Keith “One Time” Thurman was interviewed by Ak & Barak on DAZN and he had time to reflect on his only career loss to Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao.
The former unified welterweight world champion gave his honest opinion of how the fight went and what it was like going toe to toe with the Filipino legend.
“He is everything I ever said he was,” Thurman told Ak & Barak.
“He is a little bunny rabbit who hops around and jumps at you with those little T-Rex arms. It is what it is man.
“We know certain things about certain athletes, it don’t mean you can stop it. We know certain things bout certain athletes. He just got me man. I think that the whole performance came down to Pacquiao throwing the right punches at the right time. Keeping his hands up, and seeing the bigger picture. Seeing the W. He wasn’t like I’m going to destroy this kid, but he as just real nice and easy.
“He did everything in the book, probably listened to Freddie Roach in his corner and they executed a good gameplan. Like my old trainer used to say smart fighters win, dumb fighters lose. I give him props because regardless of how close the fight was, he excited a very smart game plan. The judges gave it to him, it’s his fight.”
Thurman also gave first hand experience on the knockdown he suffered in the first round and claims he wasn’t hurt or felt threatened at all by Pacquiao after the knockdown.
“I definitely wasn’t hurt,” Thurman said of the flash knockdown in the first round of his fight with Manny Pacquiao.
“I was debating that earlier today and I don’t know if it was because I knew this interview was coming but I was thinking fight thoughts.
“The knockdown bothered me. I didn’t feel threatened. Moving backwards really helped that knockdown. He kinda jumped in at the right time,” added Thurman.
“He was very inactive in the first round. I felt like he was feeling me out and maybe he was gonna let it go. At that moment I felt like he’s doing nothing and that is when he sprung in to do something and that is why I keep saying he threw the right punch at the right time. It’s really hard to do that when I was dominating the whole round. I’m in it really nice. I felt focused and the one moment I take my focus away is the moment he attacks, the moment he strikes.
“It was just a well placed punch at the right time,” continued Thurman.
“He caught me with the momentum and when I got up I didn’t feel shaky, I didn’t feel wobbly. I didn’t feel buzzed, I didn’t feel fearful. I did have to acknowledge it was still a power punch. I did feel the connection and he does have small little heavy hands, but not the biggest threat. Sometimes I say you might get knocked down but you know you are not getting knocked out.”
