By: Sean Crose
Former world welterweight titlist Keith Thurman has decided to return to the ring. After being away from the scene for three years, the 36 year old fighter, who has amassed a 30-1 record, will slip in between the ropes on March 12th to face Brock Jarvis in Jarvis’s native Australia. The decision to return comes as something of a surprise as it was assumed Thurman was finally done with boxing. Thurman last saw action in February of 2022, when he defeated Mario Barrios by unanimous decision. Make no mistake, it’s been a while for the fighter known as “One Time.”
Thurman was rightly considered one of the top fighters in the welterweight division for years. Notables such as Robert Guerrero, Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia, and others all fell victim to the hard hitting and skilled Floridian. Thurman’s sole loss came courtesy of a split decision judge’s ruling in favor of Manny Pacquiao, who had arguably put on his last great performance that evening in July of 2019. Thurman didn’t seem keen on fighting Errol Spence for a while, and a hoped for battle against Terence Crawford never came to fruition. Now, however, Thurman wants back in action.
There’s little doubt the fight with the 22-1 Jarvis will bring in a lot of attention. A lot of Thurman’s appeal has come from his unique, left of center personality (not many professional fighters are known to play woodwinds), and his keen insight into the fight game (he’s an excellent ringside commentator). In other words, Thurman brings a colorful presence as well as an impressive professional resume to pre fight hype. The question now is whether or not he can return to being the same high profile fighter he was known to be. Thurman has, after all, spent a long time out of the ring.
In truth, Thurman was actually going to face popular Aussie powerhouse Tim Tszyu some time ago, but an injury kept the fight from happening. Indeed, injuries have plagued Thurman throughout his career. Upon learning of the Thurman-Jarvis fight this March, one longtime Thurman supporter simply said an injury would keep the bout from happening. Yet should the fight go down – and should Thurman win, as expected – a fight with Tszyu is said by ESPN to be on the horizon. It could be an interesting pairing, as both men want to get their once red hot careers back on track.
