Keith Thurman gets an A for his pre-fight performance in the arena of talking and hyping up his Saturday clash against Manny Pacquiao.
As when he asserted, in bold and convincing fashion, Tuesday: ?I?m living a dream. I?m not Martin Luther King, but he said it for us all,? said the 30-year-old hitter from Florida, who owns a 29-0 record.
?Years ago, that he had a dream, that a young brother like me could be great in America. I?m striving for greatness. I?m fighting a great fighter, a legend in the sport,? he continued, pacing his oratory masterfully. He understands the power of the pause, how boldness of delivery effects perceived credibility. ?My moment is here, my moment is now.?
And with that, my perception of the welterweight battle shifted a portion of a point. Thurman seems to be a man on a mission. And I recall his wording after his fight against Josesito Lopez, at Barclays Center, in January. He then told media post-fight that Floyd Mayweather had influenced him, that several years into his pro career, he understood how Floyd did it.
He didn?t need to win every second of every round, gun for KOs, risk more to potentially give more bang for the buck to the patrons. No, he?d lose a round here or there, all the better to marshal his resources, his stamina. He called Floyd Mayweather ?the best seven-round fighter ever.? I expect Thurman will seek to do that come Saturday. is that the right POV, being that maybe Manny Pacquiao is the cash cow fave and also the sentimental favorite in Vegas? Time will tell.
Thurman, he?s been A-grade in the talk department. Well, some might argue his July 14 statement on ?Inside PBC Boxing,? hosted by Kate Abdo, who was joined on set by Mikey Garcia, and Shawn Porter, wasn?t totally exemplary.
He said he was enjoying the heck out of the pre-fight buildup, but yeah, he does get strained at times with all the questions and such. Porter asked Thurman about being on such a PPV card, and noted that his wife will be present on site for the first time.
From a remote location, in Tampa, Thurman sort of stepped in it, according to some folks who didn?t dig it when he said, ?According to the bookies, I?m the B-side, right? We?ve been talking, now, I started off on the A-side, now you go to the B-side, but the performance hasn?t happened yet, right? You can look at it many different ways, you can look at it as a lot of people don?t like how Keith Thurman?s been talking. Maybe I didn?t get underneath Manny Pacquiao?s skin, but I got under the skin of a lot of different Filipinos. We know that the Asians like to gamble, Shawn (Porter). You?ve been through the casinos, you know the Asians are in there bettin? money all day. So they live, they live, they hyped. They don?t like what Keith Thurman has to say, they wanna see Keith Thurman go down. And he started off as the underdog, at first there was some money to make, now the odds are a little bit shifted, but it?s still not bad odds if you like betting Manny Pacquiao. You know, Vegas is a betting city. At the end of the day, I?m happy, cause when I go to cash in, I?m gonna get paid this time.?
Yes, he went there, he tossed out a contention, which is a stereotype, about Asians. Now, I do not off-hand know the level of truth in his assertion from the perspective of a breakdown on gambling habits of particular races/ethnicities/groups of people. To be sure, Thurman isn?t the first person I?ve heard state that he thinks Asians love to gamble. Google it, you will get hits. But in the age we are in, with social media giving a bigger megaphone to average Joes and Janes, there is greater likelihood that someone will get counter-punched for engaging in stereotyping. These are contentious times we live in, almost across all the boards.
Yes, Thurman has been vocally very active in this leadup to the big bout, and no, that?s not at all bad for business.
Ultimately, though, the chatter, the controversy, all of that will fade, and the quality of the battle, of the two men in that arena, will override. Unless, of course, we get a controversial decision, and on Sunday morning, at 1 am, we are all abuzz with talk about yet another black eye for boxing.
Boxing, theater of the unexpected, can actually be described as rather predictable, in that the black eyes pop up all the time. The unexpected part, I guess, is from what angle they are delivered.
