Keith Thurman extends unbeaten streak with Josesito Lopez win
Thurman wants Pacquiao next: "I'd even fight him in the Philippines if I have to."
Sunday 27 January 2019 07:52, UK
Keith Thurman retained his WBA welterweight world title on his return to the ring after earning a majority decision over Josesito Lopez in New York.
Thurman had been out of the ring for almost two years but he showed no signs of ring rust as he controlled the early rounds and knocked Lopez down with a huge left hook to the chin in the second.
He weathered a storm in the middle rounds, with Lopez unleashing a fierce barrage in the seventh that had the champion in trouble.
But Thurman was deemed the winner by two judges by scores of 115-111 and 117-109 with the third seeing it a 113-113 draw.
"The champ is back!" said Thurman, who was forced to surrender his WBC belt due to his injury lay-off but retained his WBA "super" world title, one rung above the "regular" WBA belt held by Manny Pacquiao.
Thurman, who improved to 29-0 with 22 wins inside the distance, said he is ready to take on the Filipino ring icon before the year is out.
"Maybe Brooklyn, maybe Vegas, wherever Manny Pacquiao wants it," Thurman said. "I'd even fight him in the Philippines if I have to."
On the undercard, Polish-born, Brooklyn-based heavyweight Adam Kownacki remained unbeaten with a spectacular second-round technical knockout of former world title challenger Gerald Washington.
Kownacki improved to 19-0 with 15 wins inside the distance. He sent Washington to the canvas with a massive right hand in the second round before the referee stopped the bout after a barrage of punches from Kownacki.
Mongolia's unbeaten featherweight Tugstsogt Nyambayar (11-0) also extended his unbeaten run with a points win over Claudio Marrero in WBA title eliminator.
Meanwhile, Xu Can became just the third world champion from China as he beat Puerto Rican Jesus Rojas on points to claim the WBA 'regular' featherweight title in Houston.
In the featured bout, Jaime Munguia earned a unanimous decision over Japan's Takeshi Inoue to retain WBO super-welterweight title.
