WBA champion Keith Thurman tops crowded welterweight division

With Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao retired from boxing, it should be a dull time in the welterweight division.

Not at all.

The World Boxing Association title fight between champion Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter on June 25 on Showtime on CBS is highly anticipated. And recently, Errol Spence Jr. called out Thurman to fight him. Spence knocked out Chris Algieri on April 16 in Brooklyn, New York.

“The welterweight division is in a frenzy right now,” Thurman said. “Everybody wants to be the top dog, especially now that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are retired.”

Thurman knows what Spence is going through.

“Am I mad at Errol Spence for being in my shoes and my situation where I was three years ago, knowing you have the skills and the ability to be the champion of the world?” Thurman said. “Feel like you can take on everybody, and so what do you want to do? You want to call out the dude at the top. Who am I? But the man at the top.

“For me, the man at the top was Floyd. What did Floyd do? Not acknowledge me. Am I going to treat Errol like that? No, I’m not going to treat Errol like that. I’m going to acknowledge the boy. You have the right to say what you want to do. You put on a great performance. I don’t care that Chris Algieri is a chump. It’s about making the chumps look like a chump. He showcased his talent and his skills on that night, and he looked great doing it. Did he fight the best in the world? No, he didn’t.”

Thurman said Spence may get his shot someday, but not anytime soon.

“We got tons of fighters in the welterweight division,” Thurman said. “And we have people who have what I call ‘Spotlight Priority’ over Spence. There’s people on my list that’s higher than him. But the real thing about Errol Spence is — I think it’s a fight that can happen. I don’t think it’s a fight that will happen this year. I do think it’s a fight that is worth not ducking. Not dodging. But building.”

VARGAS-BROOK DEAL — Jessie Vargas, the World Boxing Organization welterweight champ, is looking at an August fight in England against Kell Brook, the International Boxing Federation champ.

Vargas (27-1, 10 knockouts), who won the belt March 5 against Sadam Ali in Washington, D.C., has been looking for a high profile fight. He has been stumping for a unification fight with World Boxing Council champ Danny Garcia.

But Vargas’ manager, Cameron Dunkin, said a fight with Brook (36-0, 25 KOs), who won the title from Porter in 2014, has a better chance of happening. He was referring to Garcia fighting for Premier Boxing Champions, which is run by Al Haymon. Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, whose company promotes Vargas, filed a lawsuit against Haymon last year and can’t stand doing business with him.

“It’s an easy fight to make,” Dunkin said of the Brook bout. “It’s a million-dollar fight for Jessie. It’s a title unification fight. Jessie wants to have all the belts. And it’s a big name.”

The fight would be televised on pay per view in Europe. Dunkin said putting the fight on TV in the United States would need to be worked out.

“We’d have to travel, but Jessie has been fighting more and more outside of Las Vegas,” Dunkin said. “We’re just waiting to hear from Bob.”

CRAWFORD-POSTOL SET — Terence Crawford will return to Las Vegas on July 23 to defend his WBO junior middleweight belt against WBC champ Viktor Postol in the main event on a card at the MGM Grand Garden. The fight will be shown on HBO Pay Per View.

“It’s the best fight that can be made in the 140-pound division,” Arum said.

Arum said Crawford, who does big numbers when he fights in his native Omaha, Nebraska, won’t have to sell out a 16,200-seat building in July.

“We’re going to scale it to 8,000,” Arum said. “He’s going to bring a lot of his fans from Omaha, and we’ve watched him grow into a very marketable fighter since he fought at Mandalay Bay.”

Crawford last fought in Las Vegas in March 2013, when he outpointed Breidis Prescott at Mandalay Bay.

Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow on Twitter: @stevecarprj