Keith Thurman Vows - "In 2015 I Promise More Action!"
By Ryan Burton
Shortly after his shut out victory over Leonard Bundu, interim WBA welterweight champion Keith "One Time" Thurman (24-0 21 KOs) sat down with BoxingScene.com to talk about his performance. While he pitched a shutout on the scorecards (120-107 by all three judges), the fans were frustrated by the lack of action that they are accustomed to seeing in a Thurman fight.
The 26-year-old Thurman admitted that he had a few problems figuring out the awkward Bundu who kept switching back and forth between orthodox and southpaw stances. He also said that he learned from the fight and will be better equipped to handle that style if a future opponent tries to use the same tactics.
"I rate it somewhere in the C range, man. For the most part it was a boxing clinic and that is what I wanted to do. He wasn't a big threat but he was very awkward in his movement and in his defense," said Thurman. "He knows how to protect himself. He couldn't be 40 years old and undefeated if he didn't understand the sport of boxing. After that knockdown in the first round he obviously didn't want that to occur again and it's tough to create knockouts against defensive fighters. I think there are few things I could have done differently like keep my hands up and step towards him and try to stay in the pocket more and land body shots but I was outboxing him and doing what worked."
Thurman, who prides himself on being a fan friendly fighter, said that he heard the boos and while he wanted to put on a more entertaining show, his priority was to leave the ring with his hand raised.
"I was winning. I was more accurate. I was frustrating the fans but I was frustrating him as well. The frustration of my opponent was more important than the frustration of the fans. There are plenty of fans who were still cheering and plenty of fans who still love me. That was (just) one performance in my career. In 2015 I guarantee you guys more action," Thurman told BoxingScene.com.
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