Lou DiBella
Thank you, everybody, for joining us for this call for what I think is going to be a Fight of the Year, if not the Fight of the Year, between champions Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia, the World Welterweight Championship Unification at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Saturday, March 4th. This will be a telecast of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING on CBS, presented by Premier Boxing Champions.
The tickets for the live event start at $50. And they’re on sale right now. There are plenty of very, very low price tickets still available out there for and we’d like as many fans as possible to be there. You can purchase your tickets online at ticketmaster.com, barclayscenter.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000 and they’re also available at the American Express Box Office at Barclays Center.
As I noted, this telecast will be SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING on CBS and the CBS telecast will be live, live at 9:00 pm, ET/6:00 pm, PT.
It’s been a great roll of boxing that ended 2016 for SHOWTIME and is beginning 2017 as the fights have been sensational in every platform that’s put out there. You know, this telecast being on CBS is a great story in itself and a great opportunity for the most eyeballs possible to see one of the very best fights you can make in all of boxing.
And I’d like to bring up to say a few words on this call the man that’s responsible for this great run for SHOWTIME, Stephen Espinoza.
Stephen Espinoza
Thanks very much, Lou.
I echo your sentiments. You know, personally, I do believe this is boxing’s most anticipated fight of the year. Both Danny and Keith are undefeated. They’re in the prime of their careers and obviously both hold major world title belts in the welterweight division. They’re both highly-skilled boxers who are also powerful punchers. And this is a rare battle of undefeated champions fighting to unify the division. It’s so rare, in fact, that this is just the tenth world title unification bout in the history of the welterweight division. This will go down among the likes of Leonard versus Hearns, Trinidad versus De La Hoya, Mayweather versus Pacquiao. This is the kind of elite company this fight is in, in being a welterweight world title unification fight.
In fact, with Keith Thurman, the WBA Champion, and Danny Garcia, the WBC Champion, they’ll be fighting to unify the exact, same titles that Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns unified in their 1981 Fight of the Year.
And our last real statistic here, this will be just the third unification fight between undefeated welterweights in boxing history. Again, only the third time in boxing history that undefeated welterweights have met to unify titles, the last being Trinidad-De La Hoya in 1999. So given the quality of this matchup and the rarity of this matchup is, it’s no wonder why we’ve selected this bout to be just the second primetime boxing event on the CBS TV network in nearly 40 years.
This showdown obviously presents huge implications in the welterweight division which has historically always been boxing’s premium division. With the retirement of Floyd Mayweather, this fight will arguably determine who is the face of the new 147-pound division and certainly deserving the spot on the pound for pound list.
With that, I’ll turn it back to Lou. Suffice to say I can’t wait until March 4th.
L. DiBella
Thank you, Stephen.
First, I’d like to bring you the WBA World Welterweight Champion with the record of 27-0 with 22 KOs, the pride of Clearwater, Florida, Keith “One Time” Thurman.
Keith Thurman
Well, I’m happy to be here, looking forward to the questions and looking forward to this fight. It’s going to be a great fight.
L. DiBella
Mr. Garcia is 33-0, 19 KOs out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, like Keith, 28 years old. Danny is the WBC World Welterweight Champion.
Danny Garcia
Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. I want to thank the media for joining us for this conference call and I’m excited about the fight on March 4. Can’t wait to unify titles that night. Thank you.
Q
Keith, what is your view of the balancing act between a great exposure but not fighting often enough, it would seem, for a top fighter?
K. Thurman
I just didn’t want to have a stay busy fight. I just wanted to have a fight that I wanted and it’s the fight that we’re getting. So if I had to wait for it, I wait for it. When fighters are staying busy, they put themselves on a certain fight schedule and then sometimes it’s hard to make the big fights happen because, this fighter is in a training camp and he’s getting ready for a fight and then the other guy starts his training camp to fight somebody else and I just wanted a fight that I want. I’m not complaining about my career. I’m not complaining about my exposure or my celebrity status. I’m not really in boxing to be a super celebrity even though there is super stardom in the sport of boxing. I’m living the dream that I’ve always wanted to live and I’m proud of it. This is a fight that I’m really looking forward to and I’m excited about it.
And then from here, I am hoping to give you guys a minimum of two fights this year. So we’ll be more active than we have been recently but things have happened last year. We have the injury, the car accident. That was a setback. And when setbacks occur, there’s nothing you can do. I’m young. I plan on being in this game for as long as I possibly can be.
So I’m not complaining at all. I’m happy to be where I am in the sport of boxing today.
Q
So are you saying that you’re willing to just wait it out and let Danny have the tune-up fight that he said that he needed and then make the fight now as opposed to trying to force the issue within the last year?
K. Thurman
This is the fight I wanted and I had no objective of waiting for it. If that’s what we needed to do, it’s not optimal, but at this stage, I can live off of one paycheck, and I was able to do that. My body went through a lot with the car accident and the rehab that I had to go through.
Last year was a big year for me. It was my 20th year anniversary in boxing, in the sport of boxing. And so even though I fought once, I got to sit back and relax and reflect and really just pat myself on the back and say, you’re champion of the world, you’ve accomplished the dreams that you Ben Getty set out for yourself as a young child. And I know it might be aggravating for fight fans, but for me, it was a blessing. I was happy to just reflect on all of my accomplishments and really just get ready to put on a tremendous performance for 2017. I got to travel the world a little bit last year and just do things for Keith Thurman and just appreciate what I’ve accomplished and the lifestyle that I’m living today.
I could have stayed busy. There were some options out there. Danny took his tune-up so that he didn’t want to go from Robert Guerrero and sitting, while I just fought Shawn Porter. So I would have been a little bit more active than them and they wanted to get back into activity and then take the big fight. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I respect that. And that’s why I waited to make this fight happen because this is the fight I wanted. I believe this is the fight the fight fans deserved. And I wanted to challenge myself and go for my second title.
