Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman (26-0, 22 KO’s) retained his WBA World welterweight title with an eighth-round TKO victory over former titleholder Luis Collazo (36-7, 19 KO’s).
In the first round, Thurman was fighting smart, picking his spots as Collazo, a southpaw, stayed on the outside trying to avoid getting tagged by Thurman’s right hand.
Thurman managed to land a right hand when Collazo was shifting on the ropes, wobbling him, and taking a series of left hands.
In the second, Collazo was trying to find the range with the jab but was falling short. It wasn’t the most exciting round, but Thurman landed a combination, including a mean right hand that snapped Collazo’s head back.
In the third, Thurman was, again, landing hard shots, including a counter left hook that somehow didn’t put Collazo on the canvas.
With his face swollen and bloodied, it seemed that Collazo had no hope, no chance in this fight. However, the momentum sure took a swing in the fifth.
Collazo landed a nasty left hook to the liver, a shot that knocked out Oscar De La Hoya when he fought Bernard Hopkins in 2004, and Thurman had to hold on for dear life, surviving the scare.
However, it wasn’t over just yet!
In the fifth, Thurman still hadn’t completely recovered from the shot, as Collazo continued to apply the pressure on the native Floridian, who was fighting in front of his hometown fans for the first time since 2009.
Collazo was unable to effectively capitalized on a wounded Thurman and when the undefeated champion picked up his bearing, he began landing with the right again, making Collazo’s right eye look like it just went through a war zone, but the man kept coming forward.
At the conclusion of the seventh round, Collazo notified the referee and team that he couldn’t see.
“I can’t see. It’s up to y’all,” Collazo said when asked if he wanted the fight to be stopped.
The cut, which was caused by a clash of heads, would have gone to the scorecards had the referee or a doctor intervened. However, because the fight was stopped by Collazo, Thurman was awarded the TKO victory.
In his post-fight interview, Thurman called out Floyd Mayweather.
“I’m a young, strong champion, Floyd. come get it,” Thurman said via ESPN’s Dan Rafael. “I’m undefeated like you, baby. Come take my 0 baby! Come take my 0! I’m ready. I’m ready.”
Thurman also showed a tremendous amount of respect to his opponent across the ring in Luis Collazo, as well as praising his own performance.
“This performance man, we trained hard for this camp,” Thurman said.
“Luis Collazo, I want to give it up to him, all respect. He’s a great veteran. He came and he fought hard and caught me with a great body shot. But, I took it, and endured it like a great champion does and didn’t go down.
“We kept going. We kept digging him with shots, giving a little bit of power each round, and we broke him down.”
According to Compubox, Thurman landed 119 of 348 punches (34 percent connect rate); Collazo connected on 76 of 244 (31 percent connect rate).
Tha Boxing Voice’s Ryan O’Hara had it scored 68-65 at the time of the stoppage.
