’ll walk Thurman down and beat him with pressure when they face each other in the near future. In fact, Spence thinks he’ll likely knockout Thurman. Spence was at ringside for Thurman’s unification match against WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia last Saturday night. Spence noticed how Garcia gave Thurman a lot of problems in the last 4 rounds of the fight with his nonstop pressure.

Spence wasn’t impressed with the way Thurman fought other in the early rounds. He thinks Thurman took his foot off the gas too early in the fight by choosing not to keep fighting hard in the championship rounds. Spence believes that Thurman was hurt by Garcia’s body shots, which caused him to be mobile in the last part of the fight. Spence says that Thurman was just running from Garcia at the end instead of fighting him.

“It was a good fight,” said Spence to Fighthype.com about the Thurman vs. Garcia fight. “I thought Keith Thurman let the later rounds go. He should have pressed on the gas a little bit. The right man won. Congratulations to him. Danny Garcia will definitely be back. I hope I get the fight with Keith Thurman after I beat Kell Brook. What surprised me was Keith Thurman was a little bit strong, especially in the early rounds. I thought Thurman was coming forward a little bit better. He was getting hurt. I thought Danny was hurting him to the body, which made Keith Thurman move around the ring, and he was basically running,” said Spence.

Spence would be a really tough fight for Thurman, because he’s capable of applying nonstop pressure for full 12 rounds instead of just 4 rounds like we saw with Garcia last Saturday night. Spence hits harder than Garcia, and he’s a better body puncher. The body shots that seemed to bother Thurman from Garcia might be knockout blows with Spence being the one that throws them. Thurman would have to be on his bike the entire fight, and that’s hard for him to do. We saw how Thurman wasn’t as effective when he was moving around.

Thurman seemed to lose power on his punches when he was moving a lot, and his accuracy wasn’t as good. It’s easier to throw with power when you’re coming forward than it is if you’re circling the ring nonstop the way that Thurman was. If Thurman tries his circle boxing against Spence, he’ll drain his own batteries and wind up getting hit with a lot of hard body shots.

You can argue that the Thurman that fought Garcia last Saturday would have lost if it had been Spence inside the ring with him. Thurman has got to be able to stand his ground and fight Spence instead of being forced into his circle boxing mode, which he doesn’t seem to have the stamina to fight like that for any length of time. Thurman will need to fight Spence in a one-on-one manner for most of the fight to have a chance of winning. Spence might be too powerful for Thurman.

There’s no question that Thurman fought better against Garcia in the early rounds. Thurman looked fast and strong during that part of the fight.

When asked if Thurman proved that he’s the king of the welterweight division with his win over Garcia, Spence said, “It’s still up for grabs. If he’d knocked Danny out, we’d have called him king. But it’s still up for grabs. His performance wasn’t that spectacular. I think the king of the welterweight division is Errol Spence vs. Kell Brook. That would be the king of the division. So we’ll see,” said Spence.

In response to the question of whether he’ll beat Thurman, Spence said, “Oh definitely, 100 percent. I think I’d walk Keith Thurman down and probably stop him. Keith showed a lot of heart, and a lot of power. He can definitely fight. Hopefully, we see what happens when we get in there. Definitely, that’s the fight I want right there,” said Spence.

In talking about Danny Garcia, Spence said, “Keep his head up. He lost to Keith Thurman by a split decision. He’ll definitely be back. This is what boxing is all about, the top fighters fighting each other. He’ll definitely be back in there. It’s nothing,” said Spence.

Garcia should be able to come back from his loss to Thurman without any problems. What’s not known is where Garcia goes from here. If he doesn’t have the size, speed or power to best Thurman, then it’s unlikely he’ll be able to best the winner of the Spence vs. Kell Brook fight. Garcia might have problems getting a title shot against the Top Rank promoted WBO champion Manny Pacquiao. That leaves Garcia in a tough situation if he chooses to stay at 147. Garcia has been beaten now, and his days of being a world champion may be over.

Spence’s fight against Kell Brook will be televised in the U.S on Showtime World Championship Boxing in May. The date for the fight hasn’t been finalized. It was initially reported that the Brook-Spence fight would take place on May 20, but Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn is saying that he wants to move it to May 27. It’s nice that Spence’s fight against Brook will be shown in the U.S, because this will give him some badly needed visibility.