Q
Keith, your thoughts about where this fight lies perhaps in the history of boxing?
K. Thurman
Boxing is all about is making history. That’s my ultimate goal is to not just make a living for myself, not just live my American dream and accomplish my goals as an athlete but my ultimate goal has been, ever since I was a child, is to make history in the sport of boxing so that when I’m done boxing, people get to remember who Keith “One Time” Thurman really was, what he brought to the welterweight division and hopefully, arguably, when people start talking about their favorite fighters and the greatest fighters of all time that there will be somebody standing in a circle who said “I really love that boy, Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman.” For me, that’s what it’s all about.
Q
Danny, your thoughts on that? About the unifying of those belts that those great fighters had and the rarity of this welterweight unifications?
D. Garcia
Yes, it feels good. It’s an honor. At the end of the day, you know, I feel like I’m this caliber of fighter. I’m an old school fighter in the streets of Philadelphia. I feel good that we fight for those titles and it gives me the opportunity to win my fourth world title.
Q
Is it part of your preparation mentality to go out there and try to prove people wrong?
D. Garcia
The critics will be the critics. They don’t know what I can do. I’ve been here before. It’s not new to me. But at the end of the day, I know what I can do and I’m a great champion, I’m a true champion and that’s what I’m going to show on March 4.
Q
Keith, tell us why you think you’re going to win on March 4th?
K. Thurman
Well, it’s because I’m an undefeated champion and I’ve never lost. I feel strong. I have a strong amateur background. He does, too. This is my life. This is what I do. I love the challenge. I love the fight game. I love another man trying to get the best of me right in front of me, going toe-to-toe with me. I just live for it.
I’ll never back down. I’m bigger than Danny naturally. He was always smaller than me in the amateurs. He’s smaller than me in the pros. He’s moving up. He might hold his weight well but I’m just a little bit bigger. So that gives me some confidence there.
We both have great records, great resumes, lots of knockouts, but I have less fights, more knockouts. So I believe that I do punch harder and that I’ll just edge him out statistically a little bit and it’s just going to come down to the fight who lands the right punches at the right time and strength and conditioning and just everything that the fight game is about. I always come prepared for this kind of fights. I’m just looking forward to it.
Nowadays, win, lose or draw, I’ll always be a champion. I’m not worried about nothing. I’m not worried about my reputation. Like I said, I’m living my dream. I’m trying to make history.
But it’s not easy to be Keith Thurman, I got an ‘0’ and I’m not afraid to let it go. If you can beat me, beat me. I’m going to shake your hand at the end of the fight. I’m going to congratulate you at the end of the fight. But I don’t bow down to nobody and I know that I’m the greatest challenge that most fighters will ever face. So that’s where my confidence comes from and, you know, I’m just looking forward in the fight. It’s going to be a great fight.
Q
Danny, same question for you, why do you feel so confident you’re going to win this fight?
D. Garcia
I’m a true champion. I’ve been in the big fights before. I’ve been in unification fights before. I feel I’m the better fighter. I always rise to the occasion. And that’s pretty much it. At the end of the day, Danny Garcia, he comes to fight and he comes to win.
Q
Is there anything in Keith’s record or how do you watch Keith’s fights, Danny, that gives you confidence that you see something that you could beat him?
D. Garcia
We did our homework. We did the math. We’re coming in the fight with a great game plan and if anything happens, then we got to adjust. But we’ve done our homework and we’re confident going into this fight.
Q
Keith, is there anything you’ve seen in watching Danny’s recent fights that tells you you’re going to be able to win?
K. Thurman
Danny has always won. He has always prevailed in his fights. But ultimately, looking at the books and everything and looking at the record, I think Danny has been in more close decisions than I have been. The closest fight that I’ve been in was my most recent fight with Shawn Porter, a fighter who knows me very well and somebody who I competed against coming off of injury and a big layoff. So we feel stronger this camp. We feel more prepared and ready for this camp. And we believe that we’ll be able to make a statement.
He just let people be in the fight with him more than I believe fighters have been in the fight with me. I think I’ve had more dominant decisions over my opponents than Garcia and that gives me confidence in winning this fight.
Q
Keith, my question is for you. Is this fight personal for you?
K. Thurman
No, man. This is a kid that I’ve known since we were kids. If anything, I’m proud of everything I’ve accomplished. I’m proud of everything he’s accomplished. He’s lived the life that I’ve lived in a different state in a different scenario. But we’re like two pit bulls. We were bred for this at a young age. We’re not new fighters. We didn’t pick up boxing yesterday. This isn’t new to us. This is the career that we chose while we were growing up. When people were trying to figure out what they want to be, we knew what we wanted to be. We knew we wanted to be fighters and this is what we wanted to do.
And I remember the day that Shawn Porter turned pro and he started to compete at 147 because Porter, as an amateur, competed at 165. And I remember when somebody passed on the knowledge that “Oh, Shawn Porter, he’s having his pro debut” and this and that and he’s fought so many fights now and he’s competing at 147, I mean, he was nobody to you guys until the reporter at the time and I knew from them I probably was actually nobody, too, and – but I knew, I said, “Oh, well, me and Shawn Porter are going to have to fight one day.” And now, me and Danny Garcia have to fight.
This is what it is, man. There are a lot of other fighters out there today that I grew up with in the amateurs and it’s just great to see so many people just accomplishing their goals and their dreams. In life, you have to fight for survival. Everyone is fighting and everyone is struggling but we fighters, we truly fight to make a name for ourselves, and it kind of makes me laugh. It was humorous to me.