Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s Manager Al Haymon Allegedly Destroying Keith Thurman’s Boxing Career

Has Floyd Mayweather Jr. been ducking a quality opponent again? How much power does Mayweather Jr.’s manager Al Haymon holds over Floyd and others fighters boxing career?

For at least one boxing writer Mark Malinowski of ringobserver.com, Floyd has been cherry-picking his opponents in recent years and avoiding one top flight fighter because of Hayman’s alleged plans to protect his own boxers at the expense of one up and coming but dangerous prospect.

READ ALSO: Floyd Mayweather Jr. Slams Manny Pacquiao's PPV Numbers, Claims Filipino Is Using His Name To Sell Chris Algieri Fight

The young boxer in question is named Keith Thurman a 25-year-old boxer out of Clearwater, Florida. Thurman has a record of 23-0-0 with 21 knockouts and pegged as the next American boxing star but has so far not landed a huge fight in his career, particularly against Mayweather Jr.

According to Malinowski, it’s not a coincidence that Thurman has yet to carve out a name in mainstream boxing and that’s because he’s fighting under Hayman, who controls both Mayweather's and Thurman's fights.

“Haymon is wasting the superstar capacities of the 25-year-old Floridian because he's committed to developing other fighters at the expense of Thurman,” Malinowski stated in his article in an obvious shot at Haymon and Mayweather Jr.

“Since Thurman first emerged vs. Quintana as a future star, Haymon, focusing primarily on Adrien Broner and Floyd Mayweather, has mistreated and mismanaged Thurman like a pawn, giving him four meaningless fights, three last year against Zaveck, Chaves and Karass and just one date this year in April, against Julio Diaz.”

Does Malinowski have a point? Are Haymon and Mayweather afraid of a talent like Thurman?

Here’s Thurman beating Carlos Quintana for the American’s breakthrough performance (go straight to the 4th round for the TKO):

(YouTube/TruthBoxing)

And here’s Thurman against Jesus Soto Karass:

(YouTube/shosports)

Malinowski continued by saying that a lot of boxing observers believe that the young Thurman is ready to face, and even upset, the likes of 35-year-old Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 knockouts) and 37-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr. (47-0-0, 26 knockouts) but that Haymon is refusing to recognise his talent by pitting him against patsy fighters.

The Ring Observer writer may be correct in his assessment of Haymon and Mayweather; after all, this is the pair which has dodged Manny Pacquiao for years now. Mayweather vs Pacquiao has beed discussed and hyped for the longest time but the super fight that could break pay-per-view (PPV) records is still just a pipe dream for all the boxing fans.

For Keith Thurman, he might just get the same treatment as Manny Pacquiao and his chance for a crack atop boxing may come after Floyd Mayweather Jr. retires in 2015.