Keith Thurman to Fight Luis Collazo on ESPN’s Inaugural Premier Boxing Champions Card

Sports media giant ESPN just announced that their debut fight card for the new Premier Boxing Champions events will be headlined by welterweight titlist Keith Thurman defending his belt against Luis Collazo.

Thurman last fought in March at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where he toppled Robert Guerrero over 12 rounds in what was PBC’s debut event on primetime NBC. The bout against Collazo will be televised live on ESPN on July 11 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The network announced that preliminary bouts will be streamed live on ESPN3.com.

The Thurman-Collazo clash will reportedly take place at a venue near Thurman’s hometown of Clearwater, Fla. Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) tried landing a bout with undisputed pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather after ‘One Time’ defeated Guerrero, but with the knockout artist fighting in July and with ‘Money’ likely competing in September, that sort of super bout likely won’t occur, at least this year.

Still, Thurman has to get past Collazo, a tricky veteran who has taken on some of the very best in the sport. Collazo (36-6, 19 KOs) has competed against the likes of Amir Khan, Shane Mosley, Andre Berto, Victor Ortiz and Ricky Hatton and likely won’t be fazed by Thurman’s rising star.

According to ESPN.com’s report, the co-main event is slated to be a junior middleweight encounter between Tony Harrison (21-0, 18 KOs) and Willie Nelson (23-2-1, 13 KOs). The card will be the first of 24 monthly telecasts of PBC events on ESPN, which will replace the long-running ESPN’s Friday Night Fights show. The contract between PBC and ESPN runs through July 2017.