Skip to main content

Belt hungry Thurman calls out Mayweather, Malignaggi and Bailey

Frank Stea

Undefeated welterweight star Keith “One Time” Thurman 18-0 (17 KOs) stopped by to talk with the ATG Radio crew just 48 hours after his sixth round TKO win over Orlando Lora 29-3 (19KOs) on HBO this past Saturday night. 

In the post-fight interview, Thurman unexpectedly called out the top fighters in the welterweight division.

With the win, the 23-year old emerged as a rising star in the world of boxing, and after winding down from a tough training camp, “One Time” touched on a number of topics and explained his reasoning behind calling out boxing’s elite.

Below are some quotes from Monday’s night’s interview.

On calling out Paulie Malignaggi:

“It comes from the desire within my heart to be a champion. If you’re a world champion, you have to be ready to face the world.”

“I hear Paulie Malignaggi’s been tweeting about me, saying I shouldn’t be bringing his name up. The problem is, he’s walking around with the belt.”

“You gotta understand that this brother is out there and wants to gun you down for that belt. I’m young, I’m hungry and I’m ready to eat.”

“I see him as a target but he might be another Maidana and not let a brother eat.”
“Keith Thurman has a “0” and I’m not afraid to let it go.”

On calling out Floyd Mayweather:

“I consider him one of the best fighters and the smartest fighter in boxing today.”

“Your jaw dropped because you heard me call out the king. I want to take the king off his throne and I might just do it.”

 “A lot of people don’t like that it was my HBO appearance and I called out the top names. I’m not scared of nobody.” 

“Everybody knows that Mosley rocked him with that right hook. Don’t let me get in the left hook. My name is “One Time” for a reason.”

“Everybody can slip up and everybody can be beaten.”

On the possibility of fighting IBF champion Randall Bailey:

“I’m belt hungry. You can line up all the belts like at a buffet and I’ll just gobble them up.”

“I’m undefeated. I’m undefeated. You can talk about me fighting mediocre fighters.  I put mediocre fighters to sleep.  Did you?  I know you fought some mediocre fighters.  Didn’t you take them to the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth rounds?   

“I ‘sleep’ people and I might just sleep you.”


To hear the 20-plus minute interview in entirety, listen at blogtalkradio.com/all-timegreat/2012/07/24/

Follow Frank and ATG Radio on Twitter @frankstea and @atgradio

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The Tragedy of Billy Collins Jr.

Phil D. Jay WBN Editor  Collins after the fight Williams Ray Collins Jr. or Billy Collins Jr. as he became known, was born to a boxing father in Antioch, Tennessee in 1961. His father William Sr, once fought Welterweight Champion Curtis Cokes and wanted his boy to follow in his footsteps, so decided to train Billy himself. Collins Jr. turned pro in 1981, a welterweight, just like his father before him and impressively won his first 14 professional contests, 11 by knockout with eight inside the first three rounds. It was 1983 and Billy was matched up against Puerto Rican journeyman Luis Resto on the undercard of Roberto Duran v Davey Moore at Madison Square Garden in a ten rounder. Resto wasn’t known for his punching power but Billy took a sustained beating for the full ten rounds, his face, badly damaged and his eyes were almost shut. After the fight, which Resto won on decision, Billy’s father shook Resto’s hand and noticed there wasn’t much padding in his gl...
Read more

Rico Ramos captures world super- bantamweight title with KO

Phil D. Jay WBN Editor ‘Suavecito’ scores 20th straight win over Shimoda Undefeated Californian Rico Ramos produced a world-class left hand in the seventh round of his WBA title challenge against Japan’s Akifumi Shimoda to rip the belt away from the older southpaw in his first defence. The 24 year-old looked far from a world champion in the first five rounds, only gaining a foothold in the fight in round six, but ultimately produced the equalizer in the seventh to take the crown. Shimoda, 26, will be furious with himself as he bossed the majority of the fight and was up five rounds to one on my card going into the seventh round. One lapse in concentration with only thirty seconds left in round seven and Shimoda hit the canvas. The champion tried to get up at the count of nine, but stumbled over and the referee counted him out. The now former champion stayed down for a full minute before being helped to his feet and realising he no longer held the WBA belt. Also on the card i...
Read more

Private invegstigator: Arturo Gatti death clearly not suicide

Phil D. Jay  WBN Editor An investigator hired by boxing legend Arturo Gatti’s manager Pat Lynch have given his verdict after a thorough investigation into the death of the two-weight world champion, who died in Brazil in 2009. Chicago-based P.I Paul Ciolino has put his findings into a detailed report, which will be released on August 30 th , but gave his opinion to New Jesery-based newspaper The Jersey Journal  after a ten-month operation. Gatti died aged 37 whilst on holiday with his wife Amanda Rodrigues and his young son in north east Brazil and after an investigation by the Brazilian authorities was deemed a suicide. Brazilian police had said that the exciting prize fighter was drunk and depressed and used his wife’s purse strap to hang himself whilst his wife and son slept upstairs, which Ciolino totally disagrees with. "I think that when we get done with the press conference it will be pretty clear it was not a suicide,"  Ciolino told The Journal. ...
Read more