By Tom Donelson
Member Boxing Writers Association and has contributed “dmboxing” since 2008
Keith Thurman last Saturday night victory showed constant growth as he used all his arsenal against Julio Diaz. The first round showed the mismatch quickly as Thurman showed he was more than ready for the grizzly veteran Diaz as he simply hit Diaz at will. The second round saw Thurman throw punches from different angles as Diaz had no answer defensively. One combinations forced Diaz to his knee and it was a matter of time. The only drama was when the end was coming.
In the third round, Diaz managed to land the his only real meaningful punch of the night as he nailed Thurman with a left hook but a Thurman right to the body hurt Diaz’s rib. Diaz went back to his corner and he was barely able to breathe; leading his corner to stop the fight. Thurman showed defensive nuance and able to avoid many of Diaz’s haymakers and he showed quick hands to go with the power.
The other interesting fight was Lucas Matthysse going up against John Molina. Over the first five rounds, Molina knocked Matthysse down twice and hurt him repeatedly with right hands but starting in the sixth round, it was Matthysse who took control of the fight. Vicious left hooks to the body weaken Molina and Matthysse right hand hurt Molina. From the sixth round, Matthysse output tripled Molina and his punches had the more pop as he sent Molina down twice plus ended the tenth round with 15 unanswered punches forcing Molina to the rope. The fight could have ended at the end of the tenth but Molina answered the bell for the eleventh round, but Matthysse ended the fight quickly.
With Shawn Porter impressive victory over Paulie Malignaggi and Thurman victory over Diaz shows that the welterweight is not just deep in talent but has young talent on the rise. Both Porter and Thurman are not just powerful punches but have quick hands to go with power. Porter is a brawler who loves to mix it up but he does attack from peculiar angles. The most impressive aspect of his victory over Malignaggi was ability to out jab one of boxing best jabbers! Porter is a potential elite fighter and in his way of further greatness may be Keith Thurman, who is equally fast and powerful. Both fighters might be the kind of fighters who can challenge Mayweather as the old master gets older and may yet lose his quickness.
Mayweather and Maidana
Floyd Mayweather is the boxing defensive wizard and I am no longer going to bet against him. I have lost too many bets going against Floyd “Money” Mayweather and I am not betting on Maidana puncher chance to win. Maidana has a go for broke style and he has defeated a mini- Mayweather when he beat Adrien Broner but then Broner is no Mayweather. Of course, it could be argued that Maidana has already fought a fighter like Mayweather but Mayweather is one of those unique fighters who rarely get hit and rarely been in those kind of wars that shorten careers. He does what Bernard Hopkins has done for years, he plays defense and concentrate on controlling the pace of a fight. This tactics has served him well and extended his career and quickness.