Keith Fitzgerald Thurman (born November 23, 1988) is an American professional boxer. He is a former unified welterweight world champion, having held the WBA title from 2016 to 2019 (promoted to Super champion in 2017), and the WBC title from 2017 to 2018. As of July 2022, he is ranked as the world's fifth best active welterweight by BoxRec.
Early life
Thurman was born in Clearwater, Florida, to an
African-American father and a European-American mother of Polish and Hungarian descent.
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Amateur career
Thurman's first amateur fight was in 1997. He was trained by the late Benjamin Getty who worked with Sugar Ray Leonard. Getty took Thurman under his belt as a child and helped shape him into the fighter he is today. Thurman is now trained by
Dan Birmingham.
Thurman finished his amateur career with 101 victories (76 KO's), he won 6 National Championships including the 2006 PAL National Championships. In 2007 he lost twice to world champion Demetrius Andrade at the Olympic Trials and won the silver medal.
[ amateur-boxing.strefa.pl]
Professional career
Early career
On November 9, 2007, an 18-year-old Thurman debuted as a light middleweight against Kensky Rodney at the A La Carte Event Pavilion in Tampa, Florida, in a scheduled 4 round fight. Thurman won via first-round KO after a body shot floored Rodney.
On August 8, 2008, Thurman defeated undefeated Jamaican Omar Bell (6-0, 4 KOs) via first-round knockout following an uppercut and left hand. Thurman faced off against Francisco Garcia in April 2009. The fight lasted less than 3 minutes after an accidental clash of heads halted the fight and it was announced as a no contest. In November 2009, Thurman was taken the 8 round distance by Brazilian Edvan Dos Santos Barros (10-7-1, 7 KOs). The scorecards read 80-71 79-72 (twice) all in favour of Thurman.
On July 23, 2010, Thurman beat the undefeated Stalinn Lopez (7-0, 3 KOs), the fight was on TeleFutura.
Welterweight
Thurman vs. Zaveck
On March 9, 2013, Thurman who had 19 wins in as many fights moved down to welterweight weight and fought on the undercard of
Bernard Hopkins-
Tavoris Cloud at the
Barclays Center in New York City. His opponent was 36 year old former IBF welterweight champion
Jan Zaveck (32-2, 18 KOs). Thurman won via unanimous decision after a one-sided 12 round bout, all three judges scored it 120-108 for Thurman, who in the process also won the WBO Inter-Continental
welterweight title. It was the first time Thurman fought in a scheduled 12-round bout and his first time to go beyond the eighth round. After the bout, Thurman admitted it was a tough fight and he had prepared to go the distance, whilst also looking for a knockout, which he couldn't find. Thurman called Zaveck 'a true veteran and great boxing lesson' for him.
WBA interim welterweight champion
Thurman vs. Chaves
Despite being the mandatory to the WBO title, on July 27, 2013, Thurman challenged the Interim WBA welterweight champion Diego Gabriel Chaves (22-0, 18 KOs) at the AT&T Center in
San Antonio.
Thurman won the Interim WBA title by knocking out Chaves in the tenth round of a very competitive fight. At the time of the knockout, Thurman led on all three cards: 87–83, 87–83, 86-84 thanks in part to a knockdown in round 9 which was the beginning of the end for Chaves. Thurman had been landing extremely strong body shots the entire fight and finally dropped Chaves with one of the same. The end for Chaves came after another hook to the body and a huge overhand right to the forehead. Thurman was never in trouble but absorbed some strong body work as well from Chaves. They traded close rounds early until Chaves really slowed around the seventh, opening the door for Thurman's left hook.
Thurman vs. Soto Karass
On October 12, 2013, it was announced that Thurman would make his first defense of the Interim title on the Broner vs. Maidana WBA world title fight on December 14 against battle tested Jesus Soto Karass (28-8-3, 18 KOs) at the
Alamodome in
San Antonio. Soto Karass was coming off a stunning knockout victory over former champion
Andre Berto and was deemed to be a difficult opponent.
After a slow start Thurman took over the fight in the middle rounds as he floored Soto Karass in the fifth round before landing a brutal combination in the ninth round sending Soto Karass to the canvas for a second time in the fight and stopping him. Thurman was ahead on all the cards (79–72, 78-73 & 80–71) and turned another strong performance. Thurman boxed patiently, cautiously and smartly, pacing himself and respecting Soto Karass' hand power despite Soto Karass' lack of hand speed. With many prospects and potential good match-ups at welterweight, Thurman claimed he wasn't afraid to lose and wanted to fight the best. Golden Boy promoter Richard Schaefer said, "The Broner-Maidana winner is a possibility. There are so many great match-ups, but he is certainly right there at the very top of the 147-pound weight class."
