Keith Thurman believes he can still be dominant welterweight

Former welterweight titleholder Keith “One Time” Thurman has been pretty quiet since his loss to Manny Pacquiao last July, undergoing hand surgery in September with hopes to return in early 2020 that didn’t materialize.

Thurman, now 31, has had a lot of setbacks in the last few years. He was on the shelf with injuries after a Mar. 2017 win over Danny Garcia until a rusty Jan. 2019 return to beat Josesito Lopez, but the Floridian fighter still believes he can compete at the highest level in one of boxing’s most star-studded divisions.

“I wanna become a complete monster again, because that’s what I’m capable of,” Thurman posted on Instagram. “I’ve dominated the welterweight division before, and I believe that I can do it again.”

Thurman (29-1, 22 KO) losing to Pacquiao wasn’t really controversial despite being a split decision, with most agreeing Manny had done enough to win. But Keith was fully in that fight, too, after Pacquiao started fast. Thurman made it highly competitive.

The repeated, nagging injuries are a major concern, but if they don’t rob him of his ability at a pretty young age, yeah, he can absolutely stay in the race at 147 for a while longer, and has the skills to come back and win another world title at the very least. There’s also the chance he could move up to 154 at some point and find new life there; he’s talked about that in the past, indicating a sincere willingness if that’s where a big fight might be, and PBC certainly have a lot of good fighters at that weight.

In the bigger picture for the time being, Thurman is sidelined like everyone in boxing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but hopefully we’ll see him healthy and back in action when the sport resumes.