- Errol Spence has opened as the -800 favorite to beat Keith Thurman (+490) in a 154-pound bout.
- According to a report from ESPN, Spence and Thurman are finalizing the fight for April.
- Spence has not fought since defeating Yordenis Ugas last April while Thurman has not seen action since February 2022 when he defeated Mario Barrios.
Errol Spence is a huge betting favorite in his next bout but he will be eating his words if the reports are correct.
Spence has always said that he won’t fight Keith Thurman because the latter did not give him a title shot when he ( Thurman ) was still champion. He reiterated that stand last April, when he tweeted “ Thurman, not fighting that man….wouldn’t utter my name when we was both champs.”
However, according to a report from ESPN’s Mike Coppinger, a fight between Spence and Thurman is now being finalized.
‼️ Errol Spence vs Keith Thurman is reportedly now being finalised as a non-title fight at super-welterweight expected to take place in April. [According to @MikeCoppinger] pic.twitter.com/DLxmGhrjsc
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) January 10, 2023
Spence holds three out of the four major welterweight world titles, but he will be fighting Thurman in the junior middleweight division.
According to WBA President Gilberto Mendoza, his organization has given Spence a special permit to fight outside his weight class without relinquishing the world title belt. However, he will have 60 days from the date of his next fight to close a deal for a long-awaited showdown with WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford or defend his title against the winner of Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs Eimantas Stanionis.
The WBC and IBF have not given their stand on Spence’s proposed fight with Thurman.
Spence Has Not Fought Since Beating Yordenis Ugas
The 32-year-old Spence has not fought since defeating Yordenis Ugas last April 16, 2022, to annex the WBA (super) welterweight title which Ugas won from Manny Pacquiao in a fight where the Filipino was supposed to fight Spence. He has fought only one other time since he suffered a near-fatal single-car crash in 2019 and the Ugas fight was his first since undergoing surgery to repair a detached retina which caused him to withdraw from the Pacquiao fight.
Spence competed in the 152-pound weight class during the 2012 Olympics and made his pro debut later that year weighing 149 pounds. Before becoming welterweight champion, Spence had fought only once above that weight class, and that was in 2015 when he knocked out Chris Van Heerden while weighing in at 156.5 pounds. Otherwise, he has spent his professional career as a welterweight.
The unified world welterweight champion is undefeated in 28 professional boxing bouts with 22 of those wins coming via knockout. Spence has never opened or closed as the betting underdog in any of his fights. According to the top boxing sportsbooks, he is the massive -800 betting favorite to beat Thurman in the potential showdown.
Thurman Has Fought Only Once Since Losing to Manny Pacquiao
Like Spence, Keith Thurman hasn’t been active in recent years. In fact, Thurman has fought only once since suffering his first professional loss to Manny Pacquiao in 2019. The 34-year-old from Clearwater, Florida was last seen dominating former super lightweight world champion Mario Barrios in a 12-round non-title fight last February.
Thurman was once considered one of the best, if not the best, welterweight in the sport. He won the interim WBA welterweight title in 2013 and made a total of 8 successful title defenses, even annexing the WBC 147-pound title by beating Danny Garcia in 2017. Thurman opened as the -152 favorite to beat an aging Manny Pacquiao in 2019 but the Filipino legend beat him via unanimous decision.
Thurman has an impressive record of 30-1 with 22 knockouts. Despite that, he has opened as the heavy +490 underdog against Spence. This marks the first time in his career that Thurman has opened as the betting underdog in a professional boxing bout. He has closed as the bottom dog only once, at +135 against Pacquiao. If the trends will hold, Thurman will enter the ring versus Spence with his longest odds ever, but we’ll have to see first if both fighters sign on the dotted line.
