Boxing News: Keith Thurman Calls Out Welterweight Champions

Desperate to reclaim supremacy, Keith Thurman is hoping his next fight will be his ticket to world title contention next year.

After two-and-a-half years, Thurman is making his ring return against Texas native Mario Barrios this coming February.

Though it will be a non-title fight, “One Time” is clear about the essence of it—a title fight against Terence Crawford, Errol Spence Jr. or Yordenis Ugas.

Thurman is coming in banking on his performance against Barrios to be enough to convince the governing bodies of the welterweight division to hand him another crack at the belt.

The 33-year-old wants it sooner rather than later, preferably in the “summer” of next year.

“I cannot stop other people from putting fights together,” Thurman recently told FightHub TV via Boxing Scene. “But if Thurman could have it Thurman’s way, what it comes down to is getting back in the ring, putting on an exciting fight, showing people what it looks like to watch Keith Thurman in the ring after so many years, to remind the people who Keith Thurman is and what I bring to the welterweight division, and then from there, it’s [Yordenis] Ugas, [Errol] Spence or [Terence] Crawford.”

“I don’t have a belt right now, I want a belt back,” he added. “So, all three of those guys are legitimate for a fight this up and coming summer. I’m fighting the first quarter of 2022, I can take a fight by July.”

As things stand, a unification bout between Ugas and Spence is a fight that is likely to happen next year.

Though nothing is concrete yet, it is reportedly targeted to take place in spring, possibly sometime between March and April.

Crawford, on the other hand, had just extended his unbeaten welterweight record by scoring a 10th-round knockout victory over Shawn Porter in November.

He had already parted ways with his longtime promoter Bob Arum and is now officially a free agent.

With that in mind, it is yet to be known how “Bud” wants his next move to play out.

As for Thurman, he evidently needs more than just a win but a stunning performance against Barrios, having seen his value drop significantly after losing to boxing legend Manny Pacquiao in 2019.