Keith “no smoke” Thurman says...

[Kirkland Laing]

Spence is his worst nightmare. He'd be facing nonstop bodyshots for twelve rounds or as long as it lasted. No way Thurman keeps Spence off himself for twelve rounds.

[Master]

Thurman is getting a lot of undue hate here. Thurman has fought and beat the best. As many of you have said he is no Sugar Ray which makes his victories even more impressive. These victories were hard won and no easy feat.

You all want him to take on Spence, Crawford and others in 2018 after injury?

Give the man a chance.

[Hulk]

Thurman is getting a lot of undue hate here. Thurman has fought and beat the best. As many of you have said he is no Sugar Ray which makes his victories even more impressive. These victories were hard won and no easy feat. You all want him to take on Spence, Crawford and others in 2018 after injury? Give the man a chance.

Well said. He’s done nothing wrong as of yet.

[Primo Carnera]

Thurman is getting a lot of undue hate here. Thurman has fought and beat the best. As many of you have said he is no Sugar Ray which makes his victories even more impressive. These victories were hard won and no easy feat. You all want him to take on Spence, Crawford and others in 2018 after injury? Give the man a chance.

Well said. He’s done nothing wrong as of yet.

Dunno about that. Until about 3 years ago, he was going through guy's like a dose of salts. But like many, as he's gone up in class, he's looking less invincible.
And he's typical of modern day boxers, it's called the "Floyd effect."
They have a bit of success, and all of a sudden, they fight less, want more dough and talk like they're still causing carnage! They think "well Floyd made $200 mill , so I'm worth more than I'm getting.
To get in those positions, you have to KEEP beating top guys, KEEP fighting and KEEP winning.
Less talk, more do!

[Spicoli]

Garcia, he beat Garcia . Anyone boasting to be best 147 should at least be able-willing to face same. He sounds all about self preservation and long game which you can understand. For all the gimmicky one liners Thurman is no dummy but if he thinks Spence or Crawford will be waiting on his 'star' or letter from his Doctor before they shift the division he's assuming way to much.

[Kirkland Laing]

Garcia, he beat Garcia . Anyone boasting to be best 147 should at least be able-willing to face same. He sounds all about self preservation and long game which you can understand. For all the gimmicky one liners Thurman is no dummy but if he thinks Spence or Crawford will be waiting on his 'star' or letter from his Doctor before they shift the division he's assuming way to much.

Garcia is in the same boat as Thurman. Now that they've won a belt and made a name for themselves they want massive money for easy fights.

[Ron Swanson]

Thurman is getting a lot of undue hate here. Thurman has fought and beat the best. As many of you have said he is no Sugar Ray which makes his victories even more impressive. These victories were hard won and no easy feat.

You all want him to take on Spence, Crawford and others in 2018 after injury?

Give the man a chance.

First, he wasn’t injured, he had an elective surgery. He had a condition yes, an injury no. That’s why he fought with said condition for years, at least until he changed his story about what the surgery was for and when it happened.

Dude said what neededto be done for Spence to get a fight, Spence did it. The week Spence would do so he chose to have surgery delaying another year already and he has projected another year on top of that. Listen to the words, not in 2018, maybe 2019. Not even “I’ll fight him in 2019”. 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 4 years he’s had reasons. Now he adds 2018 before it even comes. That’s 5 years he has denied Spence.

I know you like the guy, but 5 years of reasons why not to fight is absurd. Nobody cares at all about the 2 fights he says he will have in 2018. Nobody wants to see a tuneup, nobody wants to see any Porter fight.(who has his own list of excuses not to fight Spence)

The division is pathetic, taking the cue from the guy supposedly on top Keith No Smoke Thurman. The real top guy would stop No Smoke and he knows it.

[powerpuncher]

When is Thurman supposed to be cleared to fight? It seems like it has been a long time since his surgery

[Alpha]

Thurman should be trying to target a Spence fight for year end.

[mikeeod]

Thurman is getting a lot of undue hate here. Thurman has fought and beat the best. As many of you have said he is no Sugar Ray which makes his victories even more impressive. These victories were hard won and no easy feat.

You all want him to take on Spence, Crawford and others in 2018 after injury?

Give the man a chance.

I don't think the issue is that Keith isn't fighting those guys in his first, or even second fight back from injury. To me the issue is that he always talks about those guys needing to prove themselves as worthy/ready to fight him. If Keith was to say he would fight Spence in December 2018 after taking a couple of warm up fights, many would stop the "hate"/complaining.

In my opinion Keith is creating the perception that he is avoiding top competition by consistently talking about which top fighters need to fight other fighters and never staring who he wants his next big fight to be against. As for Keith fighting the best, I have to disagree with you there. Porter was a good, but razor thin, win. Danny Garcia was undefeated and a fellow Titlist, but he was lucky to be both and about as flawed as you could hope for. I feel that the Brook that Spence beat was better than either of those two, and Crawford beat much better competition, just at lighter weights.

[Spicoli]

Talks of Jessie Vargas in March. Not a total travesty but I'll bet a Christmas ham that he doesn't meet Spence jr in 2018 or soon there after.

[Primo Carnera]

The thing is, he'll only harm himself. If he doesn't fight Spence till 2018 or later, or even look to fight him, he'll miss the boat. Spence will fight Crawford by then and everybody will see that as the fight to see who's no.1 in the division. All Thurman would be seen as is a belt holder rather than a Champion.
Consequently he won't make the big dough, and then he'll start moaning.

[Spicoli]

The thing is, he'll only harm himself. If he doesn't fight Spence till 2018 or later, or even look to fight him, he'll miss the boat. Spence will fight Crawford by then and everybody will see that as the fight to see who's no.1 in the division. All Thurman would be seen as is a belt holder rather than a Champion.
Consequently he won't make the big dough, and then he'll start moaning.

Totally agree, he is running the risk of letting it pass him by. Injury or not why go out and literally dismiss and excuse away fights that will come to define the division? Talk up a Porter rematch? Maybe he's setting the bar low with something in mind but doesn't feel that way. Haymon pulls in Vargas as he does with many fighters he signs strictly to use as 'opponents', and will keep Thurman churning it out 'in house' as Crawford and Spence jr are already at the top of many must-see future scraps.

[powerpuncher]

I think the same thing. Thurman will simply lose his spot and will eventually have no leverage. There would be absolutely no excuse for not fighting Spence (or Crawford since he is moving up) his next fight after Vargas but I would be shocked if he does.