Notebook: Pondering next move, Thurman interested in challenging Crawford

Easter on the mend; Mayweather's TMT Racing set for Daytona 500; Yoka-Bakole back on; Quick hits; Show and tell

Feb 10, 2022

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After former unified welterweight world titlist Keith Thurman dispatched Mario Barrios via lopsided decision on Saturday night in the headliner of a Premier Boxing Champions/Fox Sports pay-per-view card at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Thurman was asked for his thoughts on a potential fight with WBO titlist Terence Crawford, who has mentioned facing Thurman.

“Well, the fact that he’s a free agent should make things a little bit better,” Thurman, sporting a noticeable bruise under his right eye, said during his 20-minute post-fight news conference. “Working with (Top Rank promoter) Bob (Arum) is not fun for a lot of fighters. At the end of the day, I’m not sure. You see what I’m wearing right now (a WBC medal for winning the semifinal title eliminator). You see what I’m representing. They’ve been asking me for a long time, ‘Where are you ranked, Keith Thurman?’ And I say, ‘I don’t know. I’m one of the best fighters in the world. Who cares what rank they give me, what number they give me, what position they give me?’

“You know, I do want to fight champions. I’m gonna be looking forward to getting in the ring with a champion. I want an opportunity to get a world title again. So, if (Crawford is) the best opportunity, I’ll take it.”

Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs), 34, a three-division champion from Omaha, Nebraska, became a promotional free agent following his title-retaining 10th-round knockout of former two-time titleholder Shawn Porter on Nov. 20, also at Mandalay Bay. Thurman outpointed Porter in a 2016 title defense

Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs), 33, of Clearwater, Florida, beat Barrios (26-2, 17 KOs) by scores of 118-110, 118-110 and 117-111 in his first fight in 31 months due to the pandemic and hand surgery that followed a decision loss that cost him his title against Manny Pacquiao in July 2019.

After he beat Barrios, Thurman said he wanted to fight for another title next. Crawford is available but has not announced what his plans are. WBC/IBF titlist Errol Spence Jr. and WBA beltholder Yordenis Ugas, Thurman’s PBC stablemates, are set to unify their titles on April 16 and it remains to be seen what either would want to do following a victory.

Thurman said he wants to fight for another title, be it against Crawford or the Spence-Ugas winner.

“I always loved great fights,” Thurman said. “I love making exciting fights in the welterweight division. We know that Errol Spence-Yordenis Ugas, none of these fights woulda manifested if Keith Thurman didn’t lose to Manny Pacquiao. So, there was a shift in matchups once when I fell out of championship status.

“So, I had the WBA (title). I had the WBC. I relinquished the WBC. Nobody beat me for the WBC world title. So those belts I want back in my possession. I do like the fight with Terence Crawford, but we’ll just have to see what opens up, what really negotiates, how stubborn we get when it comes to what kind of split there is. You know, it’s just business from here on out. I do like the fight, though.”

Easter is OK

Former IBF lightweight titleholder Robert Easter Jr., who was shot three times on Sunday night in Cincinnati and underwent surgery early Monday to remove bullet fragments, is going to be fine.

“I appreciate the love,” Easter wrote on social media on Tuesday. “I’m resting up guys. I appreciate you all. I will recover and be OK.

“Please don’t hesitate to tell your people you love them no matter the circumstances. Let go of the grudge or problem you have with someone. Fix it, talk it out and show them love.”

On Wednesday, Easter wrote that he was up and moving.

“Got up (and) I’m you walking perfectly fine this morning,” Easter wrote. “God is the greatest and the highest power.”

Easter was shot after being confronted at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday by a group of men who demanded money. Easter instead ran and was shot three times. His specific wounds were not disclosed, but the suspect took two gold chains, three diamond rings and Easter's cell phone.

The 31-year-old Easter (23-1-1, 14 KOs), of Toledo, Ohio, rallied from an eighth-round knockdown and won a split decision over Richard Commey to claim the vacant 135-pound world title in September 2016.

He made three successful defenses before losing a unanimous decision to Mikey Garcia in a 2018 unification fight. He is 2-0-1 since and has had his last two bouts at junior welterweight. Most recently, he easily outpointed Ryan Martin on Showtime last February.

