The Last Man Standing

Back in January, when Terence Crawford announced his retirement, it signaled the end of an era. Crawford, who punctuated a decorated career by jumping up two weight classes to defeat Canelo Alvarez, was the last of a crop of once-elite welterweight-ish fighters to call it quits, joining Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia and (for now anyway) Errol Spence Jr. to exit boxing's big stage. Well … almost the last.

On Saturday, Keith Thurman will return to challenge Sebastian Fundora for his version of the 154-pound title. It will be the second fight in a year for Thurman, which by his standards is a blistering pace. Since losing his 147-pound title to Manny Pacquiao in 2019, Thurman has fought twice. He has fought once since 2022. If you thought Thurman, 37, was out of boxing, don’t worry. At times, so did he.

“There were some tough years,” says Thurman. “It feels good to be back.”

Ask Thurman about them, and he won’t sugarcoat it. Professionally, the last seven years have “kind of sucked.” He needed time off after the loss to Pacquiao to deal with a hand injury. When he was ready to return, the pandemic had shut the sports world down. When boxing returned, PBC, Thurman’s promoter, offered Thurman a fight in an empty ballroom. Thurman remembers his response: “This sounds like the most boring fight proposal you ever gave me.”

“Because I just fought Manny Pacquiao in a packed MGM Grand,” says Thurman. “I'm Evil Knievel. I want eyes on me. I was like a junkie. And they weren't giving Thurman his fix. Little did we know the repercussions of how long it would take for Vegas to open up.”

When the world did reopen, Thurman found himself in another unfamiliar position: in line. Without a world title, Thurman says, “I wasn’t a priority.” In 2022, Thurman landed a fight against Mario Barrios. He won, believing it would be a springboard to something bigger. It wasn’t. He wanted a fight with Crawford. Didn’t happen. Spence … not so much. He pursued a matchup with Yordenis Ugas. Ugas went with Barrios instead. Eimantas Stanionis … you get the idea.

The next few years were a blur. In ’24, Thurman accepted an offer to fight Tim Tszyu, then a hotshot rising star at 154 pounds. Weeks before the fight, Thurman pulled out with a torn bicep. Last year, he traveled to Australia to face Brock Jarvis. He mowed down Jarvis in three rounds, thinking that the Tszyu rematch would finally be rescheduled. Instead, Tszyu rematched Fundora, getting stopped in seven rounds.

On Saturday, Thurman will get the opportunity he’s been hunting when he takes on Fundora for a junior middleweight title. Originally scheduled for last October, the fight was scrapped after Fundora suffered an injury. Thurman believed his bad luck streak was continuing, and with his wife, Priyana, due with the couple’s third child in December, Thurman didn’t know when he would return.

Fortunately, the fight was rescheduled. On paper, it’s a cartoonish matchup—Fundora, a towering 6’6” 154-pounder, against Thurman, a 5’9” longtime 147. At a recent press conference, Thurman stood on a chair to make eye contact for a pre-fight stare down.

Thurman isn’t downplaying the significance of the challenge. Rather, he’s leaning into it. Legends do what he’s attempting, Thurman said. Fighters who start their careers in the smaller weight classes and dare to be great. Sugar Ray Leonard. Óscar De La Hoya. Roberto Duran. “I knew that there would be a time throughout my career that I would do this,” says Thurman, “and apparently that time is now.”

And the strategy? “Keith Thurman is going to do it Keith Thurman’s way,” he says. He believes Fundora has not been in with a fighter as athletic as him. One who will try to control the fight with his feet. He knows he will have to absorb some punishment. Fundora, 28, has stopped his last two opponents and has won three in a row since a stunning knockout loss to Brian Mendoza in 2023. Fighting Fundora “is definitely something that you can’t truly prepare for,” said Mendoza. Added Tszyu, “Fundora’s biggest advantage is the number of punches he throws in a round. It’s the fact that he doesn’t let anyone rest. Because he’s so tall, he’s able to just punch and punch without using too much energy. That’s his biggest strength.”

Thurman believes he will have moments, as the one Mendoza capitalized on when he stopped Fundora with a crushing, over-the-top left hook. “The power punches, obviously, is where we have a lot of confidence,” says Thurman. “And I know it's going to be challenging, but the name's One Time for a reason, and I think the world's going to remember come Saturday night.”

And remember that there is someone from the Crawford generation who’s still punching. Thurman admits to feeling like the last man standing. He likens himself to Tom Cruise’s character in The Last Samurai. “A warrior of his generation,” Thurman says—one who still has more fights left.

“I'm one of the heavy hitters of that generation,” says Thurman. “I just really feel that I can represent everybody. I got the spirit of all these great champions riding with me from my generation to prove that we were something to deal with. We were a problem, and Thurman's going to represent that problem come Saturday night.”