HOLLYWOOD, California – Had Sebastian Fundora been able to keep and convincingly win his planned October fight against former unified welterweight titleholder Keith Thurman, he would have had a case for Fighter of the Year.
A training-camp hand injury deprived him of that opportunity and zapped the momentum of his earlier 2025 work, which included stopping Chordale Booker and former 154lbs belt holder Tim Tszyu. But Fundora, 28, is back now, readying for a March 28 pay-per-view versus Thurman, 37, and to stamp himself as the best fighter in the loaded junior middleweight division.
“I can’t wait to prove it,” Fundora, 23-1-1 (15 KOs), told BoxingScene at Wednesday’s news conference at the Avalon Theater. “Beating this guy will put me at a higher status. I think I’m the best, but there’s a lot of talk that I’m not. A fight [victory] with this guy will definitely put me there.”
The 6ft 6in Fundora stands among newly unified (WBA, WBO) 23-year-old titlist Xander Zayas and new IBF strap wearer Josh Kelly as champions, with elite contenders Vergil Ortiz Jnr and Jaron “Boots” Ennis looming.
Fundora’s absence due to injury took him away from the conversation, but he assures he has returned to 100 per cent health and has been training diligently in the mountains of Southern California with his sister and women’s boxing champion Gabriela Fundora – she will return to the ring March 14, BoxingScene has learned – while intending to dispose of the veteran Thurman.
At Wednesday’s news conference, Fundora was intent to let Florida’s Thurman carry the promotion with extended answers and his giveaway of “Timber” T-shirts touting a knockout of Fundora.
“He does have a background, but to me, he’s just another fighter,” Fundora said. “Tim Tszyu was a world champion as well, and I took that title. We fought a lot of [quality] contenders. This will be a second former champion. Great fighter, and I think he has a spot in the Hall of Fame. But now he’s with Fundora, and that’s going to make a difference.”
Fundora embraced the mantra that it’s the quiet ones you need to watch out for.
“Absolutely, you don’t know what’s going to come,” Fundora said. “[Thurman] can speak all you want. Things change when you get into the ring. I think everybody underestimates me. That’s part of the game. Whatever they say, you just have to go out there and show everyone what you’re made of.
“He’s an experienced fighter, and anything can happen in boxing, but we train to be prepared for anything. When you do that, things will come out your way.”
The fight will be staged at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where Fundora has progressed from an undercard fighter on the 2020 Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder card to last year’s co-main spot on Manny Pacquiao-Mario Barrios to his own pay-per-view main event.
With the unbeaten Ortiz, 24-0 (22 KOs), positioned as WBC interim titleholder and Zayas still seeking a Thurman bout after the effort to make a cross-promoted bout was squashed last year, Fundora said he will lean on Premier Boxing Champions founder Al Haymon and TGB Promotions head Tom Brown to determine his course.
“All these fights they make, it’s never really up to me,” he said. “I can say something, but it’s just an idea. Not a full plan. What these guys have set up for me is what I’ve got to do.
“[There’s] tons of great names, tons of ideas. Lots of great fights. I’d like to fight them all.”
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
