Last night in the Bank Arena Cincinnati, Ohio, upcoming Florida-native Keith ‘one time’ Thurman (18-0) knocked another opponent inside the distance, knocking out replacement Orlando Lora (29-3-2) in the sixth round. He showed great promise in the second time he went to the sixth round in his career against a fighter who came in to win and demonstrated more resilience than his others.
In the ring at 147 Thurman looked big and physically strong. His shots matched this as his power was much too handle for all but one his opponents as of yet. Not only this, but at a 44% connect rate for power punches as calculated by Compubox, it would be a difficulty for any fighter to be able to go the distance with this guy. Another credible property of Thurman, and one which impressed Roy Jones Jr. on the commentary panel was his discipline in maintaining a focused attack to the body. He was countering with a variety of punches.
Lora was as competitive as he could be, He was willing to fight and trade punches at times in order try and establish himself on the scorecards and throughout a considerable chunk of the fight was the one coming forward. His chin was tested taking massive shots until the stoppage.
In the six after being dropped by Thurman, Lora went to his corner and essentially took off his mouthpiece to his trainer, saying that he wanted no more. He fought the right fight in order to try and take Thurman’s game plan away from him but just did not have the goods to gain a working edge with it. Overall, the fight was a good watch and well-paced.
To conclude, we have a great talent on our hands in the young, strong Thurman. He mentioned the likes of top fighters in the Welterweight division as his targets, but I am sure he will have to continue his progress and bide his time before he gets a title shot. The names he mentioned he may have no shot at landing at the present time. He called out Paulie Malignaggi (WBA Welterweight Champion), who seemingly dismissed him through the social media networks. He also called out Timothy Bradley (WBO Welterweight Champion), who is seemingly tied up with Manny Pacquiao it seems, and Floyd Mayweather (WBC Welterweight Champion and WBA Super Welterweight Champion) which he has not a chance in hell to land.
Nonetheless, with last night’s impressive Knockout, he is on the radar and will have future opportunities to prove his worth on HBO. Obviously with power broker Al Haymon behind him, we can expect to see him network television once again. It would be interesting to see Thurman in a bout with a skillful fighter with a good chin who forces him to go the distance, as only then we can see the true value of Thurman, when in the later rounds.
