It's clear that Keith Thurman is about to take on the biggest fight of his professional boxing career. The unbeaten WBA "super" welterweight champion will meet Manny Pacquiao come July 20, who happens to be one of the greatest boxers of this generation.
Pacquiao has headlined numerous PPV shows, has earned hundreds of millions of dollars, and was the one-half of the most lucrative boxing event in history - his unanimous-decision defeat to Floyd Mayweather in 2015. And yet, Thurman doesn't feel like he is the proverbial 'B' side of this promotion.
When asked after a recent press conference in Manhattan if he feels defeating the Philippines' Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs) will make him the 'A' side of his next pay-per-view fight, Thurman was quick to dismiss the idea.
"There ain't no 'I'm on the B side,'" Thurman said. "How am I on the B side? That's just advertisement purposes, playa. You know what I mean? When I fought Danny Garcia, we had it both sides. You had Thurman versus Garcia and Garcia versus Thurman. Why? Because it's both champions. You know what I mean? I'm not gonna argue over the petty things. That's petty, boy. That's petty."
"You wanna come out first, you wanna come out second - that's petty. You know what I mean? So, like Manny Pacquiao, to him trash talk is petty because he wanna fight. Announcing who's this and banners that, that's petty to me, too, because I already know I'm gonna win."
The promotional materials for their upcoming PPV fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas all have Pacquiao's name appear first. When Thurman fought Garcia in 2017, he had his name first in some items and second on others.
Pacquiao's name appears first on all the promotional materials for their FOX Sports Pay-Per-View fight July 20 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. That fight, which Thurman won by split decision, drew a peak audience of 5,100,000 on CBS.
Earlier this week, the two boxers were involved in a two-city media tour in the United States. In their recent US press tour, Thurman was 21 pounds overweight, and proceeds to claim that he has "a bit of a sweet tooth." He's still adamant on retiring Pacquiao from the sport and calls the Filipino boxing champ a "T-Rex," and that "he loves to quote the Bible and he is getting crucified."
"I will have him eat his words," Pacquiao responded.
