By Steve Kim
It's been a little over a week since Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia met at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, New York.
After twelve rounds it was Thurman who was awarded a twelve round split decision to become the unified welterweight champion. Thurman is now the WBA and WBC belt-holder.
Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) is now hoping to get his hands on the other welterweight champions in the division.
Freddie Roach, who trains WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (59-5-2, 38 KOs), was an interested observer in the recent unification.
"Not the greatest fight I ever saw but I mean it was a little bit competitive," Roach told BoxingScene.com this past Saturday from the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood.
"I thought Thurman won the early rounds and then gave some of the late rounds to Garcia and it made it a pretty close fight. But overall I thought Thurman did win the fight. And you know it looks like maybe two future opponents for Manny Pacquiao.
So how would 'One Time' fare versus 'the Pac Man', who last fought on November 5th in Las Vegas by defeating Jessie Vargas for the WBO title.
Roach answered - ''Well, Thurman's a bigger boxer. At first he started out as a puncher and he went to more of his boxing technique and Manny's much faster and much better boxer than he is. I think it's an easy fight."
As for Garcia, who suffered his pro defeat, Roach stated it would be an even easier match-up.
"I always said that from day one, ever since he beat Amir Khan - 'please fight Manny Pacquiao.' Manny will out-box him. He will pitch a shutout," Roach said.
As for Pacquiao's next fight, everything is still up in the air. A planned fight in the Middle East with Amir Khan was recently squashed when the investors were unable to come up with the promised funds to stage that contest in the UAE.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.