Tim Tszyu was in a groove during the second round Saturday night, repeatedly finding a home for his right hand and having already drawn blood from Sebastian Fundora's nose. However, he walked into an accidental elbow from Fundora later in the same round, creating up a nasty gash on his forehead and impairing his vision.
Tszyu's cut helped change the complexion of the fight as Fundora used a disciplined jab and measured distance the rest of the way to deliver a split-decision victory and become the new unified WBO and WBC world junior middleweight champion in an absolute bloodbath.
Judges from inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas scored it 116-112 for Tszyu, 116-112 for Fundora and 115-113 for Fundora as "The Towering Inferno" successfully stepped into the fray on short notice for an injured Keith Thurman to enjoy the biggest night of his career. (DAZN News had it 114-114).
With the upset victory, Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) joins his sister Gabriela Fundora to become the first brother-sister world champion duo in boxing as the latter Fundora holds the IBF flyweight world title.
"It means the world," Fundora told PBC. "Now, I think my dad is going to run for Trainer of the Year."
Tszyu was gracious in accepting his first professional loss.
"I couldn't see," he told PBC, "but all credit belongs to the man who won tonight."
Tszyu was cooking early and gaining momentum against a Fundora who owned nine inches of height advantage and nearly 10 inches of reach on the Australian.
But once that accidental elbow landed and Tszyu suffered that deep, ghastly gash on his forehead, keeping the blood from his eyes became a constant battle.
Though Tszyu, who entered the bout as the WBO 154-pound champ, fought valiantly, Fundora's jab got the best of him as he used the weapon to bank rounds.
Fundora's nose was a bloody mess as well as he fought breathing through his nose, but in the end he was able to bounce back from the devastating seventh-round KO loss he suffered against Brian Mendoza last April.
After claiming both the WBO and WBC super welterweight titles, Fundora was confronted in the ring by Errol Spence and the two agreed that they'd welcome a fight against each other.
Here's how the entire Tszyu-Fundora main card went.