Thrust into the spotlight as a late replacement for Keith Thurman, Sebastian Fundora has the opportunity to shock the world if he can upset Tim Tszyu for Tszyu’s WBO junior middleweight world title and the vacant WBC championship Saturday night.
Not only can the bout make Fundora a unified 154-pound world champion, but it can potentially secure him a path to taking on former undisputed junior welterweight and welterweight champion Terence Crawford.
Fundora, an underdog this weekend, isn’t looking past Tszyu at all. To do so would be foolish. Yet, he can’t help but speak about Crawford with excitement.
“If I can get a fight with Terence Crawford … first off, he’s the No. 1 pound-for-pound in my eyes, I’m pretty sure in a lot of people’s eyes,” Fundora tells DAZN over a recent Zoom session. “So if I can get a win off a Terence Crawford, I’d have my place in the history of boxing.
“Everything is on track,” he continues. “This is just my road to greatness. I’m just extremely grateful for the opportunity that everybody’s given me and I’m happy to be back.”
Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KOs) is coming off a disastrous seventh-round knockout loss to Brian Mendoza last April — a painful experience he believes has actually prepared him for Tszyu.
Prior to getting the call to replace an injured Thurman, the 26-year-old Fundora was actually training for a clash with Serhii Bohachuk, a fighter whose style he believes is comparable to that of Tszyu (24-0, 17 KOs)
“[Tszyu’s] a pressure fighter with a good punch,” Fundora says.
“We were training for that guy with Bohachuk. They’re both orthodox, they both put on pressure and they’re both power punchers, so we’ll be ready for whatever he brings Saturday night.”
Coming off that trying experience against Mendoza, Fundora feels primed to shock Tszyu.
“It’s been a year,” he says, “but I’m ready to show everybody why I’m here and why I deserve to be here.”
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