When Premier Boxing Champions launched in March of 2015, it did so with a bold promise to bring big-time boxing back to network television. The inaugural fight featured Keith “One Time” Thurman in his first defense of the WBA World welterweight title (after being elevated from interim champion status). In the fight, Thurman dominated his opponent, Robert Guerrero, over twelve rounds in an exciting and action-packed fight.
Since then, PBC has been a mixed bag. The promotion has featured some exciting bouts with rising stars such as Danny Garcia, Deontay Wilder, Shawn Porter, Adrien Broner and Errol Spence Jr. But it has also featured a fair share of mismatches and suffered from spreading the PBC brand thin, with bouts across more than 20 different networks.
Now, two years after its premiere broadcast, PBC is taking a strong step towards fulfilling its promise. Saturday night, PBC will match up two undefeated welterweight champions for just the third time in history when Thurman (27-0-0, 22 KO) meets Garcia (33-0-0, 19KO) in a unification bout on CBS.
This is easily the most important fight since Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev battled for light heavyweight supremacy in November. Unlike for that bout though, fight fans won’t have to pony up $70 to witness the action. No subscription to HBO or Showtime is required. Put those Fire Sticks away. Heck you don’t even need cable to see one of the biggest fights in boxing. Thurman vs Garcia is $Free.99 – my kind of price.
Though Thurman, a more-natural welterweight is considered a slight favorite, this should be an exciting matchup between two evenly talented fighters.
What’s interesting here is that as these fighters, both 29-years-old, have developed from prospects into champions, both have seemingly outgrown their nicknames. “One Time” Thurman has true power, but his days of blasting opponents out of the ring inside four rounds has faded as he’s stepped up the level of his competition.
Prospect Thurman was known for ‘one-hitter quitters.’ Champion Thurman has evolved into a skilled boxer who utilizes a solid jab and good movement to keep his opponents off-balanced and unleashes his power to keep them honest. Even though Thurman has three knockouts in his last eight bouts, he has become more of a cerebral, strategic fighter than the brawler that he is sometimes billed to be.
“Swift” Garcia really isn’t all that swift. His hand speed is fairly average and his footspeed is notoriously slow. However, Garcia has continuously silenced the doubters by relying on his heart, determination and a mean left hook to carry him to world titles in two divisions. Whenever his back is against the wall or the odds are stacked against him, Garcia seems to rise to the occasion and emerge victorious.
When it comes to competition level, Garcia’s resume is more formidable. Until recently, Thurman was largely hand-fed favorable opponents. Garcia, on the other hand, has faced and defeated the likes of Erik Morales, Amir Khan, Zab Judah, Lucas Matthysse, Lamont Peterson and others.
Concerns for each fighter
The biggest concern for Garcia going into the bout is whether he’s ready to face a legitimate 147-pound champion. Since stepping into the stacked welterweight division, he’s fought Paulie Malignaggi (not a true welterweight), Guerrero (slow as molasses) and Samuel Vargas (who?). He stopped Malignaggi and Vargas, but they don’t represent true welterweight competition.
How will he fare when Thurman catches him at the end of one of those thudding right hands? After all, Garcia’s face is not that hard to touch. He had plenty of trouble against Peterson, a controversial fight that many felt he deserved to lose. Thurman is better than Peterson in nearly every aspect, but similar enough in styles that the matchup matters.
For Thurman, the biggest test will be whether he can take Garcia’s body attack. Thurman was nearly doubled over by a body shot from Luis Collazo, who is not known for being a devastating puncher. To his credit, Thurman stayed on his feet and eventually stopped Collazo, but the wince seen ‘round the world laid the blueprint that all future opponents will follow to get to Thurman.
Garcia’s left hook is fantastic, both upstairs and downstairs. If he can land it downstairs on Thurman early enough, he can make him gun-shy and weary. When Thurman gets fatigued, he can get a bit sloppy. Garcia’s more-compact punches would then have a much greater chance to land. The fact that Thurman only fought once in 2016 also increases the chance that he may not be at the top of his game.
And the winner is…
For this fight, I’m going to take the coward’s way out and abstain from making a prediction. I’m a big fan of both of these fighters and would rather enjoy the show instead of rooting for my pick to be correct. The welterweight division is stacked full of talent and since Floyd Mayweather Jr. retired, it’s a division that has been left without a clear champion. This fight is the first step in finally finding a new welterweight king. The winner of this bout will be boxing fans across the country.
Time for Wilder to go for broke
Speaking of PBC, WBA Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder headlined a card on Fox last week. Wilder knocked out unheralded-but-game Gerald Washington in the fifth round. Wilder struggled to impress for much of the fight, but he truly has one-punch KO power and once he landed a clean shot, Washington’s night was destined for a quick and painful ending.
Enough with the showcase bouts for Wilder. People continue to say he needs one or two more fights before facing the other heavyweight champions. Nonsense. Wilder is who he is. He’ll never be the most technically-sound fighter. He’s a fairly wild-swinging fighter with dynamite in his gloves, who is tall and agile enough to avoid a lot of flush shots to the head.
His next fight will be a rematch against Bermane Stiverne, as ordered by the WBC. If he wins again, he needs to target the other heavyweight champions sooner than later. The heavyweight division finally has enough decent fighters to be exciting again. It’s time for “The Bronze Bomber” to head into war.
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