April 30, 2014
BehindTheGloves.com
LAS VEGAS–With stories like RingTV.com’s Tim Smith’s circulating that the power struggle is real between Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer at Golden Boy Promotions, the thought of the two splitting into separate stables has gotten heaps more realistic.
Many boxing insiders have mentioned that a large percentage of Al Haymon advised fighters don’t have anything on paper with Golden Boy stating that they are the sole promoter of those fighters. With that in mind, should Schaefer leave Golden Boy and align with Haymon, that leaves a much easier opportunity to grab a number of quality fighters who have been built on Golden Boy shows and promote them on their own.
BehindTheGloves.com caught up with interim WBA welterweight titlist Keith Thurman at Wednesday’s press conference for Floyd Mayweather against Marcos Maidana at the MGM Grand. Though Thurman discussed his impressive stoppage win last weekend over Julio Diaz, Thurman’s admission that he isn’t under contract with Golden Boy comes as the juiciest bit of news.
“I’m not with Golden Boy, I have no contract with Golden Boy,” said Thurman. “I’m a free agent.”
Thurman didn’t say that he had any conflict with Golden Boy and seemed happy with the way he has been moved even though he hasn’t exactly gotten the biggest fights available and it is an easy argument to make that he is due for one.
BTG then asked Thurman for his opinion about the idea of Haymon moving off and doing his own thing with his deep stable of fighters.
“He’s got all the fighters like you said,” said Thurman. “It is nice to talk about rumors but a rumor is a rumor and I don’t talk about anything until it happens.”
Thurman acknowledged that his loyalty is to Haymon.
Saturday night, Mayweather faces Marcos Maidana, whom people forget that Thurman was in line to face a few years ago when the 25-year old Thurman was still green and mostly unknown to casual fans of boxing.
When asked how different things would be if Thurman had gotten the Maidana fight (which Thurman said Maidana’s side turned down), Thurman had a few ideas.
“If that would’ve happened, that would’ve been my moment,” said Thurman. “This [event] is called ‘The Moment’, that would’ve been my moment. It would’ve been an opportunity to skyrocket my career, and at the same time in the same moment, he would’ve been put down so far because people didn’t know who Keith Thurman was at that time.”
Thurman made a good point in saying how strong of a victory it would have been perceived as.
“They would just think that Maidana is an Argentinian opponent,” continued Thurman. “Who knows how many phone calls he would’ve gotten from Golden Boy after that. If Maidana would’ve beat me in that moment were he to fight me, his career would’ve continued just like it did after he got his fight with [Jesus Soto] Karass and Josesito Lopez.”
“He may not have been given a whole lot of credit. He would’ve been moved forward and I would’ve moved back a little bit, but with my young age, I would be able to continuously fight my way into the rankings. It’s a fight that is nice to talk about, it is a fight that didn’t happen. Not happening, this moment is Floyd and him. Obviously, his team has done a great job to put him in this position.”
Thurman has scored a number of quality wins against solid fighters that don’t carry much name value. Argentina’s Diego Chaves would probably compete with a lot of fighters at 147 pounds if given another opportunity. Jan Zaveck was giving Andre Berto hell before his face ripped like tissue paper. But because he’s been kept away from the more recognizable names in the division, Thurman has needed to work harder in order to impress people and earn his way into the mix with the top names in the deep welterweight class.
“I am not an elementary boxer, I have already graduated. I am just waiting for them to initiate me and put me on the main stage,” said Thurman.
“There’s not a fight in the welterweight division that Keith Thurman is not actively trying to pursue,” continued Thurman. “Anybody in the top ten. Who is still around, does Paulie want to fight? These guys don’t want to fight. They want to fight everybody else. How did this card happen, Luis Collazo and Amir Khan. They don’t want to fight Keith Thurman. Luis called me out, then he takes another fight.”
Though Thurman would love to be in the big fights right now, he didn’t come off as overly agitated given that he’s still very young in the sport and has time on his side.
“It’s a big, big political game. These guys wish I wasn’t a welterweight, wish I didn’t exist in the world of boxing but I do. One day, these guys will answer. If it is this year, if is is next year, I’m 25 years old, I’m not worried about nothing but creating my fan base right now and bringing home the cheddar. I’m gonna get my time. Saturday night is their moment, my moment is in the future and it is coming soon.”
Saturday night, Mayweather, Maidana, Khan, and Collazo are getting their moments, and you can bet that Keith Thurman will be there as an interested spectator. His role seems destined to change pretty soon.
-Mark E. Ortega / @MarkEOrtega
-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com
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