Thurman says fans might want Danny Garcia rematch

boxingnews24.com

By Allan Fox: Keith “One Time” Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) was in no mood to answer questions about him fighting the winner of the Kell Brook vs. Errol Spence Jr. fight last Saturday night following his less than impressive 12 round split decision victory over WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia (33-1, 19 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Thurman seems to be interested in fighting a rematch with Garcia rather than moving on and taking a dangerous fight against the Brook-Spence winner. Thurman said that the boxing public might want to see him fight Danny Garcia again.

Thurman might want to move on rather than fighting Garcia again, because the fans don’t seem to be asking for a second helping of Thurman-Garcia. They saw enough of that fight to know that it’s pointless to put them back in with one another. Thurman clearly beat Garcia, but he looked boring, scared and lazy in doing so. It was a safety first performance from Thurman. He put in some effort for the first 4 rounds, and then played it safe by running around the ring most of the fight. The performance brings back memories of many of the play it safe type fighters from the past.

At the post-fight press conference, Thurman started off by congratulating himself for his win over Garcia, saying that he wasn’t hit that much. Thurman’s bruised face told a different story. When Thurman was asked who he wants to fight next, he said he wasn’t sure. He said the boxing fans might want a rematch between him and Danny Garcia. When Thurman was asked about a fight against the winner of the Errol Spence vs. Kell Brook fight.

“I proved some more of my greatness tonight,” said Thurman about his win over Garcia.

Thurman’s performance against Garcia was anything but great. Thurman looked good for 5 rounds but then started running and playing it safe from the 6th round. It was not impressive stuff to watch. If Thurman wants to be seen as the best fighter in the welterweight division, then he’s going to need to do a lot better than what we saw against Garcia. We saw elements of the worst of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Thurman with him circling the ring to avoid fighting Garcia. I’m talking about the Mayweather that helped make his fight against Manny Pacquiao boring to watch in 2015. Thurman really looked bad in the last half of the fight, and showed little effort to try and impress the boxing fans.

When asked who he plans on fighting next, Thurman said, “I’m not sure. His father [Angel Garcia] said no rematch. The fans might want a rematch. Who knows? There’s a lot out there. I have no clue. I want to keep giving you guys great fights. I produced two back to back. I can’t say what I want right now, because I got what I want. I will be stepping back inside the ring sometime this year. We’re going to have to see what manifests. There might be some kind of rematch fight. There might be some form of stay busy fight. There might be a great fight in the near future, because the welterweight division is such a great division. The motto stays the same. I’ve got an ‘O’ and I’m not afraid to let it go,” said Thurman.

Upon being asked if he wants to fight the winner of the Kell Brook vs. Errol Spence Jr. fight, Thurman said, “Of course, that’s a great fight. Fighting the winner is important, but when will it manifest, I don’t know. How eager of the manifestation, I don’t know. Do I want to see three world titles strapped around me, of course I do. It will manifest. I just can’t promise you right now,” said Thurman about him facing the winner of the Brook-Spence fight.

Spence wasn’t impressed with what he saw from Thurman. He called it a “sub-par performance” from him. That’s what a lot of boxing fans are saying about Thurman. He did just enough to win but no more than that. Thurman fought like he was lazy and afraid in the last half of the fight.

“If he had knocked him out or if it was one-sided, but it was a sub-par performance,” said Spence about Thurman to Fighthub.com. “I thought he let the later rounds go. He started running around. I think the true welterweight king will be decided when I fight Kell Brook. After I beat Kell Brook, I’ll fight Keith Thurman, and we’ll decide who the king of the welterweight division is,” said Spence.

If Spence destroys Brook in their fight on May 20, then I wouldn’t be surprised if a fight between him and Thurman never happens. Thurman has not seemed excited about fighting Spence in the past, and he might be even less excited if he watches him destroy Brook.

Judging by the way that Thurman sidestepped the question of him fighting the Brook-Spence winner, it doesn’t look like he’s too eager to take that fight. It’s one thing for Thurman to fight Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia, but it’s a different story in fighting Errol Spence and Kell Brook. Those are clearly tougher fights. Thurman seems to realize that, because if he felt confident in himself, he would talk up wanting to fight the winner of the Spence-Brook fight. It’s too bad that Thurman is more interested in fighting Danny Garcia than fighting Brook or Spence.