Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs) says his February 5th comeback fight against Mario Barrios (26-1, 17 KOs) will lead to a much bigger fight in his next match in 2022.
Thurman vs. Barrios will be battling in the headliner spot on FOX PPV at the Michelob Ultra Arena, Las Vegas.
This is a perfect situation for Thurman to rebuild his career and retake his throne as the #1 fighter in the 147 lb division. All he’s got to do is defeat Barrios and WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford.
Thurman wanted to fight Crawford
“I know I’ve been stagnant, I know I’ve let other things in life step in front of the game, and I’ve been through a lot of injuries,” said Keith Thurman to DAZN.
“We could have fought this year,” said Thurman about him and Terence Crawford. “Bob Arum reached out to me. He was being a stingy [bleep], and he was doing what he do. Where are you right now? Are you in America right now? Another thing about the red, white, and blue is freedom of speech.
“If I got to take your criticism, then you got to take my criticism, man. I’ve never done business with Bob, and I don’t care about Bob. He don’t help me one bit, and I don’t need him. I’m not going to need him, and I don’t want to ever do business with the man. I’m not worried about it.
“It was a great fight for Shawn [Porter]. Now that all this time has passed, I do listen to my advisers. I’ve been advised to go ahead and get back in the ring, and then we’ll make bigger fights happen. If you look at my track record, I got all the names. I got big names; that’s what I do.
“I love to bring in the most exciting fights in the welterweight division. I say all roads lead to Thurman. There are great fights out there. That Porter-Crawford fight that was great.
“Put Thurman in it, and it’s better. Spence vs. Thurman is better. Someone quoted me where I said, ‘Thurman will be ready for Crawford in eight months from now,’ and Crawford quoted me and said, ‘You don’t need eight months’ and this and that. Calm down, baby.
One Time ready to pick up check one
Hopefully, this isn’t a ‘One Time’ thing for Thurman in picking up ‘Check one’ and then disappearing for another three years like we just saw.
Thurman’s latest string of inactivity isn’t all because of him licking his wounds from the injuries he sustained in his loss to Manny Pacquiao in 2019.
One Time has obviously been enjoying the millions he made in his fight with Pacquiao, and that’s contributed to his inactivity.
“When the DJ gets back on the mic, he goes, ‘Check-one, check-two.’ I’m going to pick check one, and then we can negotiate check 2,” said Thurman.
“Every athlete goes through different things, but best believe, every time I get in the ring, it’s both feet, baby. I do it for people that love the sport.
“You got to love boxing. The moment you don’t love boxing anymore, that’s the moment when you’re one foot in and one foot out. Money gets you nice things, man, but it’s better to have good relationships with good people. There are so many good things that are more important.
“I’m growing up. You can already hear it as I speak,” said Thurman. “33-years-old, I’ve seen a lot in this game, and I hope to see a lot more. What do I do? I always come back as I did in 2019.
“I came back in the Josesito Lopez fight, and then I gave you a tremendous fight against Pacquiao in one of the best fights of the year. It didn’t happen to be ‘Fight of the Year,’ but it was one of the best fights of the year,” Thurman said.
There are a lot of boxing fans predicting that the former WBA/WBC welterweight champion Thurman will disappear after he picks up his big paycheck against the 26-year-old Barrios on February 5th.
If you’re Thurman, this might be his last chance to resurrect his career because he’s missed essentially five years of his career with the 2 1/2 years that he was out from 2017 to 2019 and 2019 to 2022.
I don’t know of too many athletes that are able to lose five years of their careers and come back and perform at a high level. Even the great Muhammad Ali wasn’t out for that long.
Thurman prepared for a bigger fight after Barrios
If Thurman’s idea for a big fight is only Terence Crawford, he’ll need to take that match soon because Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr are closing in the aging 34-year-old champion.
Even if Crawford wins both of those fights, those guys are going to put a lot of wear & tear on him. Unless Crawford is on his bike for the full 12 rounds in both those fights, he’s going to take a lot of punishment.
Crawford is likely going to avoid Ennis at all costs because he obviously knows how tough that fight is going to be for him.
“That’s what I intend on doing this year with this comeback fight, something that’s respectable and then moving on to bigger and better things,” said Thurman. Let’s be real. Thurman should have been back in the ring. Let’s be honest.
“I can be honest with myself. I can talk bad about myself. I can take criticism; I understand that, but I got to come back someway somehow, and this is how I’m coming back.
“I think it’s a good match-up,” said Thurman about his fight with Barrios. “I like what the poster looks like. I like the young man’s swag; I like his swagger.
“It’s an ex-world champion against the ex-world champion, and once we get throwing, you guys are going to be happy. You don’t remember all that Thurman vs. Tank drama after Ellerbe dropped that tag? That drama was months ago,” said Thurman.
It’s not a given that Thurman will beat Barrios because this is a tough fighter that is a lot younger than him, and he’s in the prime of his career.
Thurman has been out of the ring for close to three years, and he’s likely going to be nowhere near the level he was at in his previous fight against a faded 40-year-old Manny Pacquiao in 2019.
It sounds like Thurman may be ready for a world title shot after the Barrios fight on February 5th.
It’s too bad that Thurman’s options are limited to only WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford for his title shot because it would be interesting to see him take on IBF/WBC champion Errol Spence Jr.