By Edward Chaykovsky
WBA 'regular' welterweight champion Keith Thurman (25-0, 21KOs) is in training for his set return against Luis Collazo (36-6, 19KOs) on July 11th at the USF Sundome in Tampa, Florida. The fight will headline the first edition of Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN.
"This fight on July 11th on ESPN, it’s just beautiful, it’s another opportunity for me to showcase my skills and my talent to the world and I get to do it in my home town. My whole family is truly excited about this fight coming up. Collazo has a lot of experience, he’s been in with world champions, he’s faced a lot of tough guys and he’s talked about fighting me on several occasions, so I know he’s going to bring his A game. I’m looking forward to the fight," Thurman told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
Thurman realizes that a lot of fans are upset over the contest, but he says it's been very difficult to get opponents to face him and he intends to continue a high level of activity.
"There’s several reasons why Luis Collazo. The first reason is, he was an opponent that was willing to sign the contract to fight me on July 11th. I’m trying to stay active right now, it’s very important that I stay active for myself and my career at this point, that’s how me and my team feel," Thurman said.
"Currently in the welterweight division, there was just not a whole lot of matches that could be made. A lot of other matches got made early this summer, I’m just taking what was giving to me. I respect Luis Collazo, I know a lot of things about him. Even though he’s lost to a lot of the A class fighters, he’s never been stopped, he’s a worthy challenger. He’s not gonna lay down for nobody and it should be a good fight."