MASAM SPORTS 33: KEITH THURMAN DEFEATS MARIO BARRIOS, LEO SANTA CRUZ OUTCLASSES KEENAN CARBAJAL
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 06 Feb 2022
After 31 months hiatus, Keith Thurman was simply unstoppable in scoring a unanimous decision win over Mario Barrios. The judges submitted scores of 118-110, 118-110 and 117-111 for Thurman at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino's Michelob ULTRA Arena.
Thurman pummeled Barrios several times but failed to knock him down. That was Thurman's first fight since losing by split decision to retired eight division champion Manny Pacquiao. After the match, Thurman underwent surgery on his left hand.
According to him, he injured one of the knuckles on the left hand after connecting with a left uppercut during the fight with Barrios.
"We rocked him, [but] we weren't able to put him down and out," Thurman was quoted by ESPN. "I want the belts, I want the champions. Whoever is willing to send Keith Thurman the contract, let's go baby."
Leo Santa Cruz won a unanimous decision in his first fight since his knockout loss to Gervonta Davis. He suffered a cut in his left eye due to an accidental head-butt in the second round. Santa Cruz fought for more than eight rounds with a cut below his right eyelid.
Santa Cruz was just too tough and skillful for Carbajal on the Keith Thurman-Mario Barrios undercard.
All three judges scored unanimously a shutout for Santa Cruz, who won 100-90 across all scorecards. Santa Cruz (38-2-1, 19 KOs) cut the 18 straight wins of Carbajal (23-3-1, 15 KOs), the great nephew of the popular light flyweight champion Michael Carbajal.
Keith Thurman Jr. is a former unified welterweight world champion, having held the WBA title from 2015 to 2019, and the WBC title from 2017 to 2018. Thurman, age 33 years, is from Clearwater, Florida, USA.
Nicknamed "One Time" for his formidable knockout power, Thurman is considered one of the hardest punchers in the welterweight division.
He is popularity known due to his fight with Manny Pacquiao who dealt his first career loss by split decision on July 20, 2019 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, USA in the process losing his WBA (Super) welterweight title.
On January 28, 2015, the World Boxing Association elevated interim WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman from interim champion to the full WBA welterweight champion.
Mario Barrios held the WBA (Regular) super lightweight title from 2019 to 2021. He lost his WBA title to Gervonta Davis by 11th round TKO on June 26, 2021 at the State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Nicknamed "El Azteca", the 26-year-old orthodox fighter is from San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Santa Cruz, age 33 years, from Huetamo, Michoacán, Mexico, now fighting out of Rosemead, California, USA, was champion in four divisions - WBA (Super) super featherweight title, WBC super bantamweight title, IBF bantamweight title and WBA (Super) featherweight title holder.
"El Terremoto" Santa Cruz was also holder of the USBA super bantamweight title and WBC Youth interim bantamweight title.
Keenan "Bedo" Carbajal is from Phoenix, Arizona, USA. The 30-year-old orthodox fighter was an International Boxing Organization international featherweight champion, World Boxing Council Latino featherweight champion and International Boxing Federation Latino featherweight champion.
Keith Thurman was the favorite -195 as against Mario Barrios +160 in their 12 round welterweight fight. Leo Santa Cruz was also a favorite -1400 versus Keenan Carbajal +800 in their 10 round junior lightweight match.
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