During the final press conference for this weekend’s welterweight fight between Keith Thurman and Mario Barrios, Thurman shares his thoughts on his return after a long hiatus and his plans to regain another world title — despite already considering himself a champion. Check out what he had to say below.
“This is what I do for a living. I just love to fight,” Thurman said. “We were amateurs once upon a time. I used to do this for a trophy, I used to do it for a medal, I used to fight to make my momma and my daddy proud. Now I get to feed my family. So, yeah, at the end of the day maybe there’s another fight (before I can get a title shot). The WBC said I’m a title eliminator to a title eliminator.
“First off WBC, Keith Thurman relinquished the belt. Okay, you didn’t have to come to me and strip me of my world title. I gave the belt back to you! Why? Man, I let you make more money, WBC. I gave up the belt so that you could go tax somebody else and go be with somebody else! That’s still my belt! Pacquiao beat me but nobody stripped me of the WBC. So first off, WBC, ABC, WBA, them alphabet boys, they need to figure that stuff out. I’m a champion, period.”