Keith Thurman has hit out at Bob Arum for lowballing him on a potential fight with Terence Crawford, and says that a bout with Errol Spence Jr. would be the bigger fight.
The former welterweight champion returns to the ring against Mario Barrios on February 5, and speaking to the DAZN Boxing Show explained that the bout sets up a high-profile fight for later in 2022.
“We could have fought this year, Bob Arum reached out to me, he was being a stingy m—, he was doing what he do.” he began.
“I never done business with Bob, I don’t care about Bob, I don’t need him, I’m not going to need him.”
Speaking of the fight between Shawn Porter and Crawford - a fight that the former world champion may pursue next year - he said he was happy to bide his time.
“It was a great fight for Shawn, I’d have loved the fight. Now all the time has passed, I’ve been advised to get back in the ring, and we’ll make bigger fights happen. If you look at my track records, I’ve got all the names, I’ve got the big names.
“All roads lead to Thurman. Spence vs Thurman is better [than vs. Porter].”
Thurman is preparing to fight down the line, and he’s happy for it to be against either of the division’s premier names.
“Thurman will be ready for Crawford in eight months. He said, ‘You don’t need eight months. Calm down baby! Like a DJ says, check one, two. I’m going to pick up cheque one, then cheque two.'
“I might not be a current champion but Thurman vs. these champions is a tremendous challenge.
“It’s Spence or Crawford, both on the table. I want the biggest fight. You know boxing, we don’t forecast the season.
“There is no real schedule. I don’t have a real preference, they're both great fighters, I want both of them. We’re just going to have to see which one is presented. The problem with Bob is they didn’t send me a contract, they were just talking low numbers.”
Asked whether he would prefer to meet Crawford or Spence, he acknowledged that a fight between Yordenis Ugas and Spence opens up the way to fight for three belts at once.
“I think the bigger fight is Spence, because he’s the unified champion, and there’s rumours about Ugas, and that’s three belts,” he said.