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By: Hans Themistode
Time simply hasn’t been on the side of Keith Thurman.
At one point, the former unified welterweight champion enjoyed the views from the top of the 147 pound mountain. Following back-to-back victories over both Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia in 2016 and 2017, the Clearwater Florida, native reigned supreme as the division’s only unified titlist. Since those career-defining victories, however, Thurman’s career has slowly but surely passed him by.
Thurman’s win over Garcia came with a devastating price as he was forced to spend roughly two years on the sidelines nursing various injuries. In his return to action, Thurman picked up a hard-fought victory over Josesito Lopez before losing a split decision to Manny Pacquiao in July of 2019.
With the former hard-hitting star returning to the sidelines immediately after, due to a combination of injuries and a positive COVID-19 test result, Thurman is set to re-enter the ring on February 5th, against Mario Barrios.
Although Thurman has been largely inactive for the better part of five years, with the light at the end of his boxing tunnel rapidly approaching, he’s hoping to put an end to that.
“At this point, we really just have to be active to the end,” said Thurman during an interview with Fight Hub TV. “We missed a lot of time and we acknowledged that.”
Over the past few years, Thurman has sat back and watched as the welterweight division has rapidly changed forms. No longer is Garcia a viable threat to the upper echelon of the division and both Porter and Pacquiao have long since retired.
While the road back to gold appears to be an arduous one for the former titlist, he appears undaunted by what lies ahead. More importantly, despite falling down the welterweight ladder, Thurman is fully convinced that his ultimate goal, is only a few wins away.
“We’re still in a great position,” continued Thurman. “My whole goal is to get a title back, reunify and become undisputed. I want to make it happen, enough time has gone by. All we have to do is brush off the dust, present ourselves to the world of boxing again and then get everybody excited of what Keith Thurman has to offer when it comes to challenging Errol Spence, Terence Crawford, and Ugas.”
