![]() The ingredients are all there for the upset, even if you can say that Thurman should win.Idle for a career-long 30 months due to injuries and happenstance, former unified welterweight champion Keith Thurman successfully returned his name among boxing's elite at 147 pounds on Saturday. Barrios has had 10 fights since the start of 2017. That seems like a really bad recipe for a fighter with just two fights in nearly 60 months. He's got good hand speed, will throw punches in bunches and will throw combinations, all with a gas tank that supports his ability to keep doing so until the fight is over. The one thing that is sticking out is that Barrios is going to bring the fight for every second he is in the ring. That is, Thurman has significant power for a welterweight is his history of elbow injuries hasn't somewhat cut into his ability to truly thump as hard as he once did. Barrios is younger and with a big reach advantage, but isn't necessarily the "bigger man" regardless of the measurables and he's coming off a fight where he was repeatedly knocked down by a fighter coming up from lightweight and Thurman has significant power for a welterweight. But this isn't peak Thurman and the last time he came off a long layoff, he showed every bit of rust against Josesito Lopez, a fighter picked for much the same reasons Barrios is being picked here. Were this peak Thurman of five years ago, it'd be easy to say he blasts out Barrios in a fun fight that doesn't reach the halfway point. There are so many different angles at play in this fight that it's hard to truly zero in on a clear favorite. So how am I going to be intimidated from someone who doesn't have validity in their statements because they are opinions?" So, if you don't know a lot of things, that means a lot of things coming out of your mouth is speculation. "At the end of the day, we all know, most people don't know f- about boxing and I know a lot of people don't know things about Keith Thurman. You can talk about surgeries and inactivity but when you have the heart of a warrior like me, it always beats, 'Fight game, fight game, fight game.' "I literally started boxing at the age of 7 and that's 26 years in the game. Nobody's words can deter me from being who I am. And that's likely what landed him here as the B-side of a pay-per-view card against a returning former champion. The guts shown by Barrios in the Davis fight and the willingness to go blow-for-blow with one of the sport's premier power punchers may have meant a loss to Davis was more valuable than a win in almost any other fight Barrios could have taken in that moment. I might have missed two years of my prime but luckily we are still in our prime." But hurdles are put there to jump over and overcome. These are things that manifested in my life and struggles that I faced. "Let me not be in the ring for two-and-a-half years. They are not something you put on your to-do list," Thurman told CBS Sports. "A lot of things that have happened, they are not ideal. Reckoning with his first career loss and more lingering physical issues, Thurman has not been in a professional fight since the loss to Pacquiao and has to answer the questions surrounding multiple long layoffs, ring rust and whether he still has it in him to be an elite fighter in one of the deepest divisions in the sport. Thurman faced off with the legendary Manny Pacquiao in a July 2019 showdown that saw the Filipino legend edge out the split decision victory. While the Spence fight didn't come together, Thurman did land the biggest fight of his career. Subscribe to Morning Kombat with Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell for the best analysis and in-depth news, including a look at the biggest storylines to follow for Thurman vs. was in Thurman's future.Ĭan't get enough boxing and MMA? Get the latest in the world of combat sports from two of the best in the business. Thurman finally returned to the ring in January 2019, fighting something of a tune-up against Josesito Lopez as talk of a showdown with IBF champion Errol Spence Jr. Then a planned January 2018 date never came together and a May 2018 date fell apart when Thurman suffered a "deep bruise" on his hand. First came a shoulder surgery in May 2017. Since the Garcia fight, Thurman has only found himself in the ring twice. The win over Garcia came one fight after a massive win over Shawn Porter, setting Thurman up as a true elite welterweight. Thurman (29-1, 22 KO) had established himself as one of the top names in a talent-loaded 147-pound division, grabbing the WBA championship before adding the WBC belt to his collection when he beat Danny Garcia in a March 2017 unification bout. ET, FOX PPV) when Keith Thurman and Mario Barrios meet in a big welterweight clash. That's the kind of fight set for Saturday night ( 9 p.m. ![]() The best fights are those in which two fighters with a compelling mix of styles meet, both with questions to be answered. ![]()
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