Keith Thurman wants to make it abundantly clear that he is not a stepping stone for up-and-coming fighters. (photo by Ryan Hafey)
The 33-year-old veteran welterweight and former champion recently doubled down on remarks he made to BoxingScene.com earlier this summer regarding his status in the sport.
Cognizant of the contenders who have been calling him out recently, most notably Conor Benn of the UK, Thurman put out a communiqué of sorts, adamantly denying the view that he is a “gatekeeper.”
Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) reiterated that point during a recent Showtime broadcast of the Omar Figueroa Jr.-Sergey Lipinets junior welterweight bout in Hollywood, Florida.
“Man, Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman is not the gatekeeper, ok?” Thurman said. “And if you wanna act like I’m a gatekeeper, then you need to understand that that gate is welded shut. And I will school you just like I schooled Mario Barrios. I’m not those past opponents. I'm a veteran. I’m a fine wine. You can only get me at a certain high level restaurants, baby.”
“This is not McDonalds. But you can still have it your way if I see a contract, I’ll sign the dotted line.”
Thurman returned from a nearly three-year layoff in February to defeat San Antonio’s Barrios by 12-round unanimous decision at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas. Altogether, he has only fought three times in nearly six years.
Although he does not have a fight publicly lined up currently, Thurman recently indicated that he believes he might be a shoo-in for facing either Errol Spence Jr. or Terence Crawford should a Spence-Crawford welterweight full unification fight fail to materialize.
“Come on,” Thurman told FightHubTV. “[Spence and Crawford are] having [negotiations] problems right now. I don’t have a fight right now. Come on. You don’t think I’m the fall guy? Because I think I’m the fall guy.”