Thurman vs. Diaz, Bundu
On March 25, 2014, it was confirmed that Thurman would fight veteran Mexican boxer and former IBF lightweight champion Julio Díaz (40-9-1, 29 KOs) at the
StubHub Center in Carson, California, on April 26. ESPN announced the fight would take place on Showtime.
Thurman defeated Diaz to retain his Interim WBA title. Diaz was forced to take a knee in round 2 following a left hook to his head. Boos were heard around the arena as Diaz failed to come out of his corner for round 4. It was believed that Diaz was hurt badly with a body shot. Diaz praised Thurman after the fight and said, "I've been a two-time world champion. I've never given up in a fight. I'm human. Thurman has some power. That's how boxing is." Thurman mentioned then-titleholder Shawn Porter as a potential opponent. Thurman received a $600,000 purse for the fight.
Thurman's trainer, Dan Birmingham confirmed that Thurman would next defend his title on the undercard of Khan vs. Devon Alexander on December 13 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas against 40 year old undefeated Italian boxer Leonard Bundu (31-0-2, 11 KOs). The fight was originally set to take place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
WBA welterweight champion
On January 28, 2015, Thurman was elevated to the full WBA
welterweight championship.
Thurman vs. Guerrero
On January 14, 2015
Al Haymon announced that Thurman would fight 31 year old former world champion
Robert Guerrero (32-2-1, 18 KOs) on March 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The two boxers were supposed to fight one another in 2013, but negotiations fell through.
Thurman started the fight off aggressively and dominated early on. During the bout there was some exciting exchanges between Guerrero and Thurman, although Thurman won most of those exchanges and able to outbox Guerrero rather easily for most of the fight. There was an accidental head-butt left Thurman with swelling on the left side of his forehead in round 3, but that did not hamper Thurman's aggressiveness. He knocked Guerrero down in the ninth round before going on to win a (120-107, 118-109 and 118–108) unanimous decision in a rather one-sided bout. In the post-fight, Guerrero praised Thurman saying, "He is one of the best. He came in and stuck to his game plan. I take my hat off to him. I'm not a hater." Thurman received a purse of $1.5 million, whilst Guerrero received $1.225 million. According to
CompuBox stats, Thurman connected on 211 of 598 punches (35 percent), and Guerrero landed 104 of 497 (21 percent).
The fight peaked at 4.2 million viewers, making it the most watched fight since 1998. The whole card averaged 3.13 million viewers.
Thurman vs. Collazo
On May 21, 2015, PBC announced Thurman's next bout would take place at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida, outside his hometown of Clearwater, on July 11, against veteran slugger
Luis Collazo (36-6, 19 KOs) on ESPN.
Thurman was excited to be in a world title fight in his home state, having last fought there in November 2008.
The attendance for the fight 4,136. Collazo badly hurt Thurman with a body shot in the fifth round but the fight ended after the seventh round due to an injury near the eye of Collazo, which blocked his vision. Thurman was declared the winner via TKO. At the time of stoppage, Thurman was ahead 69–64, 68–65, and 69–64 on the scorecards.
Thurman commented on fighting Floyd Mayweather after the bout saying, "I'm a young, strong champion, Floyd. Come get it, I'm undefeated like you, baby. Come take my 0 baby! Come take my 0! I'm ready. I'm ready." Collazo received a $500,000 purse compared to Thurman's $1.5 million. Thurman landed 119 of 348 punches (34 percent) while Collazo connected on just 76 of 244 (31 percent).
The fight peaked 1.1 million viewers, averaging only 799,000 viewers.
On January 8, 2016 Premier Boxing Champions requested to the WBA, the upcoming fight between Danny García and Robert Guerrero be for the vacant WBA 'Super' title as Floyd Mayweather Jr. had retired. The WBA denied to sanction the fight, citing they would like to have no more than two welterweight titleholders.
Thurman vs. Porter
It was announced on February 17, Thurman would defend his title against
Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) on March 12, 2016, at the
Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut.
On February 23, Thurman's promoter said he had been forced to postpone his upcoming fight with Porter after being injured in a car accident.
Lou DiBella has insisted the injury is not serious or career threatening, but admits the American was lucky to have escaped major injury. Thurman, following the advice of his doctors, was on the sidelines for approximately six weeks before resuming training.
Porter announced that his rescheduled world title clash against Thurman will take place on June 25 at the
Barclays Center.
