By Edward Chaykovsky
Keith Thurman (25-0, 21KOs) is getting ready for the first defense of his WBA 'regular' welterweight title, on July 11th against the man who previously held the belt in Luis Collazo. The fight Premier Boxing Champions bout will headline a card from Thurman's backyard at the USF Sundome in Tampa, Florida.
Collazo suffered a bad loss last year to British star Amir Khan. Thurman does not view Khan as a legitimate welterweight, noting that he had issues in facing a junior welterweight fighter who doesn't bring in a lot of power. He feels Khan is avoiding fighters who can punch at the weight.
"Amir Khan is a great opponent, I would love to fight Amir Khan at 147lbs. I made a statement and I have no problem making the statement, Amir Khan has no business fighting at 147lbs. He just fought Chris Algieri and Chris Algieri has no business fighting at 147lbs. Now that I’m going to fight Luis Collazo, me and Amir Khan are going to have a common opponent," Thurman told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
Thurman believes Khan "fights scared" in his matches and his in-ring reactions to incoming punches are a telling sign of his mentality in the ring.
"Amir Khan is a very scared fighter, he fights with a scared mentality. A scared fighter is a fighter who does not want to be hit. A smart fighter doesn’t want to be hit, but when you watch a fighter about to be hit and you look at his reaction, in the reaction moment, you should be able to tell the difference of a smart fighter and a scared fighter. Floyd Mayweather is a smart fighter, Amir Khan is a scared fighter," Khan said.