Comments Thread For: Porter: Thurman Wants Rematch, Negotiations Have Begun

[Motofan]

I mean, I'm not overly excited for this fight but Keith taking this as a comeback, or even after a single tuneup after his long layoff is pretty respectable.

[JWHardin]

So Thurman turned down a fight against Spence in 2014 for a vacant belt? Link?

Thurman says he’ll fight Errol Spence if Mayweather offers him $10 million
date July 13th, 2015 - 133 Comments

spenceBy Dan Ambrose: In a sign of how little interest WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) has in fighting what many boxing fans see as the future of the 147lb division in undefeated Errol Spence Jr. (17-0, 14 KOs), Thurman said Floyd Mayweather Jr. should offer him $10 million to fight Spence Jr. on his undercard on September 12th. Mayweather already offered Thurman a spot on his undercard to fight Spence Jr. for one of his welterweight world titles.

Unfortunately for Mayweather and Spence, this doesn’t appear to be a good enough offer, because Thurman flat out turned it down, saying he wants the Mayweather fight. Thurman then said if Mayweather wants to offer him the Spence fight, then he needs to throw in $10 million to get him to consider it.

It’s unclear whether Thurman feels that the risk is too high to fight Spence or if this is the kind of money he thinks he would get if he were to face Mayweather. I think it might be more of a case of the risk involved with facing Spence, who is very powerful, very accurate and very talented. Spence, a 2012 U.S Olympian, sees weakness in Thurman’s game that he thinks he would immediately take advantage of if he could get the 26-year-old WBA champion to agree to a fight against him.

“Man, first of all, that’s game [for Mayweather to ask him to fight Spence on his September 12th undercard]. He’s playing games,” Thurman said at the post-fight press conference. “If he wants to offer anything, he can offer $10 million in his back account if he wants to offer something. Floyd fights for the money. He wants to make a good fight happen throw some dollars bills. He [Spence] needs to earn the shot. Have I not earned that respect in the welterweight division? Did I not climb up the ladder step by step, fighting whoever they put in front of me, fighting all the ex-world champions? How many ex-world champions has he [Spence] fought?”


You would think that Mayweather’s offer of one of his welterweight world titles to fight Spence would be enough to satisfy Thurman, but I guess not. It’s not enough for Thurman to get a shot at one of Mayweather’s titles, and it’s not enough to be fighting on an undercard where Thurman would be seen by millions of casual boxing fans who have never seen him before. The opportunity that Thurman has in being offered a spot on Mayweather’s undercard is priceless. Why would someone turn down a fight that would help make them a star if they were to win?

Additionally, if Thurman won the fight against Spence, he’d capture another world title at 147 that he could add to his collection. But of course, if Thurman isn’t confident about whether he could beat Spence, then it’s perfectly understandable why he would say no to the fight and ask for $10 million, or ask that Spence fight the past their prime ex-world champions that Thurman has fought such as Jan Zaveck, Julio Diaz, and Luis Collazo.

Even if Spence could get all three of those fighters to agree to face him, he wouldn’t get anything from knocking them all out one by one. Boxing fans would just say that he beat a bunch of old guys, which is what many boxing fans said about Thurman when he recently fought all of them. Spence gets nothing from facing the old guys that Thurman has been feasting on since he turned pro.

“That boy [Spence] don’t want it in the near future,” Thurman said. “His uncle Floyd, who adopted him, told him to state that statement. If he really wanted to state that statement, he wouldn’t have stuttered, okay? So let’s just be honest, aright? He is a young, talented young fighter. I sound like Floyd right now, right? Floyd wants me to fight a young man, someone my age. He don’t want me to beat upon the elderly. TBE is ‘To be Extinct.’ Let’s wave goodbye to the old man. I look forward. He’s [Spence] going to get that fight. As long as he’s here, he hasn’t fought a B-class fighter. He keeps fighting these one week replacements, these C and last minute replacements. Go ahead and fight Diego Chaves. Go ahead and fight Luis Collazo. Go ahead and fight any ex-world champion I’ve fought before you say my name out your mouth.”

