Keith Thurman: record, next fight and profile →
Last Saturday night, WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman retained his title with a twelve round unanimous decision over Josesito Lopez at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. And one week prior, Manny Pacquiao retained the WBA "regular" welterweight title with a dominating decision win over Adrien Broner at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Keith Thurman has wanted it for a while. Now 30, the thoughtful Floridian was still six months away from 26 when he made the rounds at the Mayweather-Pacquiao weigh-in, telling anyone who’d listen that a big fight was on his agenda. It made perfect sense at the time. He was the World Boxing...
NEW YORK – Paulie Malignaggi wasn’t about to pick apart Keith Thurman’s performance Saturday night. As a fan, the Showtime analyst thoroughly enjoyed Thurman’s 12-round fight against Josesito Lopez from his ringside seat at Barclays Center. Thurman overcame severe trouble during the seventh round to win a majority decision and retained his WBA “super” world welterweight title.
WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman controlled the fight with his jab, landing an avg of 7 of 44 per round and outlanding Josesito Lopez 79-17 in that department. Lopez was down in round 2, then rallied to punish Thurman in round seven. Thurman had a 168-100 edge in power punches landed - an advantage of just six per round. Only 24 of Thurman's 247 landed punches were body shots.
NEW YORK – Keith Thurman knows just how close he came Saturday night to having the career he worked his whole life to build come crashing down around him. The thoughtful Thurman admitted after his majority-decision victory over Josesito Lopez that he was one punishing punch away from getting knocked down during the seventh round or, worse yet, knocked out. A resourceful, tough Thurman withstood Lopez’s onslaught once Lopez drilled him with a straight right hand when there was plenty of time to go in that stunning seventh round.
NEW YORK – As much as Josesito Lopez respects Keith Thurman, he couldn’t help but feel that the defending champion was afforded more margin for recovery than he would’ve been allowed. Lopez claimed during their post-fight press conference late Saturday night that referee Steve Willis would’ve stopped their fight in the seventh round if he were hurt the way Thurman was damaged. A contemplative Willis took a close look at Thurman multiple times as Lopez pummeled him for much of the second half of that stunning seventh round at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Thurman ended the fight landing 247 punches to 117 from Lopez, and held the advantage in accuracy by landing over 27 percent of his punches to 23 percent from Lopez. Lopez's increased activity in the closing rounds helped him narrow the deficit on the scorecard, but in the end, the majority decision went to Thurman by scores of 117-109, 115-111 and 113-113.
Thurman, Lopez Fight Photos Gallery - WBA Welterweight World Champion Keith "One Time" Thurman returned to the ring and defended his title with a majority decision victory over veteran contender Josesito Lopez Saturday night in the main event of Premier Boxing Champions on FOX and FOX Deportes from Barclays Center, the home of BROOKLYN BOXING™. (photos by Stephanie Trapp/Andy Samuelson).
Keith Thurman successfully defended his WBA super welterweight belt with a majority decision over Josesito Lopez after almost two years on the sidelines. Thurman was back in the ring for the first time since beating Danny Garcia by split decision in March 2017 – an elbow and hand injury keeping the American out of action.
By Keith Idec - NEW YORK – Keith Thurman survived “The Riverside Rocky” in his long-awaited return to the ring Saturday night in Brooklyn. Barely. Thurman remained unbeaten against Josesito Lopez by winning a majority decision in a captivating welterweight title fight that was much more competitive and...