Bar Set Too High For Keith Thurman?

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Keith Thurman Luis CollazoWas the bar set too high for Keith “One Time” Thurman this weekend? Even before his fight with Luis Collazo, he was deemed boxing’s next big star per the PBC on ESPN commercials. Thurman drew a solid 4,136 fans in his home debut at the USF Sun Dome this weekend. He got a stoppage of Luis Collazo in a fight where he was in control throughout most of the fight, minus the last 30 seconds of round 5.

Collazo landed a perfect liver shot which had Thurman hurt. Thurman said it was the perfect body shot, even told me he considered taking a knee. But he recovered and took the next two rounds.

A lot was different in this fight. Thurman was on the move a lot. He’s a solid puncher and solid boxer, but someone on twitter put it into perspective, if Thurman doesn’t knock you out early, he begins to box. That may be something to consider as he did move a lot in this fight and in the end of the Robert Guerrero fight where his punch output dropped in the later rounds.

Here’s what analyst Al Bernstein had to say about Thurman’s performance via his Facebook account:

“Just watched Thurman-Collazo. Main story to me, though it did not receive any mention on the telecast, is that Keith has changed his identity in the ring over the last few fights and this effort made it official in my mind. He is no longer a boxer-puncher, he is a boxer. He now moves so much and punches off his back foot so much that he is simply not the power puncher he was before. He is a very skilled fighter and has improved his boxing skills a lot. BUT, by ceding his power he takes away a big element of his game. And, because he squares up too much he has some holes defensively when he is not attacking. I have praised Keith a lot, and I still think he’s a very good fighter, but we have to evaluate THIS Keith Thurman through a different lens. The next level of competition against a Brook or Porter or Khan will tell us a lot. But, this is definitely a new mindset than the Thurman we saw prior to the Bundu, Guerrero, and Collazo fights.”

And that’s a fair point. I fell in love with Thurman’s power when he was stopping guys like Diego Chaves, Jesus Soto-Karass, and Carlos Quintana.

Maybe the magnifying glass was on Thurman heavy because of his many call outs of Floyd Mayweather. As I stayed in my hotel in Tampa tuned into Sports Center. I notice the anchors while giving praise to Thurman for stopping 22 out of 26 foes. They also poked fun at Thurman saying, “Somewhere Mayweather is laughing this off,” in regards to Thurman calling out Mayweather.

Going through the Twitter-verse and reading articles, it was almost like overnight, Keith Thurman became overrated. To me, he’s still a top 5 Welterweight behind Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, and Tim Bradley. You can make a case for either Kell Brook or Keith Thurman at 5.

Thurman mentioned foes like Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana, and Shawn Porter as fighters he would love to share the ring with. I say yes to all those fights for sure. Thurman-Porter was something that could have happened last year but with both fighters getting wins on bigger broadcasts then Showtime, the fight could be bigger now.

As for where the bar is for Thurman after Saturday? Maybe it’s not the bar of being the guy to defeat Mayweather but being a guy that can beat other guys in the top 10 to get a chance to fight Mayweather. As long as Mayweather continues to fight, the foes are limited and maybe down the line, a victory the names mentioned before could land Thurman a Mayweather fight. But one thing’s for sure, I like Thurman and hope he returns to Tampa.