I don’t think it’s possible for Spence to fight Diego Chaves now, because he’s with Top Rank, so Thurman needs to pull him off the list of fighters that he wants Spence to fight before he’ll give him a shot at his WBA title. Collazo now has a cut over his right eye that will likely take many months to heal, so it’s not going to work for Spence to try and fight him unless he wants to wait six months for the cut to heal.

I think it’s a waste of time for Spence to try and fight Thurman by getting a voluntary title shot, because it seems pretty clear that he wants nothing to do with him. Spence will likely have to work his way to the No.1 WBA mandatory spot before Thurman will agree to fight him. That might take a year or so for Spence to work his way to the No.1 spot. He just needs to chop down a couple of the top 10 counters, and he’ll be there.

[KnickTillDeaTh]

Thurman says he’ll fight Errol Spence if Mayweather offers him $10 million
date July 13th, 2015 - 133 Comments

spenceBy Dan Ambrose: In a sign of how little interest WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) has in fighting what many boxing fans see as the future of the 147lb division in undefeated Errol Spence Jr. (17-0, 14 KOs), Thurman said Floyd Mayweather Jr. should offer him $10 million to fight Spence Jr. on his undercard on September 12th. Mayweather already offered Thurman a spot on his undercard to fight Spence Jr. for one of his welterweight world titles.

Unfortunately for Mayweather and Spence, this doesn’t appear to be a good enough offer, because Thurman flat out turned it down, saying he wants the Mayweather fight. Thurman then said if Mayweather wants to offer him the Spence fight, then he needs to throw in $10 million to get him to consider it.

It’s unclear whether Thurman feels that the risk is too high to fight Spence or if this is the kind of money he thinks he would get if he were to face Mayweather. I think it might be more of a case of the risk involved with facing Spence, who is very powerful, very accurate and very talented. Spence, a 2012 U.S Olympian, sees weakness in Thurman’s game that he thinks he would immediately take advantage of if he could get the 26-year-old WBA champion to agree to a fight against him.

“Man, first of all, that’s game [for Mayweather to ask him to fight Spence on his September 12th undercard]. He’s playing games,” Thurman said at the post-fight press conference. “If he wants to offer anything, he can offer $10 million in his back account if he wants to offer something. Floyd fights for the money. He wants to make a good fight happen throw some dollars bills. He [Spence] needs to earn the shot. Have I not earned that respect in the welterweight division? Did I not climb up the ladder step by step, fighting whoever they put in front of me, fighting all the ex-world champions? How many ex-world champions has he [Spence] fought?”


You would think that Mayweather’s offer of one of his welterweight world titles to fight Spence would be enough to satisfy Thurman, but I guess not. It’s not enough for Thurman to get a shot at one of Mayweather’s titles, and it’s not enough to be fighting on an undercard where Thurman would be seen by millions of casual boxing fans who have never seen him before. The opportunity that Thurman has in being offered a spot on Mayweather’s undercard is priceless. Why would someone turn down a fight that would help make them a star if they were to win?

Additionally, if Thurman won the fight against Spence, he’d capture another world title at 147 that he could add to his collection. But of course, if Thurman isn’t confident about whether he could beat Spence, then it’s perfectly understandable why he would say no to the fight and ask for $10 million, or ask that Spence fight the past their prime ex-world champions that Thurman has fought such as Jan Zaveck, Julio Diaz, and Luis Collazo.

Even if Spence could get all three of those fighters to agree to face him, he wouldn’t get anything from knocking them all out one by one. Boxing fans would just say that he beat a bunch of old guys, which is what many boxing fans said about Thurman when he recently fought all of them. Spence gets nothing from facing the old guys that Thurman has been feasting on since he turned pro.

