Keith Thurman to head straight into Danny Garcia fight next March

A welterweight title unification between Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia looks good to go for next March. And although Garcia will be taking on a glorified exhibition match against Samuel Vargas next month, Thurman won’t be back in action until the Garcia fight.

Thurman is said to be still licking his wounds from a grueling 12-round battle with Shawn Porter in June — in a fight where he’s apparently wasn’t fully recovered from his car accident in February. Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza gave this status update to RingTV on Thurman:

“He has a couple of nicks and bruises that he needed to heal up from after a really tough Porter fight in late June,” Espinoza said in a phone interview after his network announced seven compelling fights for 2016-17. “So he’s healing up. He has nothing of any long-term consequence, but he’s going straight to the Garcia fight in March.”

A publicist says that Thurman is currently vacationing and is going to use the time leading up to the Garcia fight to make sure he’s in tip-top condition before the big fight.

Espinoza finishes by saying that he considers the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to be the frontrunner to host the Thurman-Garcia showdown, although a few other venues are also in consideration.