Theophane: I Was Offered Thurman Fight, Had to Decline

by David P. Greisman

Ashley Theophane was offered a fight with Keith Thurman as a late replacement for July 21 but had to turn down the bout, the junior welterweight wrote on Twitter on Monday morning.

“Currently weighing 159 lbs, so I can’t make 147 lbs within 2 weeks,” Theophane wrote.

Thurman, an undefeated welterweight/junior-middleweight prospect, was supposed to make his HBO debut against Marcos Maidana on the July 21 broadcast underneath the Adrien Broner-Vicente Escobedo main event.

But Maidana decided not to face Thurman; his manager, Sebastian Contursi, told BoxingScene.com’s Luis Sandoval that they would have preferred a different opponent for Maidana’s first fight since losing in February to Devon Alexander.

“We want a tune-up. Is that a tune-up?” Contursi said of Thurman. “All big fighters take tune-ups, and when they do tune-ups, do they do them against a 17-0 opponent with 16 knockouts and [who is] a [junior middleweight]?”

Theophane, meanwhile, is himself coming off a defeat, a unanimous decision loss in May to Darren Hamilton.

The 31-year-old from the United Kingdom, 31-5-1 with 9 knockouts, is still looking toward his next opportunity.

“Big fights in America are just round the corner,” he wrote.

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter @fightingwords2 or send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com