Still undefeated, Keith Thurman needed to brace himself up to survive a crucial Round 7 to be able to hear the final bell and get the decision against a formidable opponent in Josesito Lopez.

It was a scary Round 7 for Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs) who was doing well in the first six rounds; outboxing, outmaneuvering, tagging Lopez with hard counters, and he eventually won those rounds.

Thurman has been out of the ring for the entire 2018. 22 months out of the ring to be exact. This is due to an injury he suffered from his last fight. His last fight was in March 2017. A split decision victory over Danny Garcia.

Although, you will not be able to notice significant ring rust on Thurman's performance as he looks sharp and precise. However, I noticed a defensive flaw. Thurman chose to use his legs and tried to fire back while he got hurt. The best possible defense is to slow the pace of the fight, hold and regain footing.

Lopez, (36-8, 19 KOs) to his credit, fought well and did what is expected of him. I expected that he would be outmaneuvered, out-boxed, and outfoxed by a technically superior opponent. But I also expect that at any point in time, he will land a solid shot that would hurt Thurman. Lopez landed the supposed to be game-changing shot, but he was short to capitalize it. He was not able to close it. Thurman was able to survive the round and pull off the decision victory.

After the successful return from a long layoff, Thurman showed interest in fighting Manny Pacquiao next. Pacquiao recently won a unanimous decision over Adrien Broner.

"I would most likely definitely take the Manny Pacquiao fight this year," Thurman said. "I feel good. That was a beautiful fight. I'm ready to fight wherever Pacquiao wants it," says Thurman.

When I walked into the gym for the first time you could hear the bags being punched, you could smell the sweat and the blood. It felt like home." - Amir Khan

"I made it my point to become something in life ... A lot of people didn't make it out, but I did." - Devon Alexander

Getting knockouts and creating knockouts, that's what 'One Time' is all about" - Keith Thurman

Saturday night is full of action-packed fights that ended with brutal knockouts. I am talking about Showtime's triple-header as the co-featured bout between Argentina wrecking machine Lucas Matthysse (35-3, 33 KO's) and resident of California John Molina (27-4, 22 KO's) turned into a bloody slug-fest. A fight that I almost missed as I slept late, catching late night fights (Kuwait time) in the UK and Germany.

However, I saw how Matthysse stops the gallant Molina in round 11. The fight already started when I tuned into my favorite live streaming site. Matthysse has been down twice -- in rounds two and five, and cut over his left eye in third round from accidental head butt. However, Matthysse returned the favor to Molina, sending him (Molina) down too, in rounds eight and 10, and then again for good.

The featured fight of the evening, the hard-hitting Keith Thurman (23-0, 21 KO's) retired the extremely game Julio Diaz won (40-10-1, 29 KO's) on his stool after the third round. Upon the advice of the Diaz corner, referee Jack Reiss stops the fight and the fight commentator told that Diaz suffered rib injury. I'm glad the fight has been short or else, I'll be late again for work, which has been the case every Sunday. However, I wanted to see more action from this fight and the crowd at Stub Hub shares my sentiment. They want more from Thurman.

In a short video interview from Showtime right after the fight Thurman said that he was disappointed.

"I was disappointed that they were disappointed, you know, but like what I said, people don't understand the power that I produce. You have to step in the ring and you know that's a judgement call on their behalf. I know I landed the body shot." stated Thurman.

He further told that he was surprised why Diaz didn't go down from the body shot.

"And you know obviously it just had a delayed reaction he probably felt it when he sit down when he was breathing and the corner made a judgement call."

He said also that he will put on more pounds and enjoy life a little bit more. Thurman has a dangerous plan in the welterweight division. I like to see him fight the hard hitters in the hottest division, the likes of Shawn Porter, Ruslan Provodnikov, Brandon Rios and even Mike Alvarado.

With the win, Thurman remains on SPB's "Top Ten Pound-for-pound Undefeated Boxers List".

Meanwhile, in an earlier fight at Ponds Forge Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom (another Lucas wins) Lucas Browne stops Eric Martel Bahoeli in round five. I struggled to finish this fight because. I wanted to sleep early for the triple header in the morning. However, the KO enabled me to finish the fight. Otherwise, if it ended a little bit longer, I might fall from my seat. Not that the fight is boring… it is actually good. Browne is fighting with adversity and won. Browne cut on the left eyelid in a 3rd round accidental head clash, and again, mid-way through the fourth round.

Well, not a bad decision to watch this fight but it cost me to missed Omar Figueroa vs. Jerry Belmontes. I read that Figueroa was disappointed about the fight but happy to get the win. I think he's not disappointed with the fight because he won. He might be disappointed with his performance.

Wladimir Klitschko vs Alex Leapai is the fight that I willfully missed. Apart from it's too late night here in Kuwait to watch that fight, come on! You know and I know what will be the outcome of this fight from the beginning. The question is that: what round Leapai will kiss the canvas goodnight. Well, the clip from Fight Saga.com in the fifth round confirmed our prediction. Klitschko knocked out Leapai in round five. He successfully defended his ABCDEFG title strap for the 16th time from a very limited challenger who landed only ten punches?