Thurman once rejected Roach?
LAS VEGAS – There’s a story going around that when Keith Thurman’s original trainer Ben Getty passed away in 2009, he had a chance to hook up with Freddie Roach but decided to work with Dan Birmingham instead.
Birmingham, 68, has known Thurman since he was an amateur training with Getty whose most celebrated protégé was Sugar Ray Leonard. He was once a boxer himself, starting at 15, and is known for guiding the careers of former world champions Winky Wright and Chad Dawson, both southpaws.
Tomorrow night (Sunday morning, Manila time), Thurman will go up against a southpaw whose corner team will include Roach. Manny Pacquiao will be the man across the ring and Thurman said recently he’ll retire the Filipino like the fighting senator sent Oscar de la Hoya to pasture in 2008.
Thurman, 30, likes to talk trash. Pacquiao said he isn’t bothered and shrugged his shoulders when asked his reaction to Thurman’s boasts. “He’s very good at talking,” said Pacquiao. Thurman also said he’ll turn Pacquiao into a fulltime senator and crucify him in their bout. Pacquiao’s mother Dionisia wants her son to teach Thurman a lesson in the ring. Only a few years ago, Mommy D begged Pacquiao to retire. Now, she’s begging him to shut Thurman’s trap.
Conveniently, Thurman said the fighter whom he learned a lot from was a southpaw. “I was Winky’s sparring partner when I was 16,” he said. “We never sat down and talked about footwork or this and that. But he taught me so many things in the ring. He let me be there with him, in his training camp at 16.” Wright was a former IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO superwelterweight titlist and a lefty like Pacquiao.
Throughout his boxing career, Thurman has disposed of several lefthanders like Luis Collazo, Robert Guerrero, Carlos Quintana, Marcus Luck and Carlos Peña. Southpaws never bothered him, maybe because Wright was his most influential teacher. Collazo, however, exposed a chink in Thurman’s armor when they fought in 2015. Thurman was hurt by Collazo with a shot to the body in the fifth round. When Thurman battled Danny Garcia and won by a split decision in 2017, he barely survived a body assault in the 10th round.
What sets Thurman apart from past Pacquiao opponents is his ring smarts. He’s not only a dangerous puncher but also a clever tactician. Thurman is expected to try to bait Pacquiao into precarious situations where the unbeaten American can throw his left hook and overhand right at a target standing in the pocket. If Pacquiao tires out and slows down, he’ll be easy prey for Thurman. The key for Pacquiao is to out-speed Thurman who isn’t really known for his quickness. If Pacquiao dazzles Thurman with his hand and foot-speed, the American will be spinning like a top.
Beyond boxing, Thurman styles himself as a Renaissance man of sorts, a “Christian-Buddhist.” In his early 20s, Thurman became interested in world religions. “Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity – I admire wise men,” he said, quoted by writer Sam Laird in mashable. com. “Some of my favorite forms of history are religious history, what the sages say from the top of the mountain and how they view life. I believe in the spirit of God because I believe in the spirit of man. Once you fill yourself with love, then you will have love to give to the rest of the world.”
Thurman’s recent rants, however, aren’t reflective of his philosophy. Like Pacquiao, he’s musicallyinclined. Thurman plays the wooden Native American flute, guitar and piano. His wife Priyana Thapa is from Nepal and they met in Tokyo when he was on vacation in 2016. She worked for her father in a bar called Vibration in the Roponggi district. Thurman, whose father is African-American and mother is PolishHungarian, was only six years old when Pacquiao turned pro in 1995. When Thurman turned pro, Pacquiao was already a two-division world champion.
As an amateur, Thurman posted 76 KOs in 101 wins. As a pro, he’s never lost and suffered only one knockdown, a first round drop before stopping Quandray Robertson in Los Angeles in 2010. Against Josesito Lopez last January, Thurman never went down but the three judges scored the seventh round 10-8 for his opponent because he was nearly out on his feet. If Thurman fights Pacquiao like he did against Lopez, he could be in for his first loss.
At stake in the fight is the WBA welterweight unified championship. At the moment, Thurman is the “super” WBA titlist, a recognition given by the governing body to honor his eight successful defenses, including three of the “interim” variety. A champion who holds a belt of another body or has compiled at least five successful defenses is bestowed “super” status. Pacquiao is the “regular” WBA champion who ascended the throne vacated by Thurman when he was promoted to the “super” category. Believe it or not, the WBA has another championship class – the “gold” edition. It’s no secret that the WBA likes to honor as many world champions as imaginably possible because the more title fights, the more sanction fees it earns.
In boxing’s 17 weight divisions, the WBA recognizes nine “super,” 12 “regular,” eight “gold” and two WBA-IBF unified champions. There are five vacant “regular” championships and one titlist “in recess.” Obviously, the WBA lives by the motto “the more, the merrier.” Unfortunately, quantity compromises quality and the integrity of the sport is severely endangered by greed.