There used to be a time when you couldn’t mention the welterweight division without discussing Keith Thurman.

Injuries though, pushed Thurman out of the spotlight and directly out of the mind of just about everyone.

Once incredibly active, Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) fought just once in both 2016 and 2017. Nowadays, that would be an improvement. Following his win over Danny Garcia in 2017, injuries sequestered him for nearly two years. More recently, Thurman has fought just twice since July of 2019.

Seemingly fully healed, the now 36-year-old will return to the ring on March 12th in Sydney, Australia. His comeback, however, won’t take place at 147 pounds. Still, just because he’s taking on a new challenge at 154 pounds, doesn’t mean he isn’t paying attention to his old playground.

With Terence Crawford no longer around, Jaron “Boots” Ennis has become the clearcut man to beat. Thurman is older now, so cutting down to 147 pounds wouldn’t be fun. But, for a fight with Ennis, he might be willing to go through with it.

“There’s some people to fight,” admitted Thurman during a Zoom interview with MillCity Boxing. “There’s still undefeated Boots Ennis at 147 which is really the most enticing. He seems to be one of the top dogs.”

Ennis, The Ring’s No. 1 ranked welter, has always wanted to get his hands on Thurman. He’s scheduled to swap fists with Eimantas Stanionis on April 12th in a 147-pound unification.

Brock Jarvis, Thurman’s 154-pound opponent on March 12th, is receiving all of his attention. The aging former champ knows that he’s on his last legs and a loss at this point may very well close the door on his comeback. Yet, he can’t help but think about Ennis.

Ultimately, it doesn’t seem likely that they’ll share the ring. It has nothing to do with Thurman believing that Ennis brings nothing to the table. Rather, it’s all about his stomach being full from what he’s already accomplished.

“In theory, I did enough at 147.”