Thurman Outboxes Garcia to Unify Welterweight Titles

The four horseman of the welterweight division are Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Kell Brook, and Errol Spence. Of them, Danny Garcia is an outlier in that he is not a natural welterweight – a bit undersized and lacking in speed.

Attention will now turn away from Danny Garcia, at least temporarily, since he lost Saturday night to Keith Thurman by split decision, making Thurman the unified WBC-WBA welterweight champion. Now, it is generally opined that Thurman must face the winner of Brook-Spence to make his claim as the top welterweight indisputable. However, since handling Garcia – the grandest of underdogs in the welterweight landscape, amongst the top welterweights – Thurman has expressed the idea that, like a Buddhist monk, he has reached nirvana, that he has reached his destination and is free from desire. Brook-Spence winner, not a priority; if it happens, it happens, but Thurman will not be demanding it as he did Garcia – see the post-fight press conference. In Thurman’s defense, the WBC strap has always been the most coveted because it is the lineal title. With a win over Garcia, Thurman’s resume is better than Brook or Spence. Thus Thurman can regard himself as a kingpin who does not need anyone. Of course, Thurman did previously contradict that by once stating that in order to achieve Mayweather status, he must in fact become the undisputed champion.

In my opinion, Thurman clearly won and was very much in control, but one must take into account that he outboxed a small welterweight in Danny Garcia. The heart and soul of Thurman’s confidence prior to the fight was that Garcia was not a true welterweight. Indeed, so Thurman’s victory can be taken with a grain of salt.

Image: La Croix

We saw a similar dynamic as Kovalev-Ward: Garcia, the smaller of the two, was so wary of Thurman’s power that it reduced his punch output to the point that he was not effectively aggressive and could not win rounds unless he eked them out walking a tightrope. Ward at least had a small speed advantage over Kovalev. Anyway, the fact that Garcia was so careful and selective with his output meant that Thurman was competitive for simply showing up. Once again, I take Thurman’s victory with a grain of salt.

Round 1

Thurman tried to startle and intimidate Garcia early with several sequences a power shots aimed for Garcia’s head. Thurman appeared to hurt Garcia with an overhand right with forty-five seconds left. An unfamiliar sight, Garcia tried to buy time by holding Thurman in order to recover.

Round 2

Thurman landed three overhand rights in the last ten seconds of the round. Garcia tries to accumulate points by jabbing to Thurman’s body and ultimately waiting for Thurman to come to him so he can counter. However, Garcia’s counters seemed slower and less accurate than was the case when he fought Lamont Peterson. This was perhaps due to Garcia’s hesitancy to commit given Thurman’s power – Garcia frequently seemed to wait a split-second too long to counter, the counters slow perhaps because they were non-committal.

Image: Premier Boxing Champions

Garcia’s jabs to the body were not effective as he was too slow to close the distance such that the jabs were either short or he landed on the end of the punch. In order to punch the air out of Thurman, Garcia would have needed to be closer to Thurman when jabbing in order to press hard into his guts. Otherwise, the effect is nothing more than a slap to the superficial layers of the abdomen. At no point was Garcia effective when jabbing to the body.

Moreover, the prime punch for Garcia to have landed was not the jab to the solar plexus but the left hook to the liver.

Round 3

Once again Garcia had to hold onto Thurman having been hurt by a right hook thirty seconds into the round. Garcia managed to land a right hook to the body with thirty seconds left in the round. Garcia was mostly inactive.

Round 4

The pace settled down by this point. Both were landing one punch at a time, although Thurman was busier than Garcia.

Round 5

This round was won more decisively by Thurman, relying mainly on the jab and straight right hand.

Round 6

Thurman continued to outwork Garcia. By this time, Thurman’s corner began telling him that he was well ahead and that Garcia was desperate.

Round 7

Closer than the previous round, but again Thurman was busier. Garcia was visibly frustrated when warned for a low blow.

Round 8

Garcia’s half-guard defense, rolling, and slipping was impressive – Thurman was inaccurate – but Garcia failed to follow up with meaningful offense and allowed Thurman to take the round on his activity.

Image: Bloody Elbow

Round 9

Garcia did absolutely nothing while Thurman landed periodically with a jab as he mostly moved away.

Round 10

Garcia landed a right hook to Thurman’s body with one minute left. Competitive round that Thurman finished by being more active than Garcia. Throughout the fight, Thurman tried to punctuate the round by finishing with a flurry.

Round 11

Thurman moved as he pleased as Garcia failed to cut off the ring. Very similar to the previous round. It must be said, however, that part of Garcia’s inability to track Thurman down was his wariness of Thurman’s power. Indeed, cutting the ring is a means to close the distance, which Garcia was reluctant to do for concern that he would walk into Thurman’s power.

Round 12

Thurman was convinced that he won and was content to keep away while Garcia followed him.


The final scores were 116-112 Thurman, 113-115 Garcia, and 115-113 Thurman.

Thurman performance open to interpretation

Image: UCN Live

The split decision was misleading, for Thurman won decisively in my opinion. Whereas one could have hoped for more out of Garcia, the fact was that he was cherrypicked by Thurman because Thurman thought Garcia was undersized and had not had enough time to fully mature into weight class.

But let us truly understand how Thurman’s power impeded Garcia:

The strategies of Thurman and Lamont Peterson were very similar against Garcia. The difference was that Peterson is not a heavy-handed puncher even at junior welterweight. Thus Garcia though offense first, defense second; thus his counters were quicker and more accurate. Against Thurman, however, Garcia sought to counter, but the concern for Thurman’s power was so great that he was waiting for an extra length of time to be sure of himself; thus Garcia’s counters were late and slow.

Not wanting to get caught by Thurman, Garcia’s punch output was very low. For it is easier to defend oneself when one is not punching.

Garcia cut off the ring even less than he would have been capable of because doing so would have closed the difference and risked Garcia walking into Thurman’s power.

Thus, the effect of Thurman’s power against an undersized Garcia was tremendous, enough to create the appearance of a technical advantage.

One should observe some restraint and not praise Thurman to highly for having beaten a smaller man.