The World Boxing Association then ordered the winner of the Thurman and Porter to face interim WBA welterweight champion
David Avanesyan (22-1-1, 11 KOs), who beat #3 WBA
Shane Mosley (49-10-1, 41 KOs) on May 28.
In an old-fashioned fight of the year candidate, Thurman successfully defended his title, before a crowd of 12,718, when all three judges scored an identical 115–113 in his favor. Thurman rocked Porter badly on multiple occasions in the fight, he was also hurt himself by a body shot in the eighth round. Thurman earned a $1.4 million purse. This was the first main event televised by CBS in prime time since February 15, 1978, when Muhammad Ali lost a 15-round split decision and the heavyweight title to Leon Spinks in a massive upset. Thurman landed 235 of 539 punches (44 percent) and Porter landed 236 of 662 (36 percent). After the fight, there was immediate talks of a rematch.
On July 15, WBA announced Thurman would have a mandatory defense against interim WBA champion David Avanesyan (22-1-1, 11 KOs). Both camps had until August 13 to negotiate the fight or the WBA will order a purse bid.
Unified welterweight champion
Thurman vs. García
On October 25, 2016, Showtime announced several fights to take place towards the end of 2016 and early 2017. One of them was the much anticipated welterweight unification fight between Thurman and fellow undefeated welterweight champion Danny García (33-0, 19 KOs), who holds the WBC title. García defeated journeyman
Samuel Vargas in a tune-up fight on November 12, which officially set up the fight for March 4, 2017, at the Barclays Center in New York City.
Unlike García, Thurman chose not to have any tune-up and would fight García after a long 9 month rest.
Thurman was ringside at García vs. Vargas and entered the ring after the bout was over. In an interview, he stated, "You have two big punchers meeting on March 4, I don't see how the fight can go 12 rounds. I see myself as the best competition that Danny has ever faced." García replied by simply telling Thurman, he was next.
At a press conference on January 18, 2017, the fight was officially announced and it was said that it would be shown live on CBS.
The conference got extremely heated, leading to Angel García standing up and shouting racial slurs towards Thurman.
[Willis, George (January 18, 2017). "Danny Garcia’s dad hurls racial slurs at Keith Thurman in boxing fracas". New York Post. News Corp. Retrieved May 13, 2017.]
Thurman won the fight match via split decision with the scorecards 116–112, 113-115 & 115–113, making him a unified welterweight world champion. Thurman started off as the aggressor hitting and moving back to avoid García's counter hooks. This was the case for the majority of the fight. García began coming forward through the middle rounds and push Thurman on the back foot. Thurman backed off the championship rounds believing he had a comfortable enough lead to win the fight.
According to The Ring, the fight peaked at 5.1 million viewers, which was at the last three rounds. The fight averaged 3.74 million viewers. This was the first time since 1998 that a Saturday primetime boxing telecast drew that kind of audience. The entire card drew an average 3.1 million viewers.
Inactivity
On May 19, it was reported that Thurman would be out of action for at least six months following surgery on his right elbow. Thurman said he would get back into training after four months.
On October 3, Lamont Peterson wrote to the WBA officially vacating his 'Regular' title, which meant Thurman was now their only belt-holder at welterweight.
On April 24, Thurman vacated his WBC title, forcing the organisation to mandate Porter vs. García for the vacant title. The WBC made Thurman champion emeritus. Thurman explained, "Due to my rehabilitation from my injuries, I agreed to relinquish my WBC title at this time. I continue to rehab my hand and elbow and I look forward to getting back in the ring this summer. This is a temporary setback and I will be the unified champion once again and look forward to winning back my WBC title as soon as possible."
Thurman vs. López
In November 2018, it was announced that Thurman would fight Josesito López on January 26, 2019, at Barclays Center, to defend his WBA welterweight title. López stated that for his return, he wanted to have one "tune-up" fight, and then "return to being an active world-class fighter again". Thurman got rocked in the seventh round, but ultimately he won the fight by majority decision.
Thurman vs. Pacquiao
In May 2019, it was announced that he would face eight-division world champion
Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KO's) on July 20, 2019. Pacquiao won the first round with a late knockdown following a left-right combination to the body and head. This was only the second time Thurman had been knocked down in his career. Pacquiao continued to outbox Thurman until the mid-rounds, when Thurman found some success. Pacquiao was ultimately declared the victor by split decision (113–114, 115–112, 115–112). Thurman praised Pacquiao after the fight, calling him a legendary boxer, also stating "nothing wrong with losing to a legend".
