Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman and Maro Barrios have agreed to a deal for a fight on January 29th. This match is meant as a tune-up for the former WBA/WBC welterweight champion Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs) to get him ready to battle for a world title in 2022.
You can argue that this is a better fighter than many expected from Thurman because he’s been out of the ring for ages.
Taking on a guy like Barrios after close to three years of inactivity is a bold move on Thurman’s part, but it shows that he’s serious about his comeback.
If Thurman can’t beat a fighter at Barrio’s level, he doesn’t rate fighting for a world title in 2022 against WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford or IBF/WBC champ Errol Spence.
Crawford is interested in giving Thurman a title shot, assuming he wins his tune-up fight in January. As for Spence, he’s already made it clear that he wants nothing to do with Thurman due to him ignoring him in the early part of his career when he was interested in fighting him.
It’s believed that Thurman vs. Barrios will be shown on Showtime PPV, which won’t make boxing fans happy. Thurman is still popular enough to be considered a pay-per-view worthy fight regardless of him being inactive for much of the last four years since 2017.
I mean, Thurman has only fought twice in the last four years, making it difficult for him to keep his popularity at the level of a PPV attraction.
The former WBA ‘regular’ 140-lb champion ‘El Azteca’ Barrios (26-1, 17 KOs) will make Thurman retreat that he chose him for his warm-up fight. Until his loss to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis last June, Barrios was viewed as one of the top fighters in the light welterweight division.
Despite his loss to Tank, Barrios remains a high-quality fighter with power, size, and the boxing ability to defeat ‘One Time’ Thurman next month.
Thurman, 33, says he wants to regain his throne as the #1 fighter in the 147-lb division after sitting on the sidelines for the last 2 1/2 years since his loss to Manny Pacquiao in July 2019.
You can’t rule out an upset win for Barrios because he’s in his prime at 26, much taller than the 5’7″ Thurman, and he won’t be weight drained like he appeared to be in his loss to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis last June.
Barrios should have moved up to 147 last year after his win over Batyr Akhmedov because he looked drained at the weigh-in and not as impressive as he’d been in the first six years of his career.
“Sources: Keith Thurman and Mario Barrios have struck a deal for a welterweight fight on Jan. 29. Thurman’s first fight since July 2019 loss to Manny Pacquaio. Barrios climbs to 147 pounds after TKO loss to Gervonta Davis,” said Mike Coppinger.
Thurman needs to fight 3 times next year