The Money Team Racing

Floyd Mayweather has partnered with sunglasses maker Pit Viper as The Money Team Racing will make its long-delayed NASCAR Cup Series debut when its No. 50 Pit Viper Chevrolet competes at the Daytona 500 on Feb. 20.

Kaz Grala will drive the NASCAR NextGen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with an engine from ECR at the 64th annual Daytona 500.

“I love fast cars and I love to compete. I know NASCAR will not be easy, but anything easy isn't worth doing to me,” Mayweather said in making the announcement. “With that being said, this move into auto racing seems to be a perfect fit for the Mayweather brand.”

Grala will drive for TMTR at select races in 2022. Grala has already had success at Daytona as the youngest NASCAR winner in the track’s storied history. The 23-year-old has finished in the top-10 in half of his NASCAR Cup Series races.

“It’s an honor to be behind the wheel for Floyd Mayweather’s entrance into NASCAR,” Grala said. “It’s a really exciting time in our sport as it globalizes and reaches new audiences. I know Floyd is here to win, and I absolutely feel that everyone involved in this program is capable of making that happen. We know we will need some time to grow together as a new organization, but I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of building this team from the ground up.”

Tony Eury Jr. is the crew chief and the co-owner and general manager of TMT Racing is William Auchmoody, an associate of Mayweather’s and a longtime member of the NASCAR community.

“This deal has been a long time coming and we are finally at the starting line,” Auchmoody said. “Every time we thought we would be able to hit the track, something happened, including a global pandemic. One thing I have learned from Floyd Mayweather is that sometimes your best offense is a great defense and now we are here going to our first race at this year's Daytona 500. We are very excited to be racing.”

Yoka-Bakole rescheduled

The heavyweight fight between Tony Yoka and Martin Bakole has been rescheduled for May 14 at Accor Arena in Paris, All Star Boxing promoter Jerome Abiteboul, Yoka’s co-promoter with Top Rank, announced.

ESPN+ will stream the card live in the United States, a source with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite.

The bout was originally scheduled for Jan. 15 in Paris before the card was postponed in late December because the spread of Covid-19 in France caused the government to restrict aspects of sports and cultural events.

Last month, Yoka accepted an offer from the IBF to negotiate a world title eliminator with amateur rival Filip Hrgovic. However, when Bakole objected, saying Abiteboul planned to reschedule the bout with Yoka, the IBF deemed Yoka unavailable due to the dispute over the Bakole bout.

Yoka (11-0, 9 KOs), 29, who won the 2016 Olympic super heavyweight gold medal for France, was ruled out of being in the title eliminator and Abiteboul eventually rescheduled the fight with Bakole (17-1, 13 KOs), 28, a Congo native fighting out of Scotland, on Tuesday.

Fuentes needs help

The WBC is hoping to drum up financial support for fallen warrior Moises Fuentes.

Former strawweight world titlist Fuentes (25-7-1, 14 KOs), 34, of Mexico, suffered a catastrophic brain injury in his last fight, when he was knocked out by David Cuellar Contreras in the sixth round in Cancun, Mexico, this past Oct. 16.

Fuentes suffered a blood clot on his brain, underwent emergency surgery in Cancun and was later transferred to Mexico City for rehabilitation.

Fuentes was the sole provider for his wife, Janine, and two young children, 7-year-old Moises and 5-year-old Santiago.

“At this time we are asking for support from the boxing community, our friends and WBC family, to help his family,” the WBC said this week in an attempt to raise awareness for Fuentes’ plight. “His wife and children are going through financial and emotional hardship during this pandemic. We ask for you to help with as little as you can contribute.

“Please help us share this information with your friends and family. May God bless you all and we will keep praying for champion Moises Fuentes’ recovery.”

There is a GoFundMe page set up that is accepting contribution to Fuentes. Here is the page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/united-for-moises-fuentes-unidos-por-moises

Quick hits

The WBA on Wednesday ordered junior bantamweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada (42-3, 28 KOs), 31 of Mexico, to next face “regular” titlist Joshua Franco (18-1-2, 8 KOs), 26, of San Antonio. They have until March 11 to negotiate the fight otherwise a purse bid will be ordered. Estrada was due to defend against Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez in their rubber match in a DAZN main event on March 5 in San Diego, but Estrada recently came down with Covid-19 and withdrew from the bout. Instead, WBC flyweight titlist Julio Cesar Martinez will move up in weight and face Gonzalez instead.

