Undefeated double world welterweight boxing champion Keith Thurman will be out of the ring until the end of the year following right elbow surgery according to his promoters.
Despite severe pain in his right elbow, the 28-year-old American decisioned compatriot Danny Garcia in a March 4 showdown of unbeatens in New York to unify the 147-pound titles of the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council.
But Thurman returned to New York for an April 19 operation to have calcium deposits removed from his right elbow. The surgery was successful and Thurman is rehabilitating his arm, doctors saying he will need six months to recover.
?It was getting in the way of the hinging of the elbow and when I threw a punch it was causing pain and inflammation,? Thurman said. ?I noticed it before the Danny Garcia fight. There was no way to get rid of it without the surgery. I?m healing and getting the function back so I can be pain free.?
Any chance of facing Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao or Britain?s Kell Brook, the rival welterweight champions, is on hold until likely December. (AFP)
