Keith Thurman

Amateur career

Keith Thurman was born November 23, 1988 in Clearwater, Florida to an African-American father and a European-American mother of Polish and Hungarian descent. Thurman's first amateur fight was in 1997. He was trained by the late Benjamin Getty who worked with Sugar Ray Leonard. Getty took Thurman under his belt as a child and helped shape him into the fighter he is today. Thurman is now coached by Dan Birmingham. Thurman finished his amateur career with 101 victories (76 KO's), he won 6 National Championships including the 2006 PAL National Championships. In 2007 he lost twice to world champion Demetrius Andrade at the Olympic Trials and won the Silver Medal.

Early career

On November 9, 2007 an 18 year old Thurman debuted as a light middleweight against Kensky Rodney at the A La Carte Event Pavilion in Tampa, Florida in a scheduled 4 round fight. Thurman won via 1st-round KO after a body shot floored Rodney. On August 8, 2008 Thurman defeated undefeated Jamaican Omar Bell (6-0, 4 KOs) via first-round knockout following an uppercut and left hand. Thurman faced off against Francisco Garcia in April 2009. The fight lasted less than 3 minutes after an accidental clash of heads halted the fight and it was announced as a no contest. In November 2009, Thurman was taken the 8 round distance by Brazilian Edvan Dos Santos Barros (10-7-1, 7 KOs). The scorecards read 80-71 79-72 (twice) all in favour of Thurman.

On July 23, 2010 Thurman beat the undefeated Stalinn Lopez (7-0, 3 KOs), the fight was on TeleFutura. Over the course of the next few years, Thurman developed from being a 'puncher' to become a more well rounded 'boxer puncher'. On November 26, 2012 Keith brutally knocked 36 year old Carlos Quintana (29-3, 23 KOs) out in the 4th round to win the WBO NABO super welterweight title. Quintana announced his retirement from professional boxing after the loss.

Thurman vs. Zaveck

On March 9, 2013 Thurman who had 19 wins in as many fights moved down to 147 weight and fought on the undercard of Hopkins-Cloud at the Barclays Center in New York City. His opponent was 36 year old Slovenian Jan Zaveck (32-2, 18 KOs). Thurman won via unanimous decision after a one-sided 12 round bout, all three judges scored it 120-108 for Thurman, who in the process also won the WBO Inter-Continental welterweight title. This fight was also a WBO Welterweight Title Eliminator. It was the first time Thurman fought in a scheduled 12-round bout and his first time to go beyond the eighth round.

Thurman vs. Chaves

On July 7, 2013 Keith Thurman won the Interim WBA Welterweight title at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas by knocking out Diego Gabriel Chaves (22-0, 18 KOs) in the 10th round of a very competitive fight. At the time of the knockout, Thurman led on all three cards: 87-83, 87-83, 86-84 thanks in part to a knockdown in round 9 which was the beginning of the end for Chaves. Thurman had been landing extremely strong body shots the entire fight and finally dropped Chaves with one of the same. The end for Chaves came after another hook to the body and a huge overhand right to the forehead. Thurman was never in trouble but absorbed some strong body work as well from Chavez. They traded close rounds early until Chavez really slowed around the 7th, opening the door for Thurman's left hook.

Thurman vs. Soto Karass

On December 14, 2013 Thurman had his first defense of his Interim WBA title against the battle tested Jesus Soto Karass (28-8-3, 18 KOs). Soto Karass was coming off a stunning knockout victory over former champion Andre Berto and was a difficult opponent. After a slow start Thurman took over the fight in the middle rounds as he floored Soto Karass in the fifth round before landing a brutal combination in the ninth round sending Soto Karass to the canvas for a second time in the fight and stopping him. Thurman was ahead on all the cards (79-72, 78-73 & 80-71) and turned another strong performance.

Thurman vs. Diaz, Bundu

On April 26, 2014 Thurman defeated veteran Mexican Julio Diaz (40-9-1, 29 KOs) at the StubHub Center in Carson, California to retain his Interim WBA World title. Diaz was knocked down in round 2 and did not return from his corner for round 4. Thurman received a $600,000 purse.

Thurman next defended the title on the undercard of Khan vs. Alexander on December 13 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas against 40 year old undefeated Italian Leonard Bundu (31-0-2, 11 KOs). Thurman was taken the distance for only the third time in professional career as he won a clear decision (120-107, 3 times). Bundu was knocked down once in the opening round.

WBA welterweight champion

On January 28, 2015 his Interim was elevated to the full WBA Welterweight championship.

Thurman vs. Guerrero

Thurman fought 31 year old American former world champion Robert Guerrero (32-2-1, 18 KOs) on March 7, 2015 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Thurman started the fight off aggressively and dominated early on. During the bout there was some exciting exchanges between Guerrero and Thurman, although Thurman won most of those exchanges and able to outbox Guerrero rather easily for most of the fight. There was an accidental head-butt left Thurman with swelling on the left side of his forehead in round 3, but that did not hamper Thurman's aggressiveness. He knocked Guerrero down in the 9th round before going on to win a (120-107, 118-109 and 118-108) unanimous decision in a rather one-sided bout. Thurman received a purse of $1.5 million, whilst Guerrero $1.225 million received. According to CompuBox stats, Thurman connected on 211 of 598 punches (35 percent), and Guerrero landed 104 of 497 (21 percent).

