By Ian S Palmer
Keith Thurman will be defending his WBA Interim Welterweight Championship this Saturday, April 26 when he takes on former world champion Julio Diaz at the Stubhub Center in Carson, California. The 12-round contest can be seen live in the USA on the Showtime network and on Super Channel in Canada. This bout pits an up-and-coming youngster against a former champion whose best days are behind him.
Diaz is a former two-time former lightweight titleholder, but is winless in his last three contests with a pair of losses and a draw. One of those losses came against former champion Amir Khan and the other was against current champ Shawn Porter. The draw was also against Porter. However, at the age of 34 he’s still got some power in his fists and Thurman needs to be aware of this.
The 25-year-old Thurman of Clearwater, Florida and Diaz of Mexico are basically evenly matched in height and reach at about 5-feet-8 inches and 69 inches. Diaz has quite an edge in experience as he’s fought 302 rounds in his career compared to 78 by Thurman. The champion’s last outing was an impressive ninth-round stoppage over Jesus Soto Karass.
Thurman enters the ring with an unbeaten record of with 22-0 with 20 Kos. He’s got a lot of power and throws punches in volume and with conviction, making him an appealing boxer to fans. He faced his best opponent the last time out in Karass and Diaz is about on the same level or perhaps he’s actually taking a step backwards against Diaz here. Therefore, it’s a very important fight for Thurman and one he can’t really afford to lose.
Diaz has a record of 40-9-1 with 29 Kos came close to beating Shawn Porter in 2012 back in late 2012 but had to settle for a split-decision draw. He then managed to drop Khan in their fight, but lost a close decision. Porter then deservedly beat Diaz in their rematch. Diaz must realize this is probably going to be his last shot at a world title and glory.
Thurman has good boxing skills as well as power. He’s fast and has a good jab and is patient enough to take rounds on points while eventually breaking his opponents down. On the other hand, Diaz prefers to brawl instead of use his boxing skills. However, his power hasn’t really followed him up to the welterweight division. Diaz will be hoping to get inside to land some power shots as he won’t be able to outbox Thurman.
Prediction
Thurman has shown that he’s one of the best young boxers around, but his chin hasn’t really been tested as of yet. Diaz has pretty good power, but his own chin should be a concern to him since he’s been stopped five times so far during his career. He might have a few good moments in this bout, but look for Thurman to break him down and win on a stoppage in the second half of the fight or a unanimous decision.
