By Jake Donovan
For the second time this year, Keith Thurman has been summoned to help introduce the Premier Boxing Champions brand on a new network. Four months after scoring a 12-round win over Robert Guerrero in the series’ premiere on NBC, the unbeaten welterweight now tops the inaugural installment of PBC on ESPN.
The July 11 kickoff show will feature Thurman in a welterweight title defense versus Luis Collazo, taking place in his hometown of Tampa, Florida. His previous appearance in prime time played a peak audience of more than 4 million viewers, and the attention paid to the new monthly series on ESPN figures to draw more fans than usual as well.
Despite the expanded audience, there is no pressure felt by the 26-year old to place added emphasis on entertainment value. After all, it’s already what he does best.
“My job is to win. Everything else is icing on the cake,” Thurman (25-0, 21KOs) insists, downplaying the extra attention being paid to this event. “We want to be great. We want this match to be talked about. But we also stay focused on the formulas (that already work).
“It’s another camp for me. It’s another fight, another opportunity for me to showcase my talents to the world. I haven’t disappointed yet, so why should this be any different.”
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox