A couple weeks before he defeated Danny Garcia in what was the latest “most important fight” of Keith Thurman’s career, the Floridian said that he wasn’t worried about losing his “0” to Garcia, or anyone else for that matter. (photo by Ryan Hafey)
“I’m just a great fighter, and that means that nobody can beat Keith Thurman unless they’re a great fighter,” Thurman told me in 2017. “If you’re the better man than me, I’m going to shake your hand and say, ‘Congratulations,’ because you didn’t beat a chump. And only another great man can beat me.”
Thurman beat Garcia on that March night in Brooklyn, didn’t come back until January 2019, when he defeated Josesito Lopez, and six months later, he suffered the lone loss of his career to Manny Pacquiao.
Manny Pacquiao was a great fighter.
Another long layoff followed, and on Saturday, Thurman, now 33, will return to face Mario Barrios in a pay-per-view main event from Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
Now, the question is whether Barrios is a great fighter, or if Thurman ever was.
Getting those answers may not be worth the $74.95 price tag, but once all is revealed at the end of the weekend, finding out will shake up a welterweight division that could use a little shaking up in the absence of a Terence Crawford-Errol Spence Jr. SuperFight.
And while most of the pre-fight chatter centers on the return of “One Time” after more than two-and-a-half years away, that shortchanges Barrios, who will not only be making his first appearance at welterweight but will also do so after suffering his first pro loss to Gervonta Davis in a 140-pound title fight last June. So, on paper, the Texan is being fed to Thurman as a kid with an impressive record, a pleasing style, and enough questions to allow the former welterweight boss to look good, get back in the win column and move on to bigger and better things.
Not so fast, says Barrios, who didn’t hesitate to accept the biggest fight of his own career.
“Moving up to welterweight was a long time coming for myself,” he said. “I have a big frame and it was getting hard to make 140. We were thinking about 147 before the Gervonta Davis fight was even made. I didn’t want my first welterweight fight to be against an easy opponent. I wanted to fight an established welterweight who’s been in the ring with the best. Keith is a great fighter and I know this has the potential to be one of the best fights of the year.”
Well, Barrios thinks his opponent is great. Thurman believes the same thing. But is he? That’s an interesting dilemma, because while he beat several of the best of his era, including Luis Collazo, Shawn Porter, Garcia and Lopez, he did lose to a 40-year-old Pacquiao, and the Porter, Garcia and Lopez fights were razor-close, and some might say controversial victories for Thurman. Add in the long bouts of inactivity, and Thurman’s case for a place in the Hall of Fame one day may ride on what he does in the coming years.
That quest begins on Saturday, and while Thurman is still relatively young at 33, layoffs will speed that aging process, especially against young guns like the 26-year-old Barrios, a former 140-pound titleholder who is in the early stages of his own march to where he wants to go.
“Mario Barrios is a young fighter who wants to be great,” said renowned trainer Robert Garcia. “He hasn’t had the paydays that Thurman has, and I think that gives him a great chance. He knows that a win here will change his life. I have a lot of fighters who are from San Antonio like Barrios is, and I know he’s a very dedicated fighter who’s always training. He’s going to do whatever it takes to win this fight.”
Hunger is a funny thing in boxing. It can lead a fighter into places he shouldn’t have gone to, or at least not at a certain time, but it can also take him to new heights. Barrios, who acquitted himself well against Davis, left that fight with a loss, but also a lot of knowledge and even more hunger to make his mark. Does Thurman still have that love of the game in him or is he solely chasing paydays in what could be his twilight years in the sport?
Another top trainer, Stephen “Breadman” Edwards, wonders.
“I think there’s a lot of pressure on Keith Thurman in this fight,” he said. “Thurman went into the Manny Pacquiao fight thinking he was going to have that name on his way to superstar status. Losing that fight is going to hurt the ego. The pressure on Barrios is because no young fighter wants to lose two fights in a row and go to the back of the line. Thurman knows there’s a huge fight for him down the line if he can get past Barrios, and that brings pressure.
“Fighters don’t admit it, but there is a different kind of hunger when fighters are working toward that title shot,” Edwards continues. “It’s different than once you get it. Even in Thurman’s prime, he was only fighting once a year. Boxing is a game of skill, and you build skill with repetition. You don’t get better at doing anything by not doing it for an extended period of time. I think that’s going to make this fight more competitive than people think.”
So competitive that Edwards and Garcia are on record saying that they favor Barrios to win. But “El Azteca” isn’t counting on catching Thurman napping. He expects the same fighter that won the welterweight title and kept it while beating some of the sport’s best.
“Although Thurman has been out of the ring for a couple of years, I know he’s been training hard for this fight and will be in great shape,” said Barrios. “He’s been one of the best fighters of our era and I expect him to be at his very best. I know what needs to be done on my end and I believe I can execute the game plan we have in place. We both like to let our hands go, so fans can definitely expect to see an explosive fight on February 5.”
Explosive may favor Thurman, the naturally bigger fighter who didn’t get the nickname “One Time” because he liked to eke out decisions. But putting his opponent in uncomfortable situations and injecting some doubt in his head early may be the trick for Barrios, who has one of the best tacticians in the game in Virgil Hunter honing the Texan’s mental and physical games for battle.
It’s an interesting matchup, for sure, with Barrios not likely to get blinded by the bright lights after he already went through that whole pay-per-view circus with the Davis fight. And when it comes down to it, it’s all about that “G” word again.
Is Mario Barrios a great fighter? Is Keith Thurman still a great fighter? Or was he ever worthy of that overused term?
We know where Barrios stands on those questions.
“I still believe Thurman is one of the best in the division and that’s why this fight was exciting to me,” he said. “If I go in there and handle my business, I automatically solidify myself in this division. I’m chasing greatness.”
