Keith Thurman

Berto faces Soto Karass; Thurman battles Chaves this Saturday on Showtime

berto233This Saturday night on Showtime, undefeated welterweight Keith “One Time” Thurman (20-0, 18 KO’s) faces off against unbeaten Argentinian Diego Chaves (22-0, 18 KO’s) and former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto 28-2, 22 KO’s) takes on Jesus Soto Karass (27-8-3, 17 KO’s) at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Both fights are scheduled for 12 rounds and both have titles on line. Thurman-Chaves will be fighting for the interim WBA 147 lb. title, and Berto-Soto Karass will be fighting for the vacant NABF welterweight strap.

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Keith Thurman battles Diego Chaves for interim WBA 147 lb. title on 7/27

thurman432Unbeaten Keith Thurman (20-0, 18 KO’s) will be looking to pick up the interim WBA welterweight title this month against Diego Chaves (22-0, 18 KO’s) this month in a fight on July 27th televised by Showtime from the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.

If the 24-year-old Thurman can win this fight he’s going to then be putting a lot of pressure on WBA welterweight champion Adrien Broner to make a big decision about whether he feels it’s worth it to hold onto the WBA title and face the dangerous Thurman or if it would be better off giving up the strap and looking for safer fights.

It’s an important move for Broner because if he takes the fight against Thurman, he’ll be taking a huge risk with his career because Thurman would have a big size advantage over Broner if that fight were to be made.

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Thurman vs. Maidana possible for April, 2013

By Rob Smith: Golden Boy Promotions is looking to match former WBA light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana (32-3, 29 KO’s) up with junior middleweight Keith Thurman (19-0, 18 KO’s) in April next year. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer wants to put the Maidana-Thurman fight with unbeaten featherweight Gary Russell Jr. (21-0, 13 KO’s) against a still to be determined opponent in a doubleheader card. They wanted Jhonny Gonzalez, but that was a no go after he showed no interest in the fight. Russell Jr. is a good fighter and if they can find a quality opponent to put him in with then they’ll have a decent card.

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Robert Guerrero should prove himself against Keith Thurman to get Mayweather bout

Robert Guerrero should prove himself against Keith Thurman to get Mayweather boutBy Bill Phanco: While WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KO’s) got a lot of attention in defeating former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (28-2, 22 KO’s) by a convincing 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night, the real story on the card was unbeaten welterweight knockout artist Keith Thurman (19-0, 18 KO’s) with his 4th round knockout win over Carlos Quintana.

Guerrero says he wants a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr, but I think it would be a lot more interesting if Guerrero had to get by Thurman before first before getting a fight against Mayweather. I doubt that Mayweather will even bother fighting Guerrero just yet. Guerrero wants the fight, but he’s only had two fights at welterweight and he’s still unproven at this weight. I don’t want to take anything away from Guerrero’s victory, but Berto was coming off of a long layoff last Saturday and he didn’t look like the same fighter he once was.

Between his recent left arm injury and the long layoff that he had, Berto looked like he was only fighting at 50% capacity last Saturday. The referee didn’t help matters by not stepping in to prevent Guerrero from knocking Berto to the canvas in the 1st round after he grabbed him by the head with one arm and hit Berto repeatedly with the other until he dropped.

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Senchenko ends Hatton’s comeback; Guerrero defeats Berto; Thurman beats Quintana

Senchenko ends Hatton's comeback; Guerrero defeats Berto; Thurman beats Quintana Great night of boxing for both HBO and Showtime; Minutes away from a great comeback win, Hatton has liver failure

Thurman continues to look impressive in stopping Quintana

Two knockdowns too hard for Berto to overcome – Guerrero gets UD

By Paul Strauss: Don’t worry, Ricky’s condition was temporary. It was due to a beautifully placed body shot that snuck in under “The Hitman’s” outstretched right arm. There isn’t a more debilitating shot in boxing. It doesn’t matter how many sit-ups you’ve done. If the shot lands on target, forget it. A few years back, Ricky landed a similar shot to the liver of Luis Castillo with the same results. You just don’t recovering quickly from one of those, regardless of whether you have a six- pack, eight-pack or full case of abdominal muscles.

Up until that time, Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton was fighting a good fight at the Manchester Arena, Manchester, Lancashire UK on Showtime Boxing.

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Guerrero decisions Berto; Thurman destroys Quintana

Guerrero decisions Berto; Thurman destroys QuintanaBy Rob Smith: Andre Berto (28-2, 22 KO’s) was beaten tonight by WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision at the Citizens Business Bank Arena, Ontario, California, USA. Guerrero knocked Berto down once in the 1st and another time in the 2nd. Those knockdowns helped Guerrero pound out a unanimous decision by the scores of 116-110, 116-110 and 116-110.

Berto, sporting a Mayweather-like left shoulder roll, chose to fight off the ropes the entire 12 rounds instead of the middle of the ring. This prevented Berto from taking advantage of his fast hand speed. However, it looked like he did this out of necessity for fear of running out of gas.

With Berto pinned against the ropes, Guerrero was able to dominate the action simply by tapping him with slapping shots for the entire fight. Berto landed some really big punches that snapped Guerrero’s head in every round, but just like Selcuk Aydin, Guerrero’s last opponent, Berto wasn’t active enough to win the fight.

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Weigh-in: Berto vs. Guerrero, Thurman vs. Quintana

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By Bill Phanco: Andre Berto (28-1, 22 KO’s) and WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero (30-1-1, 18 KO’s) came in under the welterweight 147 lb limit today during their weigh-in.

Guerrero weighed 146.4 lbs and Berto came in at 146.8. The card also has highly hyped unbeaten junior middleweight Keith Thurman (18-0, 17 KO’s) fighting WBO NABO light middleweight champion Carlos Quintana (29-3, 23 KO’s) for his strap. Thurman weighed in at 151.25 lbs, and Quintana at 152.

The official weighs for the HBO televised card:

Robert Guerrero 146.4 vs. Andre Berto 146.8
Keith Thurman 151.25 vs. Carlos Quintana 152
Randy Caballero 119.2 vs. Rigoberto Casillas 118.8

Guerrero can become a star with a win over Berto in this fight. He could pick up a big money fight and then get the backing of the considerable Mexican population in the U.S. It would make for an interesting fight if Guerrero could get past Berto and then get Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao in the ring somehow. The pay per view numbers would likely be very good. For that to happen Guerrero is going to have to find a way to get past Berto.

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