After being compared in an unfavorable way to Amir Khan in how he did in beating Luis Collazo last year, WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (26-0, 22 Kos) says he’s ready to fight Khan next if he’s interested in fighting, and he’ll travel to the UK to fight Khan at Wembley Stadium in London if he’s willing to take the fight.
Thurman, 26, has taking a lot of heat from boxing fans due to the way he looked against Collazo last Saturday night in beating him by a harder than expected 8th round TKO at the USF Sundome Arena in Tampa, Florida. To be sure, Thurman got the victory, but he also was hurt by Collazo in the 5th, and he ran from the 34-year-old fighter through most of.
If you compare how Khan fought against the same guy in beating Collazo with ease last year, it’s pretty clear that Khan looks like the much better fighter compared to Thurman. Khan was looked superb in beating Collazo; whereas Thurman struggled at times, and was forced to hit and run all night long. Thurman couldn’t stay in the pocket against Collazo because he kept getting hit with body shots, and hard right hooks. Collazo was setting Thurman up for his left hand, and Thurman didn’t want to get hit with that punch. He looked afraid of Collazo.
“You want to know who’s going to win out of Keith Thurman and Amir Khan. Let’s make a contract and make the fight happen,” Thurman said to Thaboxingvoice. “You can ask anybody from Team Haymon. When they call me for a fight, I take the best fight they offer. Let’s go, Amir. If he wants to fight me, we can fight in Vegas. If he wants to fight at Wembley, we can fight in Wembley. I always wanted to go overseas. I’m ready to fight that boy. Did I stutter? I’m ready to fight that boy in his own backyard. I’ll fight him at his momma’s house. Let’s make it happen. He’s with Haymon, I’m with Haymon. Pick up the phone and call your manager.”
Khan would have a big advantage in hand speed over Thurman, and also an advantage in boxing skills. Khan looks to be the better overall fighter than Thurman. The only thing that Khan might have a problem with is the punching power of Thurman. If Khan got hit with something big from Thurman, he might not be able to survive the shot like Collazo did. But if Khan is able to avoid most of Thurman’s shots, like Collazo did, Khan wins that fight easily.
The question is would Al Haymon, the manager for Khan and Thurman, elect to out a fight together between them? If you look at the kinds of guys that Haymon has been matching the two fighters against, I’d say it’s very unlikely that he’ll ever let them fight. Khan will likely be kept away from Thurman, and then move in for one of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s welterweight titles after he retires in 2016. Mayweather will be giving up his WBA and WBC 147lb titles when he retires, and Khan will be in a good position to win one of those belts and then sit on the title.
