Keith Thurman on COVID and Leo Santa Cruz on KO loss

Former champions Keith Thurman and Mario Barrios mix it up on Feb. 5. Both were on call to discuss their upcoming 2022 boxing bout. 

Keith Thurman and Leo Santa Cruz have been inactive for a while, but both return to the ring on Feb. 5. During a recent call, both discussed reasons for their layoffs.

Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs) dropped his first loss to Manny Pacquiao in 2019 and hasn’t fought since. The pandemic hit in 2020, which didn’t help, but the pandemic personally impacted Thurman.

“When we were trying to get back for this year, and within the last quarter, I contacted with COVID after working the Pacquiao fight in Las Vegas,” Thurman told FanSided on the media call. “That was a very exciting night. That was the last fight of his career.

“Someway, somehow, by the time I got home, got the sick man. Didn’t make a big deal about it, but it did set my, what we were already working for because those on TV saw that I was doing some weight management. I had a protocol at that time, and we just had to push everything back.”

Keith Thurman will battle Mario Barrios, and Leo Santa Cruz will clash with Keenan Carbajal on Fox pay-per-view on Feb. 5

Thurman’s admission that he contracted COVID while doing commentary work for Pacquiao’s last fight in a losing effort against Yordenis Ugas in August 2021 was a new revelation. He stated that he bounced back from his illness and is ready to resume his boxing career.

Santa Cruz fights Keenan Carbajal on the undercard at the Feb. 5 pay-per-view Fox boxing event. Santa Cruz (37-2-1, 19 KOs) hasn’t fought since getting devastatingly knocked out by Gervonta Davis in round 6 of their 2020 contest. Santa Cruz told FanSided that he was impacted mentally by his first knockout defeat.

“It was a little bit hard because I got knocked out,” Santa Cruz told FanSided on the call. “It didn’t go my way, but after going back home, hearing comments from the fans, they talked to me, and they said that I was doing a great fight. That nothing to feel bad for because I was doing a great fight.”

Santa Cruz also revealed on the call that he dealt with some depression after the defeat, but he seems over the loss and is ready to pick up from where he left off before the Davis loss.

Thurman is a former welterweight champion, and Santa Cruz is a four-weight class world champion. Both are eager to try and regain their past success.

Thurman gets his chance against Mario Barrios, while Santa Cruz will battle Carbajal on an exciting fight card that should answer questions for both former champions.