Keith Thurman, the reigning WBA welterweight champion could consider a match with little-known Errol Spence in the ring but on one condition – that Floyd Mayweather Jr. fights the winner of the match.
Thurman has been longing to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. but apparently such is far from happening.
After hacking out a eighth round win over Luis Collazo, Thurman did call out Mayweather, stressing his undefeated record and that he was a strong champion ready to take on the undefeated Mayweather.
“I’m a young, strong champion, Floyd, come get it,” Thurman said to the camera during his postfight interview in the ring. “I’m undefeated like you, baby, come take my ‘[zero],’ baby. I’m ready.”
But to recall, it wasn’t exactly a statement fight that many would consider was impressive.
Thurman apparently took a hard hit in the fifth round of that match which forced ‘One Time’ to run for the remainder of the round.
If not for a cut above his right eye, Collazo could have given Thurman more problems that night.
Could this be a reason why Mayweather thinks that Thurman should face Errol Spence instead?
Thurman believes that he deserves a better fighter than Spence. He points out that Spence is not ranked in the top 10 or even top 25 fighters and is someone simply gaining attention courtesy of Mayweather’s rants. Thurman, 26-0 with 22 KOs, does indeed carry an impressive record but it seems that hoping for a showdown with Mayweather is a long shot. In fact, it could never happen especially if Mayweather stays true to his word of retiring after his September 12, 2015 fight.
Of course like everyone else, Thurman doesn’t believe that Mayweather would fight in 2016. Still, Thurman may have to get in line with a whole lot of names aching to get a shot at Mayweather.
Among the names include Amir Khan, Gennady Golovkin and of course Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather’s actual plans may not be revealed after his September fight despite strong belief it will not be his swan song from boxing.
Would Thurman’s condition for Mayweather hold up if he does agree to fight Spence?
Mayweather has been known to call the shots and throwing a condition like that, no matter how ridiculous it already sounds, will unlikely prosper.
So if Thurman really wants to capture Mayweather’s attention, he may want to start by fighting more reachable fighters like perhaps Kell Brook, Amir Khan or even Jesse Vargas and climb the ladder.
Hopefully, there is still enough time for him to get noticed.