IT’S been nine months since Keith Thurman suffered the first setback of his boxing career following a split decision loss to Manny Pacquiao in their world welterweight title bout.
If not for that split second when he said he lowered his guard against the Filipino boxing icon, Thurman believes he would still be unbeaten up to now.
The 31-year-old Thurman admitted relaxing a little bit in the opening round of his fight against Pacquiao at the MGM Grand last July, a small opening which the Pacman pounced on to score the fight’s first and only knockdown.
Until that left-right combination sent him down to the canvas, Thurman believed he was actually winning the round.
“I just wanted to take control at the start of the bell, and I felt like I did everything I wanted to do until I decided to take my first step back,” Thurman recalled during the Holy Week and at a time when action in all of boxing and sports in general came to a halt due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“He (Pacquiao) jumped right on me and created the first knockdown in the first round. I’m a little disappointed because I was being aggressive and thought, ‘I’m going to take a step back and relax for one moment.”

But one can’t do that against a great and experienced fighter like Pacquiao.
“I was just laughing it off. But it was a mistake. Moving straight backward, boxers know, coaches know, moving straight back, it’s not good for your balance,” Thurman said in an interview with Inside PBC (Premier Boxing Championship).
“I was controlling the round, he didn’t do a lot of action, and he just threw the right punch at the right time.”
Thurman managed to get back into the fight and made it a competitive one until a vicious body shot in the 10th round stopped him on his track and allowed Pacquiao to gain control anew.
“That shot right there (to the body) hurt. I needed to take a breath. It was more devastating than the knockdown in the first round,” said the American fighter from Florida. “You either didn’t feel that body shot, and you can take it and keep moving, or actually knocks the wind out of you quickly.”

Thurman managed to survive the storm and finished the fight on his feet.
In the end, Pacquiao won by split decision as judges Dave Moretti and Tim Cheatham scored it 115-112 for the Filipino, while Glen Feldman had Thurman winning, 114-113, after scoring the last two rounds in the latter's favor.
Looking back, Thurman believes that first-round knockdown where he became a bit complacent made all the difference.
“I was pushing not to lose. Of course, I want to win, but I knew the momentum was not in my favor,” he said.
“So to force a draw is victorious enough. It was an exciting fight. But the judge had Pacquiao winning by one point out of 12 rounds. So if it’s a one-point decision, that’s like losing in a footrace by one foot,” Thurman added. “One point means that it was the knockdown that was the final say so in the match, and I accepted that.”

The loss left Thurman with a 29-1 record including 22 KOs, but earned for him a whopping $8 million in prize purse.
The bout likewise became a strong contender for the 2019 Fight of the Year.
“It was a lot of fun. There’s a part of me that actually didn’t want the fight to end,” said Thurman in parting.T
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