As Thaboxingvoice continues to make strides in every area of coverage, it takes a certain dedication from TBV staff in order to achieve quality footage and unique coverage. This was the case when the entire TBV panel of hosts, which make up our incredibly successful and highly reviewed podcast, shipped out to Florida in order to cover the training camp of Keith Thurman ahead of his welterweight unification bout against Danny Garcia.
Our hosts traveled great distances to get to St. Petersburg, Florida where Thurman is from, and it was necessary for us to have a reliable vehicle suited for our purposes of obtaining as much coverage as possible in our four-day trip. Fortunately, we were equipped with the 2017 Toyota Tundra “Double” Cab (Extended Cab) which met every one of our needs.
The truck, which was waiting in the valet lot for us at the airport upon arrival, immediately caught our eyes as its Pepsi blue paint job popped out at us in the dimly lit parking garage. The color definitely stood out, but it was not so flashy as to distract us from the design. In my opinion, trucks fall into two categories: sporty and rugged. The sporty truck is often preferred by families and those with the need for space but without the need for off-roading. The rugged truck is for the typical truckers that haul heavy loads, find themselves off-road on occasion, and use the vehicle for work related purposes. The Tundra’s design seemed to combine both styles of sporty and rugged.
We packed a ton of equipment for the trip as is the case these days for TBV on-location shoots. We pride ourselves on production and the quality of our shoots. The quality of our coverage comes at the expense of needing a lot of equipment, and it was a concern prior to arrival whether or not we’d have room in the vehicle for all five passengers and the gear. With the Tundra, not only was there room for it all but we fit comfortably in this overwhelmingly spacious vehicle.
It was nice having a sunroof in the Truck being that we were in Florida, but spaciousness and great gas mileage were important for this trip because of St. Petersburg, a town that seems to shut down around 9 p.m., is 45 minutes from Tampa. We made many late night coffee runs to Tampa as we burned the midnight oil editing footage captured from earlier in the day.
We had plenty of footage as Thurman opened up his gym exclusively to TBV at times. He was an absolute monster in training with a nonstop engine that ran for seemingly endless stretches of time, much like the Tundra. That wasn’t the only correlation to the Tundra that Thurman shared as we learned of the vehicle’s prowess for speed and power, not at all unlike Thurman’s own unique brand of speed and power.
Keith was very accommodating and made us all feel very welcomed in his gym. He was also very obliging when it came to signing gloves for TBV giveaways (we’re always thinking of our listeners). In fact, at one point we had to make several runs in the Tundra to both Wal-Mart and Target to purchase gloves for Keith to sign.
My brother has a Tundra and I thought I was fully aware of all the luxuries associated with the truck, but I can honestly say that I hadn’t fully realized all of its wonderful amenities until I was able to drive it myself. From the leather interior to the heated seats, this Platinum edition Tundra was fully loaded and took the chore out of those long drives.
We accomplished everything we wanted with our onsite visit to Thurman’s gym and stopping grounds, but it was made easier with a vehicle that met both our standards and our needs. I started thinking that this vehicle is perfect for anyone looking to make a trip with friends and/or family while packing a ton of luggage/equipment, whether it’d be a camping trip or a landmark destination. That got me thinking how perfect this vehicle would be for a trip to a fight, packing up the gear and the TBV crew, and maybe one or two lucky listeners. Maybe we found our next event? This could be an idea in the making and it’s made possible with the perfect vehicle for work and play.
