By: Sean Crose
“These fights can still happen,” said former world welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman. ESNews in an interview posted on Friday. The now 34-year-old Floridian hasn’t fought in over a year, but the conversation always seems to shift with Thurman to Errol Spence. “I’m ready,” Thurman said bluntly to Spence. “I’ll take mine and you take yours and the truth is Errol, you should thank me. If I fight you when you call me out, when you are nobody, you don’t get paid. Today you play against Keith Thurman, you make more money than Keith Thurman.”
For Thurman, the big battles (and the battle of Spence-Thurman will certainly still be a big one) takes time to succeed. He said in the interview: “I know the big fights have to be built. “It’s one of those little things that fans don’t like. But big fights need to be built and I like to make them as big as possible. With that said, Thurman is well aware that the “big game” everyone wants to watch now is the undisputed WBA, IBF and WBC Spence and WBO title Terence Crawford.
“You need to take down Keith Thurman,” he said of Crawford. “You need to take down an Errol Spence Jr.” And what does he think of a throw at Crawford-Spence? “I like Crawford’s style,” he said ESNews. “He has more angles, he has more variety and that can work in his favor. He can find something others don’t in Spence with the ability to attack from so many different angles, to be ambidextrous – and he’s very talented on both sides.” However, Thurman also has some nice things to say about Spence. “It’s basically sound and effective,” he said of the Texan, “and he’s the bigger man, he’s a real heavyweight.”
Provided that a real Spence-Crawford fight comes to fruition (and that’s no guarantee) Thurman still wants his name in everyone’s mind. “They can fight each other,” he said of Spence and Crawford, “and then what?” Thurman clearly thinks he should line up for the winner. “You need great fighters to make great fights,” he said, “and Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman, until the day I retire, will always be one of the greatest boxers in the world. welding weight class.”
Thurman may be right, but he should also prove it in the ring more often. “I need to be more active,” he admits. “I have something at work. Whatever comes up, we’ll get this ball rolling again.”