“That boy [Spence] don’t want it in the near future,” Thurman said. “His uncle Floyd, who adopted him, told him to state that statement. If he really wanted to state that statement, he wouldn’t have stuttered, okay? So let’s just be honest, aright? He is a young, talented young fighter. I sound like Floyd right now, right? Floyd wants me to fight a young man, someone my age. He don’t want me to beat upon the elderly. TBE is ‘To be Extinct.’ Let’s wave goodbye to the old man. I look forward. He’s [Spence] going to get that fight. As long as he’s here, he hasn’t fought a B-class fighter. He keeps fighting these one week replacements, these C and last minute replacements. Go ahead and fight Diego Chaves. Go ahead and fight Luis Collazo. Go ahead and fight any ex-world champion I’ve fought before you say my name out your mouth.”

I don’t think it’s possible for Spence to fight Diego Chaves now, because he’s with Top Rank, so Thurman needs to pull him off the list of fighters that he wants Spence to fight before he’ll give him a shot at his WBA title. Collazo now has a cut over his right eye that will likely take many months to heal, so it’s not going to work for Spence to try and fight him unless he wants to wait six months for the cut to heal.

I think it’s a waste of time for Spence to try and fight Thurman by getting a voluntary title shot, because it seems pretty clear that he wants nothing to do with him. Spence will likely have to work his way to the No.1 WBA mandatory spot before Thurman will agree to fight him. That might take a year or so for Spence to work his way to the No.1 spot. He just needs to chop down a couple of the top 10 counters, and he’ll be there.

Thanks for the link, by the way this was after Thurman won his WBA title, curiously Spence didn't want to fight Thurman before he won the title huh. So you think after only fighting 3 years professionally, and having no major fights on his resume, Thurman should have fought Spence? So Thurman who had been fighting for 8 years, and chased all the top guys for a title shot for over 3 years which none would give him, should have given a title shot to a fighter with 3 years in the game, no money behind him, nothing accomplished yet at welterweight, no title, no names on his resume, and below Kahn, DSG, Porter, Ali and Maidana on the rankings, all of which were underneath Mayweather , who Thurman was also trying to secure a fight against. Spence was even ranked below Shane Mosley. Maybe you don't like his decision, but if you're being objective, that decision makes absolute sense. Considering that a duck is absolutely ridiculous, and a term that is used too often on this site with little to no credence given to what actually happened.

Let me ask you, do you consider what Spence said about Crawford a duck, because it sound su****iously familiar.



Spence talks about how Crawford has no one on his resume, and that Thurman is the guy to fight, or Garcia, or Porter or Ugas, but not Crawford. Is Spence Avoiding Crawford?

[JWHardin]

Thanks for the link, by the way this was after Thurman won his WBA title, curiously Spence didn't want to fight Thurman before he won the title huh. So you think after only fighting 3 years professionally, and having no major fights on his resume, Thurman should have fought Spence? So Thurman who had been fighting for 8 years, and chased all the top guys for a title shot for over 3 years which none would give him, should have given a title shot to a fighter with 3 years in the game, no money behind him, nothing accomplished yet at welterweight, no title, no names on his resume, and below Kahn, DSG, Porter, Ali and Maidana on the rankings, all of which were underneath Mayweather , who Thurman was also trying to secure a fight against. Spence was even ranked below Shane Mosley. Maybe you don't like his decision, but if you're being objective, that decision makes absolute sense. Considering that a duck is absolutely ridiculous, and a term that is used too often on this site with little to no credence given to what actually happened.

Let me ask you, do you consider what Spence said about Crawford a duck, because it sound su****iously familiar.



Spence talks about how Crawford has no one on his resume, and that Thurman is the guy to fight, or Garcia, or Porter or Ugas, but not Crawford. Is Spence Avoiding Crawford?

I have heard both Crawford and Spence say basically the same thing, both admitting that it will happen, but not yet. Imo if Crawford wanted the fight immediately, he wouldn't have re-signed with Top Rank/ESPN right away. I'll criticize both guys if we go past another year with them not making the fight.

