by Carlos Boogs
Abel Sanchez, trainer of WBC/WBA/IBF/IBO middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin and several others, believes eight division champion Manny Pacquiao should fight WBA welterweight beltholder Keith 'One Time' Thurman (27-0, 22KOs).
Thurman has recently been calling for a fight with Pacquiao in the fall.
Pacquiao is returning on November 5th, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. He announced his retirement back in April after defeating Timothy Bradley over twelve rounds.
Among the possible opponents in the running for Pacquiao, Sanchez likes a fight with Jessie Vargas, he feels a fight with Danny Garcia is the best option, and he views Terence Crawford as a big threat to the Filipino superstar. But he also thinks Pacquiao should accept the challenge of Thurman.
"Jessie is a good fight. I don't think Jessie is there where he can hang with these guys yet. He can fight Thurman, and then maybe Thurman can prove that's he who people think he is. But the fight for me is Danny Garcia," Sanchez said.
Last month, Thurman won a very close twelve round decision over Shawn Porter at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The fight had a lot of action and many view it as a 'Fight of The Year' candidate. Despite that, Sanchez believes Thurman is missing that extra something that he used to show in earlier fights, that extra something that made people view him as the biggest threat at 147-pounds.
"I think Keith Thurman is talented, but he just doesn't seem to do the things that he needs to do. That moniker 'One Time' - in the beginning he was doing everything to hurt people. He just doesn't have the extra that Terrence showed [with Postol], that Errol Spence has shown," Sanchez said.