It had been more than a year since Keith Thurman – 37 years old and a veteran of 32 previous professional fights – stepped into a ring for a prizefight, and he was grateful to have been there.

But that was where the gratitude ended.

Thurman, 31-2 (23 KOs), a former welterweight belt holder, challenged junior middleweight titlist Sebastian Fundora on Saturday at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and was battered in a sixth-round stoppage loss.

It had been nearly a decade since Thurman won a split decision over Danny Garcia to capture a 147lbs belt at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and it had been more than three years since Thurman ended a two-and-a-half-year layoff on the heels of his only other career defeat, to Manny Pacquiao in another split decision.

An argument could be made that Thurman, after having been through his share of wars at boxing’s highest levels, deserved to sort things out between the ropes against Fundora on his own terms. Another argument says that, given Thurman's age and the pillar-to-post beating he was taking Saturday, he needed to be spared from his own worst instincts.

Thurman – despite the copious bruising, cuts and swelling splashed across his face in a postfight interview – rejected the first argument.

“First off, it was just a great fight,” he said. “Thank God. Man, it's beautiful: boxing, big stage – it felt good to be on that stage once again. Fundora is a tremendous champion. But whoever the fuck that referee was, don't hire him for main event shit ever again, man – real talk.”

The referee in question – Thomas Taylor, objectively considered one of boxing’s best – stepped in with 1 minute and 17 seconds remaining in the sixth round to wave off the fight after Thurman absorbed roughly a dozen unanswered blows as Fundora stalked him around the ring.

Thurman – a respectable contender who has fought Robert Guerrero, Shawn Porter, Josesito Lopez and Mario Barrios, in addition to Garcia, Pacquiao and others, over a 19-year pro career – thought he had earned the right to fight through adversity against Fundora.

“Do you remember Eric Morales versus Marcos Maidana?” he said. “Do you remember how many times people fought with broken orbital bones? It's just not even broken, man. I never got dropped in the whole fight. I'm getting caught on the back end of punches.”

Although Thurman wasn’t wrong in his assessment, he was inarguably rocked in the fifth by a Fundora left hand that dramatically buckled his knees and very nearly sent him to the canvas. Fundora, 24-1 (16 KOs), whose 6ft 6ins height and length was an unsolvable puzzle for Thurman all evening, was increasingly having his way in the round – and carried his bruising dominance into the sixth.

“The referee told me in the locker room, ‘Show me something, move your feet, duck your head, I won't stop the fight,’” Thurman said. “I'm using my legs. I'm getting caught on the back end of punches. I wasn't buckled. He just jumped in like a white rabbit, man.

“The fight was just getting fun! The people were standing on their feet. We were just getting into the grind, you know? And [Fundora] was getting really comfortable swinging wide, swinging big, swinging wide. Because he's young, because he trains hard, he put that press – because he's a volume puncher – he put that press [on], and the referee reacted to that.”

The defense was roughly as effective as that of Thurman in the ring against Fundora, who was praised by his opponent. A defeat is never easy to confront for a fighter who has won so often as Thurman, and clarity may be even more elusive when facing one’s career mortality – though Thurman wasn’t ready to go down that road.

“As an O.G., man, four more minutes, it would have been a lot of fun, I promise you,” Thurman said. “Four more minutes, and he could have made a mistake right in front of me. Man, I was waiting for it. I knew it was going to be one of these kinds of tough fights against a young champion, and I had a long-term vision. But the ref didn't let me get that, man. So it was unfortunate. But I'm grateful, you know, I'm OK. I'm able to talk to you guys. I don't need to be in the hospital. Everything is what it is.

“I'll be back, man. I want to do great things in boxing once again. And I’m gonna come back harder, and I’m gonna come back stronger.”

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.