Keith "One-Time" Thurman, the man who headlined the first-ever Premier Boxing Champions telecast on NBC, is making another PBC premier. Thurman will take on Luis Collazo in the first installment of the PBC on ESPN, which is replacing ESPN's long-standing "Friday Night Fights"series.
"Boxing is opening back up to the people, and it's been a dream of mine to be a true champion, and there's no better form of that than being the people's champion," Thurman said of gaining popularity with the exposure PBC offers on major network and cable television.
"[The PBC] is opening up doors that will give the world-class fighters the exposure that they need. I want to be the American people's champion."
Thurman did not disappoint in the first-ever PBC main even, going a full 12 rounds vs. Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero in an entertaining scrap that he mostly dominated. Thurman is known for his knockout power, but against Guerrero he notched his second straight unanimous decision. Guerrero had success in spots, and by pitting him vs. Collazo, ESPN will be hoping for a similar affair.
Collazo is a New York-born brawler whose biggest win was a shocking upset of Victor Ortiz at the Barclays Center in 2014. He rode that momentum into a one-sided loss to Amir Khan, then defeated little-known Christopher Degollado in April.
Collazo is 36-6-0 with 19 knockouts. Several of his six losses have come against name fighters such as Ricky Hatton, Shane Mosley, Khan and Andre Berto. Against Collazo, it's likely Thurman will look impressive and he will surely gun for a knockout. He possesses tremendous punching power, but has gone two straight fights without stopping his opponent.
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