Keith Thurman is ending a three-year layoff in March.
The former unified welterweight champion will battle Australia’s Brock Jarvis at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on Wednesday, March 12, Australian promoter No Limit confirmed Tuesday with Uncrowned.
Thurman (30-1-1, 22 KOs) won the secondary WBA welterweight title in 2015 and was upgraded to full champion before beating Shawn Porter in 2016. The American edged Danny Garcia in a WBA/WBC unification bout the following year, which was watched by more than 5 million viewers on CBS, making it at the time the highest-viewed boxing broadcast in the U.S. in almost 20 years.
Thurman, 35, lost his belt to Manny Pacquiao in July 2019 by split decision and has only fought once in the past five years, winning a 2022 unanimous decision over Mario Barrios, the current WBC welterweight champion .
Thurman was scheduled to battle Tim Tszyu for the WBO super welterweight strap in March 2024 but had to withdraw just 12 days before the fight was scheduled to take place due to a torn bicep muscle. Thurman’s return now comes against another Australian fighter, Jarvis.
Jarvis (22-1, 20 KOs) was one of the top prospects in Australian boxing when he signed with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom in 2021. He had to come through fire to edge Alejandro Frias Rodriguez in his U.S. debut, and in his second fight with Hearn’s Matchroom in October 2022, he was knocked out in highlight-reel fashion in the opening round by Liam Paro.
The Jeff Fenech-trained fighter had to once again overcome adversity to win his return fight against the little-known Marlon Paniamogan in 2023. The run of poor performances forced Jarvis to reconsider his career and training setup. He did eventually make a ring return this past December, stopping Adrian Rodriguez in Sydney.
Jarvis had been linked with a pay-per-view contest against Nikita Tszyu, but he has instead landed a massive shot at one of U.S. boxing’s biggest names of the past generation.
