By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Errol Spence Jr. doesn’t expect to face Keith Thurman in his next fight.
That’s only because Spence wants to return to the ring much sooner than Thurman can compete again because he had surgery six weeks ago to remove calcium deposits from his right elbow. Spence sees no reason, however, why Thurman would need a tune-up fight once he’s healed.
The newly crowned IBF welterweight champion hopes Thurman will face him in Thurman’s first fight back from surgery.
“I don’t know,” Spence said Thursday during an informal luncheon with reporters in Manhattan. “We’ll see. Only time will tell. I fought Kell Brook off a nine-month layoff, so I don’t see why he can’t fight me. But we’ll see.”
The 27-year-old Spence expects to make his first title defense sometime in the fall against an undetermined opponent. Assuming he is successful and doesn’t suffer an injury, Spence (22-0, 19 KOs) hopes a fully healthy Thurman will await him in his following fight.
The powerful southpaw from DeSoto, Texas, also wouldn’t mind meeting Manny Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 KOs) in a 147-pound championship unification fight.
Spence isn’t sure that fight will ever become a realistic possibility. Besides, Spence considers a bout between him and Thurman more meaningful because they’re both undefeated champions in the respective primes of their careers.
“My thoughts on Keith are he’s doing his thing right now,” Spence said. “He’s hot. He just beat Shawn Porter, he beat Danny Garcia. That’s a nice win streak, Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia. So I take my hat off to him. But that’s the fight that I want and I feel like that’s the only fight that needs to be made at 147. So hopefully we can make that happen sooner than later, when he gets better and all healed up.”
The 28-year-old Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs, 1 NC), of Clearwater, Florida, added the WBC welterweight title to his WBA championship when he defeated Philadelphia’s Danny Garcia (33-1, 19 KOs) by split decision in their title unification fight March 4 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Thurman announced May 19 that he had elbow surgery April 19 at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan and would need six months to recover.
Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza hasn’t spoken to Thurman since Spence stopped hometown hero Kell Brook (36-2, 25 KOs) in the 11th round Saturday night in Sheffield, England. But a message from Thurman was relayed to Espinoza that made him confident Spence-Thurman is a fight we’ll see sooner rather than later.
“[Showtime’s] Brian Custer texted [Thurman],” said Espinoza, Showtime Sports’ executive vice president and general manager. “He said, ‘You know Keith. Keith is not shy. He said, let’s clear up the elbow and let’s do it.’ I think that’s, for my money, the only other guy [besides Spence] who has an argument, in terms of [being] the No. 1 in the division. And that’s an argument. If you had to rank them, those are the two guys you’d put at No. 1.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.