Keith Thurman says Sebastian Fundora stopped him but never dropped him, unlike Manny Pacquiao
The former unified welterweight champion, who faces Vergil Ortiz Jr on 5 December, also says their fight in March was stopped too quickly.
Keith Thurman has played down Sebastian Fundora's punching power, pointing out that Fundora stopped him without ever putting him on the canvas.
Asked in an interview about his "medium schmedium" verdict on Fundora's power, Thurman said: "If he hit hard, he would have dropped me, right? Manny Pacquiao dropped me. He didn't stop me. Fundora stopped me, but he ain't dropped me, you know?"
The former unified welterweight champion also believes the fight was stopped too early. "I say they pulled the plug quickly ... let fighters finish fights. What's wrong with that?" he said.
He added: "I know we want to protect our athletes and different things, but a fight's going to be over when the fight's over, or it should be closer to over. Don't just pull the plug on the fight because it's a little uncomfortable to watch."
Fundora stopped Thurman in March and has since kept his WBC junior middleweight title with a final-second stoppage of Ermal Hadribeaj. Thurman, 37, returns against Vergil Ortiz Jr at middleweight on 5 December, in the co-main event of David Benavidez's unification bout with Michal Cieslak, live on DAZN.
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Reported by the Combat Sports UK desk. Times are UK and Irish time, and we update the report when the facts change. How we work.