Keith Thurman open to Manny Pacquiao rematch
Former WBA welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (29-1, 22ko) is looking to get back into the mix and wouldn’t mind returning to the ring in a rematch against Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39ko).
The former WBA champion had an abysmal 2019 after suffering his first career defeat to the “Pac Man”. Shortly following that was “One Time” being sidelined with yet another injury. This time it was his hand.
The fighter from Florida has been completely absent in 2020. This is mainly due to injury and the current COVID-19 pandemic that has sidelined everything. However, Pep Talk UK was able to catch up with the former champion and during the interview, he was open to a rematch with WBA “super” champion, as well as looking to fight any of the top guys in the division.
“I would love that. My mind mentally would love a rematch. I never had a rematch, it’s a worthy rematch, I think it’s a deserving rematch. It’s an epic fight.”
“But really, it’s whatever doors will open. We’re not getting a whole lot of talk. It’s difficult, it’s not easy for people to commit. A lot of networks don’t have a whole lot of dates. At the end of the day, it’s really going to be what doors open, what kind of opportunities am I going to be handed.”
“I’m a performer, I’m an athlete. If I have to fight Shawn Porter, Mikey Garcia, Danny Garcia… I would be surprised if Errol Spence pops on the table right away… It’s hard for anybody to actually show me a real opportunity and then watch me say no.”
ON LOSING TO MANNY PACQUIAO
Then while analyzing his first career defeat, Thurman gave the most honest answer as to why he lost that fight. And no, it wasn’t because of the knockdown in the first round.
“The fight wasn’t lost in that first round. The fight was lost somewhere around the tenth and it was on my behalf. There was a moment I pretty much saw the fight kind of as a draw and I believe it was in that moment, where I accepted the draw with two rounds to go, that’s where I lost the fight.”
Thurman would elaborate on this even further.
“I believe that if I would have pushed, maybe convinced myself that I needed a knockdown or something else, that even if I fall short of it, maybe the performance of that would have lead to the draw over me accepting the draw with two rounds to go, and then leading to a one-point decision in his favor.”
It seems Keith Thurman has learned from that mistake and knowing this, he feels that a rematch would yield a different outcome.
By: Garrisson Bland
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