Photo: Keith Thurman on Twitter
Unified welterweight champ Keith Thurman has undergone successful elbow surgery that will keep him out of the ring for the remainder of 2017.
Thurman is coming off a decision win over Danny Garcia despite experiencing pain on his right elbow throughout the fight. Calcium deposits were discovered by his doctor and on April 19, Dr. Riley Williams performed the surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. Thurman is now undergoing therapy and was told he’d need six months to recover.
“I had loose bodies in the elbow, similar to what baseball pitchers have. They had to go in and take out the loose bodies and calcium deposits,” Thurman said. “It was getting in the way of the hinging of the elbow and when I threw a punch. It was causing pain and inflammation. I noticed it before the Danny Garcia fight. There was no way to get rid of it without the surgery. I’m healing and getting the function back so that I can be pain free.”
Thurman added, “One thing for sure, the doctor doesn’t want me to rush back into action. You can’t jump back into the race too soon. It might start to feel good after a month or two, but you don’t want to rush it. My right elbow’s job is to launch punches like a missile. It might feel good, but it might not be able to sustain that. It might cause inflammation to develop, and then you have to wait to let it calm down and feel better. I figure a 4-month recovery will be quick. The doctor recommended 6 months of no action, before training. I won’t rush it.”
The May 27 clash between Kell Brook and Errol Spence Jr. will be on Thurman’s sights.
“I’ll be tuning in and looking forward to the belt coming back to America and looking forward to seeing what Kell Brook has to offer at 147 pounds.”
