Keith Thurman retained the WBA Super World Welterweight Championship by defeating Californian native Josesito Lopez in a thrilling and spectacular battle at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The victory came via majority decision, with scorecards reading 117-109, 115-111 and 113-113.

Thurman had not fought since March of 2017, when he defeated Danny Garcia in Brooklyn in another exciting brawl. Josesito nearly suffered early defeat when he went to the canvas in the second round, but he got up to cause Keith lots of problems – especially in the seventh round.

With his wealth of experience, Thurman managed to survive some tough moments and in the end he did enough to have his hands held in victory, despite the rocky moment in the fight – including being stunned and hurt by Lopez.

With the result, Thurman improved his record to 29-0 with 22 knockouts. Lopez’s record fell to 36-8 with 19 knockouts. With Lopez’s good showing it is likely that he will get another big opportunity down the road, while champion Thurman will surely look for a bigger fight in 2019.