While Adrien "The Problem" Broner faltered on his path to superstardom on Saturday by getting pounded against Marcos "El Chino" Maidana, a new fighter might be ready to step into Broner's spot-- Keith "One Time" Thurman.
Thurman has been a rising young champion, known for his prodigious knockout power, and for opponents shying away from fighting him. As the WBA interim welterweight champion, that will be harder for the rest of the division to do. Thurman impressively knocked out Jesus Soto Karass, a warrior who is difficult to stop, and is now eyeing some major fights.
"Last year, [against Quintana] I ended the year with a tremendous fourth-round stoppage," said Thurman. "Just like last year, for me, this is going to be the icing on the cake."
The ninth-round stoppage will be the major talking point, but Thurman's boxing exhibition is what should really worry prospective opponents. He mixed in fantastic footwork and good head movement with the devastating power shots.
"They get to see, once again, that people want to test my power, and with each knockdown, we prove that the power is legit, and it's legitimate power in the welterweight division, and, also, that my boxing ability is there. I have that ability to go in there and to figure out my opponent. So even though I'm just 25 years old, I think that the fans are seeing more and more that I'm a young and very mature fighter."
Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer did not want to speculate on what could be next for Thurman, since there are a plethora of good fighters populating the welterweight division. Most will pine for a Thurman-Maidana pairing, pitting power vs. power. Maidana, however, may be giving Broner a rematch.
Shawn Porter, a welterweight titlist as well who knocked off Devon Alexander on December 7th might be eyeing a shot at Maidana also. Perhaps Thurman and Porter could meet. It will be an interesting couple of months going forward, with crowd-pleasers sure to get made.
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