Keith Thurman sits down with the media to talk about his upcoming fight against Shawn Porter and the injury that delayed it. Check it out.
On his injuries from his car accident:
"I couldn't do nothing. I was sitting back, relaxing at home. I was actually a little depressed to be honest with you. I was eating pizzas and stuff, man...That's actually the good life right there. Get the full crust and not the thin crust.
"The saddest moment was the day I got the call from the doctor letting me know that 'you really need to consider pulling out of this fight.' That morning I called Al Haymon, I was actually already on my way to the gym, and I felt I had an incident occur over that weekend where my neck stiffened up and I really couldn't rotate my neck left and right. For some reason, it was very severe when it happened but over the weekend I thought 'ok, it's just gonna lag but it should come right back.' It's my doctor who let me know 'Keith, this most likely isn't gonna come right back.'
"Showtime's camera crew was actually at the gym that day. I go to jump rope, I jump up and down three times and I say 'that hurts my neck, I can't do that,' I put the rope away. I go shadowbox, I throw a left hook, I twist, it hurts my neck - I can't do that. And I actually broke down and I was very depressed that day and had to tell the camera crew "I have nothing for you to shoot today' and it was heartbreaking because as a fighter, I wanted this fight just as bad as the fans wanted the fight..."
"At the end of the day the fight is better now than before. The venue is better, the network is he same, the opponent is the same, and the fans - I hate to say it - but I'm glad I made you wait."
On Errol Spence talking down his resume:
"He can make as many comments as he wants. Let's be honest once again. Chris Algieri is not a welterweight, he hasn't beaten a welterweight, and he didn't get famous from beating everybody up. So was he a name? Yes. Was he an ex-champion? Yes. Now [Spence's] comment was something of the nature...ahhh I hate responding to some of these, man. Because why has Keith Thurman been at the top of the game but has only fought one top ten fighter? Is that because of Keith Thurman? Are those the fights that Keith Thurman wanted for himself? The answer is no.
"For the past several years, as soon as I got on the scene, I let the whole world know when I told Paulie Malignaggi 'you better not duck me, son!' And yes I was talking to him, but I was also talking to every welterweight. I was hungry for everybody. Am I mad at Errol Spence for being in my shoes, in my situation where I was three years ago, knowing you have the skills and ability to be champion of the world, feel like you can take on everybody? And so what do you wanna do, you wanna call out the dude at the top. Who am I? The man at the top.
"For me the man at the top was Floyd. What did Floyd do? Not acknowledge me. Am I gonna treat Errol like that? No, I'm not gonna treat Errol like that. I'm gonna acknowledge the boy...you have the right to say what you wanna do, you put on a great performance. I don't care that Chris Algieri is a chump, it's about making the chumps look like a chump. Some people get in the ring with chumps and make them look like contenders. He didn't pretend, he showcased his skills and his talent on that night and looked great doing it. Did he fight the best in the world? No, he didn't...Did he fight anybody that's more superior than all the other ex-world champions they put me through?
"[Robert] Guerrero might be the only dude in the top ten, but look at resume of ex-world champions and then tell me how many ex-world champions you've been through - and let me know how many you've put into retirement, because I've put two baby."
On his thoughts about Danny Garcia:
"I'ma be honest, I think Shawn Porter can beat Danny Garcia. I think I can beat Garcia. I think there's at least five welterweights that can beat Danny Garcia. So if he wants to go ahead and tread lightly like he's treading on thin ice, you know, I ain't gonna be mad at him, I'll just talk about him."
On putting aside his friendship with Shawn Porter to fight him:
"How do I put aside my friendship? It's real simple. It's called put gloves on. There ain't no friends when we got gloves on. It's that easy...he's signed a contract stating that he's coming to defeat me. That contract, to me, is like a death warrant. You sign that and it means you a hitman and I'm a hitman and someone's getting hit on June 275h.