Isaac Lucero was willing to step in and fight Keith Thurman earlier this year.
The unbeaten junior middleweight was due to fight on the October 25 undercard topped at the time by Thurman’s challenge of WBC 154lbs titlist Sebastian Fundora. The show was canceled, however, when Fundora withdrew due to injury.
There was a point where Lucero – who was scheduled to face Roberto Valenzuela on the undercard, was prepared to level up to the main event on short notice.
“Here is an interesting tidbit for the fans, when Fundora got hurt and was out of the fight, we were ready to take the fight with [Thurman],” Bob Santos, Lucero’s head trainer, told BoxingScene. “From my understanding, I could be wrong, but Keith Thurman had no interest in doing the fight. Who knows? Maybe his management or coaches didn’t even allow him to know that was possibly on the table.”
Lucero and Valenzuela are still in each other’s sights. They will meet on Saturday, on the preliminary undercard preceding the PBC on Prime Video pay-per-view show from Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas. The show is headlined by the Isaac Cruz-Lamont Roach Jnr WBC interim 140lbs title fight.
Lucero, 17-0 (13 KOs), has fought just once so far in 2025. It came in an early knockout win over Omar Valenzuela on May 31 in Las Vegas, where the 27-year-old Mexican holds his training camps.
Even in offering to step up, Lucero wasn’t expected to land the assignment against Thurman. At this stage of his career, the former unified welterweight titlist is only interested in high profile fights.
Lucero isn’t there yet but his willingness to take on such a challenge on short notice speaks his confidence in his abilities.
“That tells you what our mindset is with him,” Santos said. “We feel he is ready to start taking the next step pretty soon.”
Valenzuela, 31-5 (29 KOs), enters the bout on a five-fight knockout streak. Valenzuela, a 26-year-old from Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico, last tasted defeat when current belt holder Xander Zayas knocked him out in September 2023. He holds earlier unanimous decision losses to titleholder Bakhram Murtazaliev, Souleymane Cissokho, and Alexis Rocha.
“I think he can handle himself with anybody,” Santos said. “If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t have accepted the Thurman fight.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
