After a lay-off of over three years, Keith Thurman makes a comeback on Wednesday, and in Australia of all places, as the American moves up to super welterweight to face home hope Brock Jarvis over a scheduled ten rounds for the vacant WBA International title.
No Limit Boxing Promote Thurman vs Jarvis, and Fox televise in the host country.
Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) has method in his madness for taking this assignment Down Under, as ‘One Time’ looks to set up a meeting with Tim Tszyu, but after fighting just once in nearly six years, there is a fair but of rust to shake off for the Floridian.
At welterweight, Thurman was elevated to full WBA champion in 2015, and defended against the likes of Robert Guerrero (UD12), Luis Collazo (RTD7) and Shawn Porter (UD12) before adding the WBC crown with a split decision win over Danny Garcia in 2017.
After defeating Josesito Lopez in January 2019 via majority decision, Thurman would then lose his unbeaten record as Manny Pacquiao dropped him en route to a split verdict victory. Injuries would force Thurman out of action for over two years, with his last contest coming in February 2022, a wide points win over Mario Barrios.
Injuries have again played their part in his latest long hiatus, and New South Wales native Jarvis (22-1, 20 KOs) will look to exploit that inactivity here. The 27-year-old made his name with several early wins, but was then derailed in October 2022 when he was wiped out inside a round against fellow Aussie Liam Paro.
Jarvis has won twice since in low-key company, and moved up from super lightweight, weighing 158 pounds in his latest outing, a December 2024 fourth round stoppage against Adrian Rodriguez in Sydney.
Prediction: I think this contest rests on how quickly Thurman can get back into his groove, and if he has sufficiently shaken off injuries and inactivity. If he can get through the early fire of Jarvis, I expect him to box his way to a clear points win.
Zerafa takes on Ay
Michael Zerafa (32-5, 20 KOs) makes his first appearance of 2025, and he takes on Germany’s Besir Ay (19-1, 9 KOs) over a scheduled ten rounds at middleweight. Zerafa lost a rematch via majority decision to Jeff Horn in 2019, and then won four in a row, but opened 2024 with a heavy second round knockout loss to Erislandy Lara.
Zerafa returned in August last year, forcing Tommy Browne to retire after a round of their meeting due to injury. Ay fights outside of Germany for the first time, and is coming off winning the vacant IBO Continental bauble, outscoring Milos Beranek over ten last October.
Prediction: Zerafa should still have enough in the tank here to prevail on the scorecards.
Further undercard preview
In further ten round meetings, Cesar Mateo Tapia (17-0-1, 10 KOs) can win the vacant IBF International middleweight title by taking a points win against Sergei Vorobev (20-2-2, 14 KOs), and Tonga Togotongo (9-0, 9 KOs) can win the battle of perfect records against Kirra Ruston (4-0, 4 KOs) inside schedule at light heavyweight.
The vacant IBF International super flyweight title can be claimed by Linn Sandstrom (9-3-3, 2 KOs) with a win on the scorecards over Venezuela’s Yoselin Fernandez (16-6, 9 KOs).
In six rounders, Angel Rushton (4-2, 1 KO) can win her super featherweight clash with Nadia Flalhi (7-4, 1 KO) on points, and welterweight prospect Jason Fawcett (8-2, 1 KO) can do the same against Kohei Hatanaka (1-1, 1 KO).
Over five, Charlie Kazzi (7-0, 3 KOs) can win his lightweight meeting with Nort Beauchamp (19-8-1, 3 KOs) early, and Sonny Knight (4-0, 3 KOs) can also win by stoppage against Jordan Martin (4-2, 0 KOs) at super welterweight. At welterweight, Jacob Clenshaw (4-0-1, 4 KOs) can win on the cards against Kavana Vaotu’ua (2-4, 2 KOs).
