"Collazo is a respectable opponent. He's been in the ring with a lot of champions. He's a true welterweight and he accepted the fight, you know. At the end of the day, we fight whoever signs that contract. I wasn't even given any names at all. I was only given Collazo...I'm going to give the best performance Keith 'One Time' Thurman can give and at the end of the day, people get beat up in the process, so I'm not worried about how Amir looked, you know, how he performed against Luis. At the end of the day, the art of boxing is to hit and not get hit. I'm gonna try to land bigger and better punches each and every round," stated welterweight champion Keith Thurman, who spoke to FightHype.com about his upcoming July 11 clash with former welterweight champion Luis Collazo. Check out what else he had to say!
BT: Keith, how does it feel to be headlining a main event back in your hometown?
KT: Man, it's so crazy, man. So many of my dreams are coming true. All that I've ever wanted to do in the sport, I'm doing it, man. I'm truly blessed, you know. Hometown fight, man. Ever since I left Florida, I knew I'd be back here one day with the big lights; the same way that my boy Winky and Jeff Lacy did it back in the days for the whole Bay area, man. I'm just extremely excited. I was out shopping and I got people at the malls telling me they can't wait for those tickets to hit. They're going to be buying and they're going to be there. Just a lot of love, man. I'm looking forward to performing for my city.
BT: I'm sure all of your friends and family are going to be blowing up your phone looking for some good seats. Does fighting at home make it more challenging for you to stay focused?
KT: Nah. You know, we just have to decline a few extra phone calls in the next five weeks. That's all. A lot of people that are close to me, they know to go through my team and not to bother me during camp. I'm happy about it. People really been bugging me, but in reality, they're just excited and I'm glad they're excited.
BT: Luis Collazo is the opponent. Even though he recently notched a win on the undercard of Garcia vs. Peterson, that fight wasn't televised, so most people will remember him losing to Amir Khan over a year ago. I'm sure he wasn't your first, second, or third choice, but how do you feel about him being your opponent?
KT: You know where my heart and my passion is. I'm trying to keep it relevant in the top 10, but Shawn Porter has a fight scheduled, Amir Khan just had a fight, and it's just a bad time of the year. But I get to be back in the ring and I get to perform for my home city. Collazo is a respectable opponent. He's been in the ring with a lot of champions. He's a true welterweight and he accepted the fight, you know. At the end of the day, we fight whoever signs that contract. I wasn't even given any names at all. I was only given Collazo. They said, "Keith, how do you feel about Collazo?" Normally they say, "How do you feel about this guy, that guy, and the other guy," and then we make a pick. It is what it is, man. It's a fight, I can't underestimate nobody, and I'm just going to come with my A-game, prepared to put on another terrific One Time show.
BT: I actually heard through the grapevine that Shawn Porter was first approached with an opportunity to fight you, but he quickly turned it down. Did you hear anything about a potential fight with Porter?
KT: I know before I was given a date, they said, "Will you fight Porter?" I said, "Sure!" I said yes, and then a week later, I stopped hearing about it, and then two weeks later, I heard about the Adrien Broner fight. You know, it is what it is. I think it's a fight that definitely can happen this year, me and Shawn Porter. I think it's a fight that the fans would love to see.
BT: Like I said, most people are going to remember Collazo's performance against Amir Khan. Is there any motivation for you to try and look better against Collazo than Khan did?
KT: The old me would say yeah, man, but throughout my years here and just being a 12-round fighter, I'm just going to do my job. I'm going to give the best performance Keith "One Time" Thurman can give and at the end of the day, people get beat up in the process, so I'm not worried about how Amir looked, you know, how he performed against Luis. At the end of the day, the art of boxing is to hit and not get hit. I'm gonna try to land bigger and better punches each and every round.
BT: What kind of fight are you expecting with Collazo? Do you think it's going to be more of a chess match or are you looking to just blow him out of there?
KT: I'd love to just blow him out of there, but I know he's a veteran. I know he's going to be preparing for this fight. Once again, here's another southpaw, man. I mean, this is like three southpaws back to back to back now for me. But I've been in camp with a whole bunch of southpaws. You see the fights; it doesn't really give me an issue, but it's just the same story. You really don't see fighters fight southpaws back to back to back in the manner that I'm gonna be doing it, but, you know, it's all about competition. Luis is the competition on July 11th. Honestly, I like getting hit. I want to know how he hits me. I want to know how he plans on attacking me. A part of the danger is really what makes the sport so exciting. The fact that the underdog can always overcome, just like the move Any Given Sunday. Our sport, it just happens on Saturdays. On July 11th in my hometown against a nice veteran from Brooklyn. New Yorkers have a great history when it comes to the sport of boxing, so I'm looking forward to a great fight.
BT: Once upon a time, you were supposed to be making your HBO debut against Marcos Maidana. Has it been difficult for you to scale back your expectations and remain patient as you wait for the opportunities to come?
KT: It's the longest journey of my lifetime. I did not expect for it to go the way that it has the past three years of my career. I was extremely excited to finally get Robert Guerrero. We were asking for him for two years prior to when we fought him. It just looks like when it comes to Keith Thurman, everybody is hitting the delay button and that's why I am where I am today. But even though they delay, I keep performing and I keep giving great performances, which got the world of boxing saying, "Who's fighting Keith next?" Nobody is really raising their hand.
BT: Well Keith, I appreciate you taking time to do this interview. Give me some closing thoughts for your fans before I let you go.
KT: I just want to say thank you for all your love and support. Your boy is training hard. I didn't get to post anything this weekend, but I'll be posting some things up soon. @keithfthurmanjr should be my Twitter and then you got keithonetimethurman for Instagram. Get at me! Follow me! I'ma be putting in work.
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