Marc N. (Raleigh, NC): When Mayweather walks away, I think Keith Thurman has a very good chance at carrying to torch for the new era. Would you agree based on what we’ve seen from him so far?
Vivek W. (ESB): Not to be taken personally, as this comment isn’t directed towards you personally, but I’ve grown tired of the endless search by media and fans looking for “the next”. Time and time again, we continue to see young fighters put in situations far earlier than they’re actually ready. We saw it with Broner, I think we’ve seen it with “Swift” Garcia (although he hasn’t taken an “L” yet), and a countless amount of others. As it relates to Keith Thurman, I really think he has pretty good talent, and he has shown a certain amount of evolution; but anyone ready to say – at this early stage – that he is the heir apparent to Floyd Mayweather is not looking at things the way they should.
In each of his past (3) fights or so, as the level of competition has grown stronger, Thurman has shown that he can win in adversity. But a deeper scan shows that he has also failed to learn from certain mistakes and subsequently failed to elevate above key flaws. Without fail, every time we see the sport play into the hype of a “KO artist”, we see this same struggle as the level of their competition evolves. You’d think we would learn at some point. From Tyson and Trinidad to Chavez Sr and Duran; every fighter we’ve ever seen get this type of press because of their power has taught us that the elite level is in fact exempt.
In the case of Thurman, he hasn’t even truly reached the elite level of competition, yet we see he and Garcia struggle in spurts against the B-Class. I don’t want to sound overly critical of his work because I enjoy watching him and think he does have a great future. But realistically speaking, I don’t see him being too far ahead of any of the other young guns at welterweight right now. To give an example of how close this era’s level of competition is, consider this:
Khan has chin issues, Thurman has power in both hands. Power has always been the fan fave element, yet those same fans who love his power can’t decisively conclude that Thurman beats Khan if they actually fought. If you were to line up the top 8 young welterweights, there’s literally no telling who the last man standing would be. In many respects that’s great, because it means we’re in for a competitive era. But the flipside is that it also means that there’s no true standout, top flight talent that we can expect to emerge from the rest of the pack.
While I do think Thurman beats half of what’s currently out there, I also think Brook and Bradley would be favorites against him, and I believe Porter’s reckless style and paralleled toughness could beat him. Similar to Golovkin, Pavlik, and many of the recent power punchers in the sport, Thurman isn’t nearly as dominant in the phone booth as he is at a distance. At the highest level, it takes more than one strength to remain on top. Yet it only takes on weakness to prevent you from ever being there. I’m very curious to see how he evolves. Especially considering the fact that the competition will only get tougher from here. #StayTuned
Ariel N. (Dallas, TX): Amir Khan has stated that if he doesn’t get Mayweather, he still won’t grant Brook the opportunity to face him. What are your thoughts about this? And who would you like him to face if he doesn’t face Brook?
Vivek W. (ESB): This move doesn’t surprise me. It’s right in line with what I’ve come to expect from Khan in recent years. It’s also part of my frustration with this current era of fighters. Everyone wants the top paydays without the risk of winning the top rated fights required to get there. Guys in this era are totally content being able to make enough to allow them to post pictures of sports cars and platinum watches on their Instagram and Twitter accounts. They aren’t driven by greatness. The personal logo’s and ‘toys’ are great to promote, but few have the type of heart we’ve seen associated to that level of success in this era.
Funny thing is that they do this stuff because they see the Mayweather’s of the world doing it, but the difference is that Mayweather was facing world champions at age 19, 20, and has continued to ever since. Khan has multiple losses on his record that he has never avenged. When you ask him why? He openly responds by saying “they aren’t on my level”. That’s troubling, coming from a fighter as talented as he is. I like the evolution we’ve seen in Khan under the tutelage of Virgil Hunter, but what good is evolution if a fighter won’t take the risk involved to display it?
Khan was recently quoted as saying he “deserves” a shot at Mayweather more than anyone in the sport. If you loss to Garcia (who is not ready for Mayweather), loss to Lamont Peterson (who is not ready for Mayweather), and went tooth and nail with Algieri (who isn’t even mentioned with Mayweather), I think that puts you closer to a bout with Brook than to a massive payday with a legendary name attached to it. I think it’s troublesome that he doesn’t realize this. Show the world you belong….and fans will gladly sing your praise. Until then, he’s just another face in the crowd.
Brice G. (Lake Mary, FL): Guillermo Rigondeaux and Vasyl Lomachenko seem to have an issue with the weight for their fight. Do you think Lomachenko’s request that the fight be at l26lbs is fair?
Vivek W. (ESB): Lomachenko is considerably bigger than Rigondeaux, so it’s really tough to say. Bearing that in mind, I’ve always felt it should be less about the weigh-in weight, more about the fight night weight. If making 126lbs is “easier” for Lomachenko, I’d give it to him. But I would enforce the rehydration clause for fight night at the 135lbs Rigondeaux originally asked for. It’s only fair, and both men would get what they asked for. I think too much above the 135lb mark would give Lomachenko a bit of an unfair weight advantage (although it’s been done before by other fighters).
The true fight of my choice was the Walters v Lomachenko fight, but Lomachenko basically said (in so many words) that Walters is “too big”. Oddly enough, he’s totally fine imposing a similar size advantage on the guy below him. At the end of the day both of these guys are warriors and both are eager to prove something to the world. I have every reason to believe they’ll agree to terms. When I look at guys like GGG who’s over age 30 with more than 30 pro fights who have the platform but hasn’t quite used it, I have to commend these guys for seeking out the biggest challenges with less than 20 collective pro fights between the two of them. That’s HUGE! I have no doubt, it’s gonna happen!
(Vivek “Vito” Wallace can be reached at wallace@boxing247.com, Instagram (ViveksView), Twitter (@lefthooklounge1), and Facebook).