Frank Warren on Thurman vs. Garcia, Welterweight Landscape

By Frank Warren

Boxing fans who keep an eye on events beyond these shores will be fully aware that the genuine marquee fight this weekend takes place some 3,500-odd miles away from Greenwich.

The Barclays Center in New York plays host to a coming together of welterweight champions, with Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman putting their world championship belts and unbeaten records on the line to establish who is the current king of the 147-pounders.

Of course, some would dispute such a label being attached to the winner, bearing in mind that Kell Brook is scheduled for a tasty mandatory defence of his IBF title against the world champ in waiting Errol Spence jnr, while Manny Pacquiao is hoping to get it on with Amir Khan for his WBO strap.

The truth of the matter is that Brook has only engaged in one genuine world level contest at welterweight – when he won his belt against Shawn Porter back in 2014 – and Pacquiao, let’s be honest, has seen better days, as fine a champion as he is.

Garcia and Thurman, both 28, are both now in or reaching their pomp and between them have an unblemished record spanning 60 fights.

Neither of them have padded out their recent resumes with soft touches, although the CV of Garcia is the stronger of the two, albeit with many of his conquests having been at light welterweight.

You know you have got a top fight on your hands when nobody, outside of the respective camps, is making any bold predictions. No-one is confidently calling the winner, although the bookies seem to be slightly favouring Thurman.

Showcasing 50-50 fights, the best taking on the best, is what we aim to do on BoxNation and I am delighted we are able to bring this blockbuster to the UK fans, live and exclusive on the Channel of Champions.

I thought to myself the other day that this fight should be compulsory viewing for our own Bradley Skeete, so he can see the level he needs to get to in order to make his own assault on the top end of the welterweight division.

Someone must have read my mind because I then heard that Bradley is being drafted in by BoxNation for analyst duties on the night.

It will be interesting to hear his take on a fight that I suspect will remain too close to call even as the final bell is looming.

I’m not particularly a betting man myself, but if I was to be putting down a friendly fiver with someone, my pick would be Garcia.

Coverage on BoxNation begins from New York at 2am on Sunday morning

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