Keith Thurman wholeheartedly believes a fight with unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. in the past would have been a costly mistake.

Thurman, the former welterweight titlist from Clearwater, Florida, has seen his stock drop in recent years, due to a combination of injuries and a decision loss toManny Pacquiao in their title bout in 2019 in Las Vegas.

Now with Spence and Terence Crawford gearing up to fight each other for the undisputed welterweight championship July 29 in Las Vegas, Thurman has become something of the odd man out in a division in which he otherwise maintained a lofty perch.

He has also had to field criticism that he refused to fight Spence earlier in their careers, when Thurman was still a titlist and Spence was still a contender.

In a recent interview, Thurman, 34, made it clear that it would have been a foolhardy decision to fight Spence when Spence had started to call him out, for no other reason than the fact that their fight today is worth way more today than in the past.

“It should be of a certain caliber,” Thurman said of a potential fight with Spence in an interview with Jeff Zimmerman. “Like, the fight we’re gonna see next weekend (Spence vs. Crawford). This fight is truly of a certain caliber. If Thurman would have fought Spence the day he said my name, that he put some syllables together, he would’ve got paid one point something (million) if that. He wasn’t worth a lot. I would’ve got paid respectfully, you know, something, but real boxers know that real champions when they fight at the right moment the world has to recognize what kind of fight it is.

“If Thurman would’ve fought Spence, we could’ve gotten the fight over with, but the world would not have acknowledged the greatness of the battle at the time. I’ve got to unify the world titles against Danny Garcia. There were bigger fights on the table, on the horizon. Unfortunately for me, after Danny, there was elbow surgery. After Pacquiao, there was hand surgery. This is my journey. This is my story. These are my struggles.”

Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) insists he would have already fought Spence if he had not lost to Pacquiao. Spence and Pacquiao were scheduled to fight each other, but Spence had to withdraw from the fight because of a serious eye injury. Ugas then filled in for Spence and would go on to defeat Pacquiao. Spence, in turn, would defeat Ugas by stoppage.

“In 2019 if Thurman didn’t lose to Pacquiao, I would’ve fought Spence last year,” Thurman said. “How do I know? How does Thurman know? Because he fought Ugas. Did anybody really care about that fight? Where did that fight happen? OK, in Dallas, right? Big Arena. Big setting. Huge network television. Put Thurman and Spence on that platform and tell me it’s not bigger, better, greater.

“So, unfortunately, there was never that setting back then. When the setting appeared, Ugas was the champion. Thurman didn’t have his title no more. This is how boxing moves like this sometimes. It’s not a straight climb. Boxing can move like this. It’s very unfortunate. I still would love to fight the winner of Spence-Crawford, the loser of Spence-Crawford. The truth is, Crawford’s never seen Thurman, Spence has never seen Thurman.”

Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.