Keith Thurman (24-0, 21 KOs) one of the most charismatic characters in the sport of boxing displayed much maturity, composure, and boxing skills to defeat the very awkward Leonard Bundu (31-1, 11 KOs).
In the opening round Bundu seemed to want to close the distance as Thurman took the role as the boxer fighting off his back foot. Bundu decided to lunge in with a right hook, and Thurman knocked Bundu down with a left hook from a southpaw stance. After Bundu beat the ten count, he remained much more conservative throughout the entire fight.
Instead of Bundu being the very active pressure fighter he’s normally been throughout his entire career, he remained patient waiting for countering opportunities. This worked against Bundu, as Thurman was defensively responsible picking his shots from a distance. Thurman never got careless and walked away with an easy unanimous decision. The scorecards all read 120 to 107 all in favor for Thurman.
The fight wasn’t the barnburner most people expected, which caused the crowd to grow a bit restless, but Thurman showed great maturity of maintaining his game plan, as he dominated Bundu the entire bout. Thurman showed he can either be the flashy knockout artist as he advertises himself to be, or a very skilled boxer who can fight off his back foot. Thurman may need to polish his boxing ability, but definitely has a bright future ahead of him in the year 2015.
