"Hey man, let's just say I gave him a shot at the title, you know what I'm saying. I just took his best, man. I was just prepared to take his best and work around it and find the path to victory...There's a lot I could have done better. I had options that I didn't really use. I knew what I wanted to do, man. For whatever reason, I wanted to rope-a-dope. I've seen Floyd pull it off, we know Muhammad Ali pulled it off, you know, and I just felt like I was going to be able to pull it off. I felt like tight defense with accurate offense was going to be enough for victory," stated undefeated WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman, who spoke in detail about his victory over Shawn Porter one day removed from the fight. Check it out!
BT: What's good, Keith?
KT: You know, we're out here in PA showing some support. Edner [Cherry] was one of my sparring partners for the camp and we always wish him the best. He's a true veteran. He deserves good things to happen for him in his career. He's got Al's support. We're just trying to get him right. My whole team had come out [here] yesterday from New York. They got there Sunday. I stayed in New York for a little bit so I can just chill and not rush myself. It's all good.
BT: How are you feeling after that battle with Porter?
KT: Oh, you know, the way you would feel after a war, you know what I mean? A few bumps and bruises, but we were victorious, so that's all that really matters. We got plenty of time to sit back, relax, and recover and move on to the next one later on this year.
BT: I saw you posted a picture of you and Shawn together the morning after. I know he had to go to the hospital right after the fight. Is he doing okay?
KT: Yeah. I didn't talk to Shawn directly about that, but I did talk to Kenny Porter when I heard about it. It was just a protocol thing apparently. I don't know how much they're trying to comment on it, but apparently he was dehydrated. It was a protocol thing; he was dehydrated. They had to take him to the hospital or whatever; he was showing signs of being just slightly dehydrated somehow.
BT: As far as your game plan was concerned, it seemed like if you wanted to, you probably could have moved a little more and made the fight a little easier. Was there any particular reason why you decided to stand and trade with him as often as you did?
KT: Hey man, let's just say I gave him a shot at the title, you know what I'm saying. I just took his best, man. I was just prepared to take his best and work around it and find the path to victory. Even though it was easy to predict a little bit of what he was going to do, it's still another thing to see it in your face. Shawn was in tremendous shape. The way that he throws his punches and gets his head really low and comes back and throws more punches; the angle of where he's throwing and ducking, popping back up, throwing and ducking, you know, it's hard to get right in on there the way that I wanted to, especially in the early rounds.
BT: Having said that, was there anything that you felt like you could have done better?
KT: There's a lot I could have done better. I had options that I didn't really use. I knew what I wanted to do, man. For whatever reason, I wanted to rope-a-dope. I've seen Floyd pull it off, we know Muhammad Ali pulled it off, you know, and I just felt like I was going to be able to pull it off. I felt like tight defense with accurate offense was going to be enough for victory, and once when we got into the later rounds and I knew how competitive the fight was, Dan and I really just committed. He was telling me in the corner, "You need every single round. Every single round, every single round," in the final four rounds. It was a great, competitive fight and then I did what I needed to do as champion to remain champion. We got just a little smarter towards the end, took my time a little bit more, calmed down, did what I needed to do, you know, utilized the ring properly. Boxing's one on one, you know what I mean. I fought that fight for Shawn, you know. Like I've said before, to stay champion, it's all about winning 7 out of 12 rounds and I believe I also showed that in the fight. I'm not a judge. I don't know exactly what those judges are thinking. It is a little uncomfortable to leave it up to the judges. I know how they're supposed to score a fight and I was trying to give them enough each and every single round to pull ahead to have the scorecards in my favor.
The one thing I could've done better was I could've jabbed better. For whatever reason, my jab wasn't exactly where I wanted it to be on point. I got a little bit more relaxed. I was able to walk him down, I was able to get a little bit closer, and then the jab was able to land a little bit more, so I just need to bridge that gap and I could've possibly just done it a little better in the earlier rounds and maybe just continuously jab in the later rounds. So my jab wasn't exactly where I wanted it to be for that fight, but it's all good. I did say in the post-fight that there might have been ring rust that I was unable to acknowledge until I was in the ring, but we were able to overcome everything. We had a great fight.
BT: Prior to the fight, you spoke a lot about how defense was going to determine the outcome. Despite Shawn's claim that his defense was going to be superb, you were able to tag him quite a bit with those counter left hooks. Were you surprised at how easy and often you were landing that left hook or did you expect that from your previous sparring with him?