IBF flyweight titlist Sunny Edwards has signed a promotional deal with Probellum, the company announced. Edwards (17-0, 4 KOs), 26, of England, has already been working with the company but not under contract. He made his first defense on Probellum’s inaugural card in December in Dubai, where he outpointed mandatory challenger Jayson Mama, and he was already scheduled to make his second defense against Muhammad Waseem on another Probellum card on March 19, also in Dubai, when the deal was announced on Wednesday. “This is a huge moment in my career and I believe signing for Probellum will help take me on to an even higher level in terms of my all-round performance,” Edwards said.

Mikaela Mayer (16-0, 5 KOs), 31, of Los Angeles, who unified two women’s junior lightweight titles by outpointing Maiva Hamadouche in an all-out slugfest on Nov. 5 in Las Vegas, is being penciled in by Top Rank to make her next defense on either its March 26 or April 9 ESPN card, sources with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite. Neither date has a site yet. The March 26 card is headlined by the return of former junior lightweight titlist Miguel Berchelt moving up to lightweight to face Jeremiah Nakathila. The April 9 card does not yet have a set main event.

Probellum has added a pair of Tokyo Olympic medalists, super heavyweight gold winner Bakhodir Jalolov and junior welterweight Hovhannes Bachkov, who claimed bronze, to its March 18 card in Dubai. Probellum also has a second night of fights on March 19 at the same venue, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium. Jalolov (9-0, 9 knockouts), 27, of Uzbekistan, was already 7-0 when he competed in Tokyo this past summer and then won his pro return on a Probellum card in Dubai on Dec. 11. Armenia’s Bachkov (2-0, 1 KOs), 29, will be in his first pro bout since the Olympics.

A fight between former light heavyweight title challengers Callum Johnson and “Hot Rod” Radivoje Kalajdzic (26-2, 18 KOs), 30, a Bosnia native fighting out of Saint Petersburg, Florida — who both were stopped by champion Artur Beterbiev — was agreed to this week for March 19 at the SSE Arena, Wembley in London and then on Wednesday called off before it was even formally announced due to Johnson having an undisclosed medial issue, a source with knowledge of the situation told Fight Freaks Unite. It remains to be seen if the fight will be rescheduled. Johnson (20-1, 14 KOs), 36, of England, was forced to withdraw from challenging WBO titlist Joe Smith Jr. last month because he came down with Covid-19.

Ryad Merhy (30-1, 25 KOs), 29, of Belgium, will make the second defense of his WBA secondary cruiserweight belt against Evgeny Tishchenko (9-1, 6 KOs), 30, on March 26 in Ekaterinburg, Russia, Tischenko’s hometown, organizers announced. Tischchenko won an Olympic gold medal in Rio in 2016 but suffered his first pro loss to former title challenger Thabiso Mchunu in March 2021 in Ekaterinburg and has won his only bout since.

Show and tell

Oscar De La Hoya had given up his lightweight title to move up to junior welterweight and go big game hunting against living legend and WBC champion Julio Cesar Chavez in an inevitable meeting between the young Mexican-American star on the rise and the veteran Mexican champion. In order to build the fight to a fever pitch, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum had them fight in separate bouts on an HBO doubleheader called “Prelude to Glory” before their showdown, which was, of course, dubbed “Ultimate Glory.”

There was no way Arum or the fighters were going to put the mega fight in serious harm’s way, so each was matched with an opponent they had little chance to lose against. De La Hoya made his 140-pound debut and battered Daryl Tyson to the body in a second-round knockout win. It was the last time in his career that De La Hoya would fight on an undercard. In the main event, Chavez took a nontitle bout against Scott “Pink Cat” Walker and blew him out in the second round in the final hurdle to the super fight. The doubleheader was on Feb. 9, 1996 — 26 years ago on Wednesday. Here is a program from the card in my collection.

Thurman photo: Ryan Hafey/PBC; The Money Team car: TMTR

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