By Ryan Burton

The March 4th battle between Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia had the highest prime time audience for boxing in decades. The fight was a special Showtime card that was presented by Premier Boxing Champions on free-to-air CBS.

Thurman ended up winning a split decision in a fight that most people thought he won clearly.  Former two-division champion Jessie Vargas was among those that tuned in and thought it was decent fight but that both fighters should have tried to turn up the action in the fight that slowed down after the first few rounds.

He thought that Thurman in particular was in position to try to put an exclamation point on his performance.

"I thought it was a good fight.  The right person got the victory but I think that they should have gave more to their fans," said Vargas.  "Thurman it seems like had control of the fight for most of the 12 rounds. He boxed when he wanted to. He fought when he wanted to. His main idea was to get his respect in the beginning which he did. He made Garcia think twice before he went inside.  It was a competitive, controlled fight where Thurman had everything under control."

With such a big audience, Vargas feels that Thurman blew an opportunity to not only create more boxing fans but to create more fans for himself. 

"I read that it peaked at 5 million (viewers) or so. How did it help boxing? It was a good fight but not a great fight. I wish they would have taken more chances and finished the fight with a little more excitement for the casual fans. He played it safe and didn't take many chances.  The first three rounds he took chances and then Thurman just played it safe. If he took chances any new fans who tuned in would stay fans," Vargas told BoxingScene.com.

Vargas will provide expert analysis on the HBO pay-per-view Spanish broadcast of Saturday's Gennady Golovkin-Danny Jacobs showdown that takes place at Madison Square Garden.

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