KT: Um, you know, in my opinion, he did what I thought he would do, which is just be a little bit more aggressive in his movement; a little bit more aggressive in how he ducks his head, when he ducks his head, moving side to side. I saw that he was staying on the outside and boxing Adrien Broner a few times in the AB match, so I knew that he would probably try to get on his back foot on me a little bit as well at a certain times in the fight. That's why we pressed when it was time to press. Overall, defensively, I said that that was most likely going to be his downfall is that his defense is not one of the best defenses in the welterweight division. But, you know, he is a very active fighter. He uses that activity. I believe that was their game plan a lot, to out-work, possibly hurt, possibly try to break me down with that from activity, but we were well prepared for the fight.
BT: The moments when you rocked him, was it obvious to you? Were you aware that he was hurt?
KT: Yeah, there were times it was obvious. I stated in the post-fight conference, you know, I wanted to follow up. I felt like it was there. That's why, looking back, I do feel like there was a little ring rust that I was unable to fully acknowledge in preparation. But it just is what it is. He stayed up on his feet. I wasn't able to fully capitalize, but I was able to create highlights throughout many rounds of the fight. Another thing is, I knew with his aggressive nature and on the inside, there was going to be many opportunities for us to trade and when we're really trading, my job is to win the trade. We were expecting that while winning the trade that we would incur a knockdown. That was just something that did not occur in the fight. He stood up to the onslaught just as I stood up to his.
BT: Why did you stay on the inside with him? Obviously that's what he wanted, but it didn't seem like he was forcing you to fight on the inside. It looked more like you chose to stay on the inside. Was that to prove a point to him?
KT: Yeah man. You can have it your way, but not all the way. I just didn't want to really fight it, you know what I mean. I didn't want to run and run and run and run and use my legs and turn it into this big ol' chase race, and maneuvering and pivoting and moving and staying on the outside. I was content, man. I had a lot of inside work in camp and I just knew that I was working on a lot of little uppercut, short uppercuts, short punches, and I just really wanted to practice what I've been practicing on and bring that victory home. Even though we put ourself in danger, even though we made it a tougher fight than it needed to be, you know, we were able to do what needed to be done, man, and put on a great performance and stay champion. It was a lot of fun, man. It was one of the best fights of my career. The arena was almost filled with 13,000 people and, I mean, the arena was going crazy the whole night. I think I just had confidence too from sparring Shawn that I just knew I could do it. I just knew that I could take it all; that I could take whatever he wanted to bring to the table.
BT: So what's next for Keith Thurman outside of boxing?
KT: It's going to be vacay. Due to the cut and the stitches, we are suspended for 60 days of boxing activity, so right now, man, we're just going to be on vacation. We're going to let all the bumps and bruises heal. We're going to get scans and make sure, you know, everything's okay. We're going to do a checkup on the spine and just be prepared for later on this year, man. With the delay, it is what it is, but we got the first chapter out of the way and we're going to rest up and look forward to what else is to come later this year. I'll probably make an appearance here in PA. In my free time, I'll probably make a few more appearances to certain PBC events and just enjoy this victory, you know. Enjoy this victory and get right and prepare to keep defending this world title. We're definitely enjoying ourselves, that's for sure.
BT: A lot of people go on vacation to Clearwater, Florida. When you're actually from there though, where does one go to get away from those beautiful beaches?
KT: It's funny, yeah, sometimes I do vacay in my own city. I'll rent a hotel down at the beach at a nice resort and just soak it in just like everybody else does. Outside of that, I was thinking about a possible Bahamas trip, but my passport's not in line right now. We'll see. I could drive down to Miami and do same-day passport, but these are just options, man. I'm a foodie. I'm thinking about traveling and checking out some certain restaurants that I've done research on, man, and just going out to cities that I haven't been to before. I got addicted to Chef's Table, you know what I'm saying, on Netflix. If you ain't watched that, you gotta watch it. They got 2 seasons. Once I saw the second season drop, I had to burn right through that, you know what I mean. I burned through that, man. I never really spent any time in Chicago. I had one international competition there; spent a few days there, but it was all boxing related. We didn't really get to travel much, see the city at all, so I would love to go to Chicago, man, and hit up Alinea if I get the opportunity, man. It just is what it is, man. I like to count my blessing, man, and just try to live life to the fullest, you know, enjoy this rest. My team, Dan always advises "rest, rest, rest" after a fight. "Do whatever you want to do, Keith. You deserve it. Well done!" All that stuff, man. It's just that, man. We're not in camp, man. Go back to just living life, man. We get to breathe, woosah for a little bit, pat ourselves on the back, and then we're going to get back to work after that, man.
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