Few divisions are as meaningful to American boxing in 2026 as super welterweight.
At a time in which the sport is perceived to be in relative disarray, with broadcast options limited for traditional promoters and some of boxing’s biggest names embroiled in litigation, the breadth of the 154-pound division is a beacon of positive light amid the darkness.
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One man who has stood on the outside and now returns to the ring for another swing at greatness is Keith Thurman.
“One Time” Thurman was a near-mainstay competing under the HBO and Showtime banners throughout the 2010s as a unified welterweight champion. But since his prime years spent beating the likes of Robert Guerrero, Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia, the sport has undergone drastic changes. And few are aware of that as well as Thurman.
But, as the 37-year-old told Uncrowned ahead of his challenge of Sebastian Fundora for the WBC super welterweight championship in Las Vegas this Saturday, March 28, that knowledge is one of the core reasons for his return.
“We’re in a little bit of limbo,” Thurman said. “There’s been a transition ever since HBO and Showtime dropped out, as now you have new platforms like Paramount+, Amazon Prime, and things happening on Netflix — all the streaming services.
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“There’s a big shift. And this has got nothing to do with Donald Trump, but Keith Thurman is here to make American boxing great again, baby. Come on. Let’s make some of the greatest and most exciting fights that we can make happen, back in Las Vegas, and just represent American boxing.”
“We have the talent,” Thurman added. “We just have got to get busy with [more dates on] the platforms.”
As Thurman mentioned, it is almost absurd to diagnosis the nation’s problems within the sweet science as an issue of ability, considering Americans are dominating the pound-for-pound rankings, with Devin Haney (No. 8), David Benavidez (7), Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (5) and Shakur Stevenson (3) all comfortably inside Uncrowned’s rankings of the top-10 fighters in the world. Fundora, perhaps, isn’t far behind either.
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“You can plan for a pretty picnic but you can’t predict the weather,” Thurman said, acknowledging that most of U.S. boxing’s biggest problems presently exist outside of the ring.
“There are problems with networking contracts, athletes and injuries, or whatever it is they’re doing with miscellaneous activities. Look, we’re just a bunch of human beings trying to do our best out here. The world keeps going around. And somebody is going to promote boxing one way or another.”
One somebody now promoting boxing is UFC boss Dana White, who, with help from WWE President Nick Khan, 360 Promotions founder Tom Loeffler, and Saudi fight financier Turki Alalshikh, have created Zuffa Boxing on Paramount+.
Keith Thurman (right) challenges Sebastian Fundora for the WBC super welterweight title on Saturday.
(Kevork Djansezian via Getty Images)
“I don’t see it, clearly, as the best of the best. I see it as potentially B+,” Thurman said of Zuffa’s roster and assumed trajectory. “Zuffa is young. Let’s see what they’re able to do, and maybe they’ll create their own superstar. That’s what their intentions are, with somebody taking off as the new Ryan Garcia or Conor McGregor.
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“It’s just going to take a little time. Then, they’ll have to get more notoriety and consistency. My buddy ‘Hot Rod’ Radivoke Kalajdzic got a win over there [against Oleksandr Gvozdyk]. It’s time to see him win a great fight where he steps up a level of competition. We’ve always believed in his skills.”
One thing Thurman keeps coming back to is how everyone in the business is looking for the spark that rekindles American boxing’s boom periods from before. “I hope I can be the catalyst,” he said.
“Thurman vs. Fundora will create great things for American boxing once again.”
Saturday’s fight is Thurman’s chance to remind the sport how great he was — and potentially remains — while also providing a doorway for what he now covets most. He says he’s determined to defeat Fundora, take the 28-year-old’s world title to become a three-time champion himself, and defend that belt twice this year, at least.
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“This is a great fight,” he said. “Not only for me as an opportunity to win a world title for the first time since 2019, but for Fundora — there’s nobody on his résumé who matches mine. And both of us can really make a name for ourselves and make a historical statement on Prime Video.”
Thurman doesn’t just want to make a statement in the ring against Fundora, but in subsequent fights. He’s open to jumping across multiple divisions to take on the best available challengers from welterweight to middleweight.
Of course, there is no greater challenge than Terence Crawford, despite “Bud’s” retirement following his extraordinary win over Saul “Canelo” Alvarez last year. Thurman, though, has name value, championship pedigree, and could present an intriguing temptation for Crawford in an otherwise barren middleweight division.
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“Winning right here, and reestablishing myself as champion, to get ‘Bud’ to come out of retirement — we can run it one time with the ‘One Time’ for the fans, for legacy,” Thurman said. “It feels like a fight that should have happened, even though it never did. And maybe there’s a small window of opportunity.”
He finished: “For somebody who’s claiming retirement, you’d have to make it entice them back.”
To do so, Thurman must first extinguish the “Towering Inferno” that is Fundora.
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