Re: Are we being to harsh on Thurman?
No way. The thing about Thurman is we aren't talking about some kind invincible (so far) phenom who proved to be miles ahead of the competition. Porter put him through the mill in a close fight. An aging Guerrero also did better than a lot of people thought he would coming up in weight. Everyone was waiting for Garcia to be exposed after his gift decision in Puerto Rico and the fight against Peterson. I'm not saying Thurman didn't accomplish anything. He did against some decent fighters. Talking strictly win/loss, as fighters tend to do now a days, and it all seems so clear. Remember how the fights were fought and surrounding circumstances and that's where the big picture gets a little murky.
Thurman gets flak because its not like he was untouchable and then got in a horrific motorcycle accident or anything. He was winning and had an injury waited.. healed up...waited.. got married and now he's waiting.. When he was winning he was looking for a pacman that was past his expiration date not a Spence (who, if I'm being honest, is still climbing and shouldn't be ushered past everyone in line.) or a Crawford or other threats. Even now that he's out you don't get the sense hes working hard, improving, refining his game, etc. He just shows up every 3 weeks or so to give a lispy commentary of the state of the division or what have you... just stopping short of talking about himself in the third person.
Its a sign of the times though. Companies like PBC cant pay their fighters to fight 3 times a year unless they're throwaway fights against nobodies for no money. So the fighters are content to sit around for 9 months to a year in between fights and pop in on broadcasts to keep themselves in the public eye so when they actually fight more people come to see them rather than the few who just haven't forgotten them. PBC and RocNation tried to make this the norm. Pay fighters obscene amounts of money for calculated risk fights (preferably someone with a name but diminished skill that can be dominated for effect)every once in a while and then try to make these things huge events. Meanwhile the fighters of course are all to happy to take more money for less work and then retire 26-0 or 27-1 or something like that. They're not fighting on the regular or chasing undisputed glory and fighting for legacies. Once the only balance for corrupt promoters, crooked sanctioning bodies, and crooked judges....Most determined fighters have sold out for the check and realize they get paid the same win or lose and that staying undefeated is only good for inflating your pay check through star power (Thanks Floyd). So challenges have lost their appeal due to their affect on the fighters/ promoters bottom line. Arum is still playing the game old school having his fighters fight 3 times a year etc so hes blowing through his stock faster than the others. Golden boy seems to have caught on and is a hybrid. Canelo, the golden goose fights once a year and you fill in the rest with lower tier attractions fighting more often.
They want your @$$ beat because upsets make news. News brings about excitement, excitement brings about ratings. The objective is to bring you up to the tower and tear your @$$ down. And if you don't believe that, you're crazy.
Roy Jones, Jr. "What I've Learned," Esquire 2003
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Originally Posted by Alpha
I don't think we are, the thing is he is not even considering Spence for the end of this year. He gets a tune up; fine I think everyone grants him that. A unification will almost always trump a mando so there's no reason for Porter/ Garcia to get in the way of a Spence fight. If Thurman does fight Porter after the tune up I'll be backing Porter to win, the 1st fight was razor thin and there's no guarantee Thurman wins a return. It'll serve Keith right watching a huge payday disappear.
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