Career from 2022
Thurman vs. Barrios
Thurman would not return to the ring following the first defeat of his professional career for almost 31 months, declaring "Until my retirement every day is a day closer to my fight", when he fought former WBA (Regular) super lightweight champion
Mario Barrios on February 5, 2022. Similar to Thurman, Barrios was also coming off the first defeat of his professional career, when he had been stopped by
Gervonta Davis in June 2021.
Thurman imposed himself on Barrios and proved to be a class above his opponent, winning a unanimous decision with judges' scorecards of 117–111 and 118–110 twice in a dominant display on
Fox Sports pay-per-view.,
Thurman vs. Jarvis
On March 12, 2025, Thurman faced Brock Jarvis at the
Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, Australia.
He defeated Jarvis via TKO in the third round.
Thurman vs. Fundora
Thurman is scheduled to challenge Sebastian Fundora for his WBC light middleweight title at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas on October 25, 2025.
Personal life
In 2016, he started dating
native Priyana Thapa. In 2017, the couple got married.
Professional boxing record
|
|
| 33 | Win | | Brock Jarvis | TKO | 3 (10), | Mar 12, 2025 | | |
| 32 | Win | 30–1 | Mario Barrios | UD | 12 | Feb 5, 2022 | | |
| 31 | Loss | 29–1 | Manny Pacquiao | SD | 12 | Jul 20, 2019 | | |
| 30 | Win | 29–0 | Josesito López | | 12 | Jan 26, 2019 | | |
| 29 | Win | 28–0 | Danny García | | 12 | Mar 4, 2017 | | |
| 28 | Win | 27–0 | Shawn Porter | UD | 12 | Jun 25, 2016 | | |
| 27 | Win | 26–0 | Luis Collazo | RTD | 7 (12), | Jul 11, 2015 | | |
| 26 | Win | 25–0 | Robert Guerrero | UD | 12 | Mar 7, 2015 | | |
| 25 | Win | 24–0 | Leonard Bundu | UD | 12 | Dec 13, 2014 | | |
| 24 | Win | 23–0 | Julio Díaz | | 3 (12), | Apr 26, 2014 | | |
| 23 | Win | 22–0 | Jesús Soto Karass | TKO | 9 (12), | Dec 14, 2013 | | |
| 22 | Win | 21–0 | Diego Chaves | KO | 10 (12), | Jul 27, 2013 | | |
| 21 | Win | 20–0 | Jan Zaveck | UD | 12 | Mar 9, 2013 | | |
| 20 | Win | 19–0 | Carlos Quintana | TKO | 4 (10), | Nov 24, 2012 | | |
| 19 | Win | 18–0 | Orlando Lora | TKO | 6 (10), | Jul 21, 2012 | | |
| 18 | Win | 17–0 | Brandon Hoskins | TKO | 3 (8), | May 5, 2012 | | |
| 17 | Win | 16–0 | Christopher Fernandez | TKO | 1 (8), | Feb 25, 2012 | | |
| 16 | Win | 15–0 | Favio Medina | TKO | 4 (8), | Nov 27, 2010 | | |
| 15 | Win | 14–0 | Quandray Robertson | KO | 3 (6), | Sep 18, 2010 | | |
| 14 | Win | 13–0 | Stalinn Lopez | KO | 2 (6), | Jul 23, 2010 | | |
| 13 | Win | 12–0 | Leonardo Rojas | TKO | 2 (8), | Nov 28, 2009 | | |
| 12 | Win | 11–0 | Edvan Dos Santos Barros | | 8 | Nov 6, 2009 | | |
| 11 | Win | 10–0 | Travis Hartman | TKO | 2 (6), | Aug 14, 2009 | | |
| 10 | Win | 9–0 | Marteze Logan | TKO | 3 (6), | Jun 26, 2009 | | |
| 9 | | 8–0 | Francisco Garcia | NC | 1 (6), | Apr 4, 2009 | | |
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Marcus Luck | TKO | 1 (6), | Nov 7, 2008 | | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Omar Bell | KO | 1 (6), | Aug 15, 2008 | | |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Jason Jordan | KO | 1 (6), | Jun 27, 2008 | | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Jessie Davis | KO | 1 (4), | May 9, 2008 | | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Carlos Pena | TKO | 1 (4), | Apr 5, 2008 | | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Brandon Buchanon | KO | 1 (4), | Feb 14, 2008 | | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Tramiane Boone | | 1 (4), | Jan 18, 2008 | | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Kensky Rodney | | 1 (4), | Nov 9, 2007 | | |
Pay-per-view bouts
| + United States |
|
| | Pacquiao vs. Thurman | Welterweight Supremacy | 500,000 | Fox | $37,500,000 |
External links
