Keith Thurman is interested in taking on Terence Crawford in his next fight.
The former world champion marked a return to the ring for the first time since 2019 when he beat Mario Barrios in a convincing display.
Thurman admitted he would prefer to fight the winner of WBA champion Yordenis Ugas and Errol Spence Jr., who holds the WBC and IBF straps.
The win against Barrios was an eliminator for the WBC to rank Thurman after almost three years away from the sport, but Thurman accepted he would be willing to fight for Crawford’s WBO strap.
“Well, you know, the fact that he’s a free agent should make things a little bit better,” Crawford said after his win. “Working with Bob [Arum] is not fun for a lot of fighters. At the end of the day, I’m not sure.
“They’ve been asking me for a long time, ‘Where are you ranked, Keith Thurman?’ And I say, ‘Pfft. I don’t know. I’m one of the best fighters in the world. Who cares what rank they give me, what number they give me, what position they give me?’ You know, I do wanna fight champions. I’m gonna be looking forward to getting in the ring with a champion. I want an opportunity to get a world title again. So, if [Crawford is] the best opportunity, I’ll take it.”
Discussing the chance to meet either Ugas or Spence, he explained: “I always loved great fights.
“I love making exciting fights in the welterweight division. But like I said, you see what I’m representin’ right now. So, this might be the ladder that I’m climbing. We know that Errol Spence-Yordenis Ugas, none of these fights woulda manifested if Keith Thurman didn’t lose to Manny Pacquiao. So, there was a shift in matchups once when I fell out of championship status.
“So, I had the WBA, I had the WBC. I relinquished the WBC. Nobody beat me for the WBC world title. You know, so those belts, I want back in my possession. I do like the fight with Terence Crawford, but we’ll just have to see what opens up, what really negotiates, how stubborn we get when it comes to what kind of split there is. You know, it’s just business from here on out. I do like the fight, though.”