Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman, left, lands a punch on Shawn Porter during their welterweight title fight in June at Barclays Center. Thurman retained his title via narrow decision/AP photo by Gregory Payan
Welterweight world champions Keith “One Time” Thurman and Danny Garcia are a combined 60-0 with 41 knockouts. That’s a lot of talent. The question is, which fighter has more?
We’ll find out March 4 when they square off in a title-unification bout at Barclays Center in Brooklyn (on CBS).
The interested parties hosted a news conference there Wednesday. Nor surprisingly, each fighter talked down to the other.
“This fight is going to have action,” said Thurman, of Clearwater, Fla. “There’s too much on the line. I remember Danny from the amateurs. I applaud him for everything he’s done in his career. He signed the wrong contract, though, because Keith Thurman’s got this. Danny Garcia, you’re getting knocked out.”
Said Garcia: “I just had to tell Keith be careful what he wished for. He wanted this fight. But now that he’s got it, you have to deal with me.”
Garcia, of Philadelphia, is trained by his father, Angel, who talks about as much trash as any trainer out there. Thurman intimated he couldn’t care less about that.
“Angel will talk to try to get people off of their game,” Thurman said. “Danny is an elite fighter, and he can talk for himself. These father trainers seem to like the limelight as much as the fighter, if not more. At the end of the day, I’m only fighting Danny Garcia.”
Thurman, 28, is 27-0 with 22 knockouts. Garcia, 28, is 33-0 with 19 knockouts.