Errol Spence Jr revealed last Friday that he’d be returning from a one-year layoff to defend his unified welterweight belts in April, and it’s expected that he’ll be facing former WBA/WBC 147-lb champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman.
The 32-year-old Errol has been adamant about not wanting to toss a bone to the flute-playing Thurman out of the bitter feelings he still has for the Florida native for failing to face him in 2017.
At this point, Spence needs to grow up and take a mature approach because his pride will hurt his career and cost him millions if he doesn’t forget his need to get back at Thurman by shutting him out.
Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) would probably prefer not to defend his IBF, WBA & WBC titles against Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs), but he has no choice but to face him if he wants to bring in a respectable number of pay-per-view buys on Showtime.
Without the self-promoting Thurman doing all the hard work of promoting, Spence’s next PPV fight will bring in anemic numbers, which will hurt his ability to use the figures to make himself the A-side in negotiations with WBO 147-lb champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford.
Spence won’t dare face the unproven dangerous puncher Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis as his opponent for April because not only is there the potential of Errol losing, but we don’t know if the Boots will bring in.
Despite having loads of talent, Boots Ennis (29-0, 27 KOs) hasn’t been around long enough for him to be a recognizable name to the casual boxing fans, who will be the main ones that will – or won’t be – purchasing Spence’s next fight on PPV. Hence, Spence needs Keith Thurman for his next fight in April if he wants the boosted PPV buys that come with a match against him.
The 34-year-old Thurman has been resting up since his victory over Mario Barrios last February in Las Vegas. It’s unclear why ‘One Time’ Thurman hasn’t fought since, but it’s likely that he’s been waiting around, hoping to be given a title shot offered to him by Spence or Crawford.
Thurman was the #1 welterweight in the division back in 2017, but a combination of injuries, lack of ambition, and just enjoying the fruits of labor has sidelined him for most of the last five years.
Since 2017, Thurman has fought just three times, beating Josesito Lopez & Mario Barrios and surprisingly losing to Manny Pacquiao.
