On Saturday, the undefeated WBA (Super) welterweight champion, Keith Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) passed a difficult test against the WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia to become the unified champion.
In the division’s history, it was only the 3rd time two undefeated boxers faced each other, while this was only the 10th unification fight in history of the division.
It was one of those tactical fights, where boxers were too cautious for fans liking. Even though, the fight kicked off with full of vigor, “One Time” came out aggressively in order to dominate, but was countered quite effectively by Garcia’s left hook.
After few rounds, Thurman changed his approach and became more defensive that when the fight got real boring. Thurman allowed his opponent to come forward and as a result found several opportunities to counter. He doubled up on his jabs, while connecting some powerful uppercuts in round 9.
Two Judges scored the fight 2-1, (116-112 and 115-113) in favor of Thurman, while third judge had it (115-113) in favor of “Swift”.
After the fight Thurman said: “I thought I outboxed him, I thought it was a clear victory, but Danny came to fight. I knew when it was split and I had that widespread [score], I knew it had to go to me. This was the first time I fought a real undefeated fighter and I demonstrated my skills tonight. I made my team proud. This was the first time I fought a real undefeated fighter and I demonstrated my skills tonight. I made my team proud.”
Garcia said: “I came up short tonight, I thought I was the aggressor. I thought I pushed the pace. But it didn’t go my way. It was a tough fight, I thought I came back strong. I thought I won the fight. It was close, but I thought I did enough to win. It is what it is. I can’t cry over anything, I’ll come back strong like a true champion. I would love to have a rematch to get my titles back.”
CompuBox statistics proved Thurman landed slightly more punches and power shots (147 of 570 total punches, 102 of 275 power shots) as compared to Garcia’s (130 of 434 total punches, 89 of 222 power shots).
What next for “One Time”?
In the post-fight press conference, when Thurman was asked who he would like to face next, the 28-year-old responded he would be like to fight Garcia again, and completely side stepped another question of whether he would like to face the winner of Kell Brook- Errol Spence in order to add IBF welterweight championship to his list of titles.
As far as boxing fans are concerned they would like to see the unification fights, and there will be no point of a Garcia rematch.