Thurman had a belt, yes, but the regular WBA belt, which means next to nothing in my eyes at least when someone has the super belt. It's ridiculous how much they water down the belt BS.

[KnickTillDeaTh]

I have heard both Crawford and Spence say basically the same thing, both admitting that it will happen, but not yet. Imo if Crawford wanted the fight immediately, he wouldn't have re-signed with Top Rank/ESPN right away. I'll criticize both guys if we go past another year with them not making the fight.

Thurman had a belt, yes, but the regular WBA belt, which means next to nothing in my eyes at least when someone has the super belt. It's ridiculous how much they water down the belt BS.

Yeah the belt situations are ridiculous. I was just pointing out that fighters often have legit reasons to not fight each other. In this case Spence is using a few things. Crawfords lack of resume at the weight, his being signed to a different promotion and t.v. contract, and there's other fights that are just as good but easier to make. For me, those things don't really constitute avoidance or ducking. Just like all the things Thurman said about Spence was not ducking. I think the one thing about Thurman is that he wasn't just staying inactive or chasing money fights against sub par opponents with a name. Thurman was chasing huge fights against Mayweather and Pac, as many were - but he was also chasing bouts against DSG, Porter, Brook, and Khan. He was chasing Broner when he defeated Malignaggi, and he was chasing Malignaggi when he had the title. He offered to go to the UK to fight Brook, Brook still wouldn't take the fight. For Thurman to fight Spence in 2015 would have been a step back. Remember Thurman was the most avoided fighter at that time, now it's Spence. I guarantee you, Thurman will fight Spence.

If Thurman gets through Porter, I think there is a slight chance he can face Pac after, as Pac may see that WBC strap and an undefeated Thurman would be a huge fight. But I wouldn't be surprised if Thurman fought Porter, took one more fight after, then fought Spence. Give Thurman till 2019, because I can tell you he knows damn well that Spence is the biggest threat at Welterweight, and Thurman's going to want to be at his sharpest for that fight. And if you're a huge fan of boxing, but also loves Spence, then you'll want both fighters at their very best for this bout.

[JWHardin]

Yeah the belt situations are ridiculous. I was just pointing out that fighters often have legit reasons to not fight each other. In this case Spence is using a few things. Crawfords lack of resume at the weight, his being signed to a different promotion and t.v. contract, and there's other fights that are just as good but easier to make. For me, those things don't really constitute avoidance or ducking. Just like all the things Thurman said about Spence was not ducking. I think the one thing about Thurman is that he wasn't just staying inactive or chasing money fights against sub par opponents with a name. Thurman was chasing huge fights against Mayweather and Pac, as many were - but he was also chasing bouts against DSG, Porter, Brook, and Khan. He was chasing Broner when he defeated Malignaggi, and he was chasing Malignaggi when he had the title. He offered to go to the UK to fight Brook, Brook still wouldn't take the fight. For Thurman to fight Spence in 2015 would have been a step back. Remember Thurman was the most avoided fighter at that time, now it's Spence. I guarantee you, Thurman will fight Spence.

If Thurman gets through Porter, I think there is a slight chance he can face Pac after, as Pac may see that WBC strap and an undefeated Thurman would be a huge fight. But I wouldn't be surprised if Thurman fought Porter, took one more fight after, then fought Spence. Give Thurman till 2019, because I can tell you he knows damn well that Spence is the biggest threat at Welterweight, and Thurman's going to want to be at his sharpest for that fight. And if you're a huge fan of boxing, but also loves Spence, then you'll want both fighters at their very best for this bout.

Props to you for a great post. I agree with almost everything except the part about Thurman taking a step back facing Spence back then. It would have been for a legitimate strap instead of the regular bs belt he had. Granted, it was risky for him, but he was smart not to bite.

Thurman to me is a great fighter, but also a big question mark. His inactivity will soon cause him to be stripped. I hope he gets a tune up before Porter.

[Mr.365]

Showtime Shawn got this