Junior middleweight titleholder Sebastian Fundora is getting better, says Chordale Booker.
Fundora stopped Tim Tszyu to defend his WBC junior middleweight title last Saturday at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bout was a rematch from their original bout last March, when Fundora edged a then-unbeaten Tszyu to win the WBC and WBO titles at nearby T-Mobile Arena.
Booker, 23-2 (11 KOs), recalled his own first-hand experience in facing the 6’5 ½” Fundora, 23-1-1 (15 KOs) earlier this year. Their March 22 title fight saw Fundora effortlessly claim a fourth-round knockout in his first successful defense, at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Vegas.
Among the things that surprised Booker was Fundora’s ability to use his 80” reach and 6ft 6ins frame. Booker, a 34-year-old from Stamford, Connecticut, has seen Fundora greatly improve in his last two fights.
“My biggest takeaway from fighting Fundora is that he got better at boxing,” Booker told BoxingScene. “He got better at using his range, using his jab, and actually maintaining distance.
“He was a good inside fighter before, but that was all he did.”
The vast improvement from his first win over Tszyu through present-day was clearly evident in his recent performances.
Booker saw things in Tszyu’s performance to which he could relate from his own failed challenge of Fundora.
“I think that surprised Tszyu,” Booker theorized of the second-generation boxer facing a completely different version of Fundora. “Because I think he thought he was going to get the same fight as the first one, that he’d get a cookie-cutter version of Fundora.
“To be honest, that is what happened to me. I thought I was going to get a guy who I saw on tape fight on the inside, and couldn’t maintain distance.”
Fundora, 27, now appears to be developing into his adult frame. The Coachella, California-based titleholder is now more versatile than he was in his developmental fights as an up-and-comer.
“He has got better with his timing, because he has gotten better with his distance,” Booker said. “I think he is the best fighter in the world. He is a [nearly] 6ft 6ins southpaw who can fight on the inside, and now he is developing skills to keep people on the outside.”
As for Booker, he returns on August 16 against Patrick Allotey in a 10-round bout at Royale Nightclub in Boston. It will be Booker’s first fight since losing to Fundora in March.
“It is a bad thing to lose, but at least I lost to one of the best fighters of this era,” Booker said. “I am not sure what is next for my career. I am going to fight and see what opens up for me.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