Thurman vs. Collazo

The undefeated Thurman fought at the USF Sundome in Tampa, Florida, outside his hometown of Clearwater, on July 11, 2015, when he faced off against veteran slugger Luis Collazo (36-6, 19 KOs). Collazo badly hurt Thurman with a body shot in the fifth round but the fight ended after the 7th round due to an injury near the eye of Collazo, which blocked his vision. Thurman was declared the winner via TKO (69-64, 68-65, and 69-64). Thurman commented on fighting Floyd Mayweather after the bout saying, "I'm a young, strong champion, Floyd. Come get it, I'm undefeated like you, baby. Come take my 0 baby! Come take my 0! I'm ready. I'm ready." Collazo received a $500,000 purse compared to Thurman's $1.5 million. Thurman landed 119 of 348 punches (34 percent) while Collazo connected on just 76 of 244 (31 percent).

Thurman vs. Porter

It was announced on February 17, that Thurman would defend his title against Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) on March 12, 2016 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. On February 23, Thurman's promoter said he had been forced to postpone his upcoming fight with Porter after being injured in a car accident. Lou Di Bella has insisted the injury is not serious or career threatening, but admits the American was lucky to have escaped major injury. Thurman, following the advice of his doctors, was on the sidelines for approximately six weeks before resuming training. Porter announced that his rescheduled world title clash against Thurman will take place on June 25 at the Barclays Center. The World Boxing Association then ordered the winner of the Thurman and Porter to face interim WBA welterweight champion David Avanesyan (22-1-1, 11 KOs), who beat #3 WBA Shane Mosley (49-10-1, 41 KOs) on May 28.

In an old-fashioned fight of the year candidate, Thurman successfully defended his title, before a crowd of 12,718, when all three judges scored an identical 115-113 in his favor. Thurman rocked Porter badly on multiple occasions in the fight, he was also hurt himself by a body shot in the eighth round. Thurman earned a $1.4 million purse. This was the first main event televised by CBS in prime time since February 15, 1978, when Muhammad Ali lost a 15-round split decision and the heavyweight title to Leon Spinks in a massive upset. Thurman landed 235 of 539 punches (44 percent) and Porter landed 236 of 662 (36 percent). After the fight, there was immediate talks of a rematch. The fight averaged 3.1 million viewers, according to ESPN. The card itself averaged 2.4 million viewers. The live gate was over $1.1 million in ticket sales, the highest gate in the history of Barclays Center to date, it was also the second highest attendance in the history of Barclays Center, with over 12,000 paying customers in attendance. Premier Boxing Champions voted the bout as their 'Fight of the Year'.

On July 15, WBA announced Thurman would have a mandatory defence against interim WBA champion David Avanesyan (22-1-1, 11 KOs). Both camps had until August 13 to negotiate the fight or the WBA will order a purse bid. Due to negotiations breaking down, the WBA elevated Avanesyan to 'regular' champion and Thurman was named as the WBA's 'super' champion.

Thurman vs. Garcia

On October 25, 2016, Showtime announced several fights to take place towards the end of 2016 and early 2017. One of them was the much anticipated welterweight unification fight between Thurman and fellow undefeated welterweight champion Danny Garcia (33-0, 19 KOs), who holds the WBC title. Garcia defeated journeyman Samuel Vargas in a tune-up fight on November 12, which officially set up the fight for March 4, 2017, at the Barclays Center in New York City. Unlike Garcia, Thurman chose not to have any tune-up and would fight Garcia after a long 9 month rest. Thurman was ringside at Garcia vs. Vargas and entered the ring after the bout was over. In an interview, he stated, “You have two big punchers meeting on March 4, I don’t see how the fight can go 12 rounds. I see myself as the best competition that Danny has ever faced." Garcia replied by simply telling Thurman, he was next. At a press conference on January 18, 2017 the fight was officially announced and it was said that it would be shown live on CBS. The conference got extremely heated, leading to Angel Garcia standing up and shouting racial slurs towards Thurman.

Thurman won the match via split decision with the scorecards 116-112, 113-115 & 115-113, making him the unified welterweight world champion. Thurman started off as the aggressor hitting and moving back to avoid Garcia's counter hooks. This was the case for the majority of the fight. Garcia began coming forward through the middle rounds and push Thurman on the back foot. Thurman backed off the championship rounds believing he had a comfortable enough lead to win the fight. MC Jimmy Lennon Jr. gave Garcia false hope that he had won the fight when he announced WBA before WBC, making Garcia believed he had won. In the post fight, Thurman credited his defensive work, "I was not giving the fight away. I felt like we had a nice lead, [and] we could cool down. I felt like we were controlling the three-minute intervals every round. My defense was effective. He wasn't landing." Compubox stats showed Thurman landed 147 of 570 punches thrown, a percentage of 26% and Garcia landed 130 punches of his 434 thrown (30%). It was also reported that both fighters received a purse of $2 million a piece. The fight was attended by a boxing record of 16,533 at the Barclays Center.

According to The Ring, the fight peaked at 5.1 million viewers, which was at the last three rounds. The fight averaged 3.74 million viewers. This was the first time since 1998 that a Saturday primetime boxing telecast drew that kind of audience. The entire card drew an average 3.1 million viewers.

On May 19, it was reported that Thurman would be out of action for at least six months following surgery on his right elbow. Thurman said he would get back into training after four months.