Death.... taxes.... and Keith Thurman not fighting.
Yeah, I hate to be that guy (well, who am I kidding, of course I do) but did it really come as any surprise that he would not be across the ring from Tim Tszyu when he steps into the ring at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on March 30?
It was reported first by 'the Boxing Voice' on Monday morning that the Tsyzu-Thurman bout was in jeopardy as he was scheduled for an MRI for a ''potential bicep injury''. Alas, the news turned out to be true, and it was revealed that he was pulled from this assignment.
PBC
Now, there are some conspiracy theorists who believe that "One Time (he was an active boxer)'' was taken out for financial reasons, and replaced by Sebastian Fundora, who will come much cheaper in his place. OK, maybe that's a possibility, but I see no real concrete evidence of this. (And if you do, please, send it my way!!)
My view is that Thurman is now a dull blade. Too many years of inactivity has eroded not just his fighting spirit, but his body's ability to prepare for fights. Yeah, you could say that he couldn't handle the rigors of inactivity. Maybe he could get away with this during his younger days, but not at age 35.
To put this into perspective, it's been seven years since Thurman defeated Danny Garcia to become the unified welterweight champion. This was his apex as a fighter. And he proceeded to take off nearly two years for whatever reason after that momentous victory. He then faced Josesito Lopez in 2019. Then later that year he was paired with Manny Pacquiao, where he lost to 'the Pac Man'.
Premier Boxing Champions
Since that bout, he has fought once, scoring a victory over Mario Barrios in February of 2022. So basically he's had one victory in the last five years.
It says something that the Fundora match-up (a guy who has been off for nearly a year coming off a KO loss) is actually an upgrade for 'the Mexican Zoo'. And that's not a knock on this new main event which will kick off Prime Video's foray into boxing, 'the Towering Inferno' is a 6'6 southpaw, who doesn't hesitate to get into a fight. This is an intriguing bout that should be entertaining.
But back to Thurman, the wise Asian philosopher, Kimfucious says: "the blade either gets sharpened, or it gets dulled -- there is no in-between."
Like women, inactivity, can destroy a fighter.
Josh Taylor, who after reaching the pinnacle of the junior welterweight division, is in the same boat. In recent years he's had more cancellations and post-ponements than victories. Since his win over Jose Ramirez in 2021 for all the belts at 140, he has had one highly disputed victory over Jack Catterall in 2022, and then was defeated handily by Teofimo Lopez last year. Now, his rematch with Catterall has been pushed back a month with...you guessed it, a training injury.
Now it seems fighters themselves are starting to understand that these long stretches away from the ring, are inevitably hurting their performances inside of it.
As for Tszyu, it was paramount that he remain on this date. Time waits for no man, and a fighters prime physical years are precious. After performing just once in 2022 (as they waited in vain for Jermell Charlo), he fought three times last year, as his team decided not to sit and wait around for Charlo (who had been scheduled to face Tszyu at the beginning of '23 before pulling out of that bout). He came out last year with the WBO belt, and recognition as the sports best junior middleweight.
For Tszyu, activity mattered.
3KR
This situation, along with William Zepeda's latest emphatic victory, was a hot topic of discussion on the latest '3 Knockdown Rule' between Mario Lopez and I:
THE 3 KNOCKDOWN RULE EPISODE 38 | JUMBO CAMARON | TIM TSZYU |
And to subscribe to '3KR' on your preferred podcast platform, click the Linktree:
@3knockdownrule's link in bio | Latest Products and socials | Linktree
FINAL FLURRIES
With Fundora now facing Tszyu, Brian Mendoza steps in to clash with Serhii Bohachuk....This Saturday on the DAZN, Dalton Smith faces veteran Jose Zepeda from England....Top Rank has announced that welterweight contender, Giovanni Santillan, will return on May 18 in San Diego at the Pechanga Arena (again, not the casino), underneath Emanuel Navarette-Denys Baranchyk....Mike Coppinger of ESPN is reporting that the highly anticipated clash between 'Bam' Rodriguez and Juan Francisco Estrada is being finalized for June 29 in Glendale, AZ....No, I did not fill out any brackets for 'March Madness', men or women....I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com.....
