Knocked out in his last fight, Sebastian Fundora gets title shot

Sebastian “The Towering Inferno” Fundora throws hands with WBO super middleweight champion Tim Tsyzu on March 30th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV.

Initially, the plan was for Keith Thurman to face Tsyzu. The former welterweight champion and part-time fighter was talking up the fight until a bicep injury shelved him.

An offer went out to Fundora, who was also fighting on the card, to take on Tsyzu.

“My promoter called us up and said this guy (Thurman) has an injury. If you guys are willing to save the fight card, you have the chance, and of course, my first reaction was yes,” Fundora told ProBox TV. “Because this guy’s a world champion and I was fighting for the vacant WBC, but if I can fight for the WBO as well and it’s a big fight, I consider him [Tszyu] maybe right now the best at 154, so if I can take that spot, I’ll do it.

“We’ve been training for a hard fight. This one as well is another hard fight, but you know it’s time. I think it’s time to become world champion,” added Fundora.

Tszyu also had no problem with the change in opponents.

“There was no hesitation, it was straightaway, a 10-second thing,” Tszyu said.

“Yes, it made me pissed off, but the focus shifts and the show goes on. Simple.”

The matchup is intriguing. Fundora is a gangly guy who can fight. A hair under 6-foot-6, Fundora sports a record of 20-1, with 13 KOs. His most recent fights have been akin to a wild rollercoaster ride. Fundora has hit the canvas twice in his last three fights. Erickson Lubin appeared to have the skyscraper on the verge of defeat until Fundora roared back to win by stoppage.

Last year, Fundora dominated Brian Mendoza for six rounds. Round seven wasn’t lucky. Mendoza’s left hook bent him in half. Two follow-up blows felled him for the count.

When a fighter gets knocked out, there’s always a question of what kind of effect it will have psychologically. Fundora’s confidence seems intact.

“I fell asleep for a second and paid for it,” said Fundora. “I don’t want to change too much because of the result. I’m just going to keep focusing on my game.”

Tszyu is undefeated in 24 fights. He impressively stopped former titleholder Tony Harrison a year ago. He followed that up with a blowout knockout over Carlos Ocampo and, last October, faced Fundora conqueror Mendoza. Tszyu boxed and punched his way to a unanimous decision. Tszyu has improved since getting floored and pushed hard by Terrel Gausha.

He’s ready for Fundora.

“You’ve got to be able to take on all comers,” said Tszyu. “He’s tricky, he’s tall but whatever, I’m confident of victory by any means, anyway.”

Former welterweight champion Shawn Porter (and the oddsmakers) favor Tszyu to win.

“Fundora is there to be hit and, yes, Fundora is very tough as well,” Porter told boxingscene.com. “But he doesn’t present any sort of puzzle for Tim – and that’s what I liked about the fight with Keith. If Tim won [against Thurman], we would have seen him have to solve some puzzles and fight through some things to get the win. I don’t see those same puzzles against Fundora.”

The thinking here is that Tszyu will stop Fundora.