Don’t color Keith Thurman as impressed by undisputed welterweight champion Terence Crawford’s one-sided, ninth-round stoppage victory against Errol Spence Jr. in July. (photo by Ryan Hafey)
Hours after Crawford bashed Danny Garcia for believing a fight was still possible and Thurman for never giving him a crack at a welterweight crown, Thurman weighed in on the topic as well.
“My how the tables have turned. Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman will never and I mean never get a shot at the top dog and that’s me. Y’all hoe assess didn’t want any smoke when I wanted to fight, remember? Now y’all want to fight so bad – go keep fighting each other like before,” Crawford wrote on social media on Tuesday.
“It’s funny how all these fighters want to fight now but back then all they could say was I haven’t fought nobody. Now they begging looking for a check. Can’t make this up.
“All these fighters that were claiming to be their own bosses were hiding behind the term “call [PBC head] Al [Haymon]. Now they talking like they can fight whoever they want. Boy y’all some pawns, go sit down.”
“Y’all created a whole term ‘he on the wrong side of the street.’ When in boxing have you ever heard some sh!t like that till I moved up?”
After Crawford made his comments, Thurman responded in an interview with Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV, discrediting both Crawford’s win against Spence and former unified titlist Spence’s accomplishments along the way.
“[Crawford] didn’t beat up a real champion, kid. Everybody knows that if you put Thurman in the ring on that night, Thurman wipes that Spence, that Errol. He gets wiped by many people,” said Thurman.
“I don’t think that Errol Spence would beat Shawn Porter. God blessed you, kid. Everybody knows in boxing that it’s timing. There’s an old saying – one day you got it, the next day you don’t.
“A lot of people know – Thurman against that Spence, the same scenario.”
The former unified 147-pound titlist Thurman and Crawford have been linked for a potential fight on and off for the last half-decade, but the mostly inactive Thurman has fought just three times since March 2017.
“[Crawford and I] could have fought in October, but [Crawford] fought some nobody [David Avanesyan] … Are you king of the hill now? Yeah,” said Thurman.
“You put me in there with [Crawford] on that same night in Vegas [he fought Spence and] it’s not the same fight. Do what you want with your career. If you don’t want to fight me, fine. Spence never really wanted it. You don’t ever really want it, that’s fine.
“Do what you want to do with your career. Go after Canelo [Alvarez]. Make history, be big. Don’t fight Danny. Don’t fight Thurman. I’m still an active fighter. I still love looking for the best fights. It’s not my fault that you’re the best fight out there.
“Like I said, there was some political stuff when you were back with [Top Rank head] Bob [Arum]. You’re not with Bob no more. You fought PBC fighters, but you still haven’t seen the one that is just the dog.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.