Boxing Notes: Sebastian Fundora Dominates Keith Thurman

News, notes and observations while wondering what round Keith Thurman planned to step on the gas against Sebastian Fundora …

🥊 No one should have been surprised by Sebastian Fundora’s one-sided win over Keith Thurman on Saturday. The 6’ 6” Fundora is a massive junior middleweight, while Thurman, listed at 5’ 9”, is a nearly career-long welterweight fighting for just the second time at 154 pounds. Fundora battered Thurman for five-plus rounds, rocking him repeatedly and busting open his face before referee Thomas Taylor mercifully stepped in. Which, despite Thurman’s protests at the postfight press conference, was absolutely the right decision.

A couple of thoughts on Fundora. First, he is unquestionably the top junior middleweight in boxing. Ring Magazine’s decision to rank Fundora behind Vergil Ortiz never made any sense. Ortiz’s 154-pound résumé is really three fights: Serhii Bohachuck, Israil Madrimov and Erickson Lubin. Fundora, meanwhile, has been at junior middleweight since 2017, collecting wins over Lubin, Sergio Garcia and two over Tim Tszyu. Now he adds Thurman to his résumé. Say you think Ortiz beats Fundora. Don’t say he’s earned the right to be ranked ahead of him.

Fundora didn’t call anyone out after the fight, which is a bummer. The Fundoras, Sebastian and Gabriela, the undisputed 112-pound women’s champion, are soft spoken, as disarming outside the ring as savage as they are in it. But there’s an obvious fight for Fundora: Ortiz, who is expected to resolve his legal issues with Golden Boy Promotions in the next few months. Fundora’s co-promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, dismissed an Ortiz fight, citing his ongoing battle with Golden Boy. But if those issues get ironed out, an Ortiz-Fundora showdown is a mega fight at 154 pounds.

🥊 A text from a respected boxing person after Moses Itauma’s knockout win over Jermaine Franklin: “He’s got footwork of a welterweight, hand, speed of a middleweight and Mike Tyson-type power.” Hard to argue. Franklin, who had gone the distance with Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte in recent years, was expected to give Itauma some rounds. Instead, he was blown away by a vicious uppercut midway through the fifth.

Itauma is a beast. Franklin joins White, Demsey McKean and Mariusz Wach on the list of credible opponents Itauma has steamrolled. His blend of speed, footwork and power is the stuff that will land him on pound-for-pound lists. And he is still just 21.

What’s next? It won’t be Fabio Wardley, a reigning titleholder who shares a trainer with Itauma. Queensberry, which promotes Itauma, recently inked Filip Hrgovic to a promotional contract, lining him up to face Dave Allen in May. If Hrgovic wins, Itauma-Hrgovic is a natural fight for both—with Itauma and Hrgovic ranked in the top three in the WBO rankings.

🥊 I can’t imagine Netflix execs were too happy to hear Floyd Mayweather announce that his upcoming fight against Manny Pacquiao, a rematch of the heavily anticipated (and widely panned) showdown between the two stars in 2015, would be an exhibition. There was no mention of the fight being an exhibition when it was announced in February. In fact, Netflix seemed to take great pains to bill it as a pro fight. A carrot for boxing fans, such as it was, was always the idea that this would go on Mayweather’s record. Without it, a fight most in boxing already had little interest became a lot less interesting.

🥊 Shakur Stevenson no longer has a belt at 135 pounds but he may not be done with the division. I’ve been hearing some rumblings that Stevenson is interested in a fight with Raymond Muratalla, the IBF titleholder who is coming off a career-best win over ex-Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz. Who pays for it is the question. Stevenson reportedly earned mid-seven figures against Teofimo Lopez in January. He’ll need Turki Alalshikh’s backing to come close to that kind of payday against Muratalla.

🥊 From the small promoter circuit: On Friday, Nolan Bros., a Boston-based promotion, announced it would be returning to Fenway Park for a show on June 6. Last summer, the Nolans, Matt and Mark, staged the first fight card at Fenway in nearly 70 years, headlined by Thomas O’Toole, a rising Irish super middleweight contender. I caught that show live. Best club show I’ve ever been to. The second one should be even better. Tickets go on sale April 14.

🥊 Plans for Floyd Schofield to return in April have been scrapped, Schofield announced on social media this week. According to Schofield, his preferred opponent, Lucas Bahdi, could not be ready in time to fight on April 18. That’s true, I’m told. Golden Boy, Schofield’s promoter, and Most Valuable Promotions, which represents Bahdi, negotiated a deal, but Bahdi prefers to fight later in the spring. Schofield, I’m told, had the opportunity to fight someone else in a showcase-type fight but passed.

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