Keith "One-Time" Thurman is getting the biggest opportunity of his career against Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero on March 7 as a co-feature of the first Premier Boxing Champions fight card on NBC. Guerrero will be the highest-rated opponent of Thurman's career, and he expects The Ghost to be in prime form.
"We've watched more than just the Andre Berto fight now and [Guerrero]'s an active fighter. He's an active fighter. He will fight you on the inside. He'll try to hit you with his power punches from the outside. He's truly a fighter," Thurman said.
"He wants to fight and if you're holding him or he's holding you, that doesn't mean that he's going to stop fighting. He will keep fighting every second of the fight. He's well-conditioned from what I've seen. He's saying that he's going to be prepared. I believe the man. We're at the world-class level. Every fighter at this stage should be prepared."
Thurman is a rising star with tremendous knockout power who has been busy calling out the entire Top 10 in the welterweight division, including Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mayweather's uncle Jeff, however, shrugged off Thurman as merely average.
"I think he's [Thurman] average. He can punch a little bit, but he hasn't fought anybody," Jeff Mayweather said. "The barking and woofing don't mean nothing. Beat a real fighter. Beat [Robert] Guerrero and then you've beat a fighter that's done something."
Thurman was less impressive than usual in some people's eyes the last time he fought. He shut out Leonard Bundu and knocked him down in the first round, but failing to finish a 40-year-old opponent, even if he's unbeaten, raises eyebrows.
Guerrero thinks that although Thurman is naturally larger than him, he's been in the ring with greater opposition and is far more seasoned.
"The last guy that [Thurman] fought [Bundu]...That guy was the slowest guy on his feet ever. Mayweather is fast. I've been in there with him. He is fast on his feet and with his hands. That guy was no comparison at all," Guerrero said.
[Ring]
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