Tim Tszyu still expects a future fight with Keith Thurman.

The Australian on Saturday attempts to dethrone Sebastian Fundora as the WBC junior middleweight champion, and perhaps more relevantly to avenge the first, damaging defeat of his career.

Fundora replaced the injured Thurman as Tszyu’s opponent when in March 2024 Tszyu was on the eve of defending what was then his WBO title. A significant cut suffered by Tszyu in only the second round then contributed to him losing via split decision and, after a second defeat – by the IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev – being forced to rebuild.

It is little secret that had Tszyu instead defeated Thurman, Fundora – instead of the heavy-handed Murtazaliev – was on course to be his next opponent on a date for which he would have had a full training camp to prepare. 

It is similarly little secret that after having defeated Joseph Spencer in April, a month after Thurman’s victory in Australia over Tszyu’s compatriot Brock Jarvis, Thurman and Tszyu were close to agreeing to finally fight.

When the opportunity to again fight the 27-year-old Fundora then arose, Tszyu instead recognised the possibility of undoing so much of the harm inflicted to his career in 2024 – specifically avenging one of his two defeats and reclaiming his former status as a world champion. Not unlike with Fundora, however, he considers he and Thurman, 36, to have “unfinished business”, and in the event of victory may even target a fight with Thurman next.

“It’s definitely still on the cards,” the 30-year-old told BoxingScene. “There’s definitely unfinished business there, and I definitely want to revisit that once I get past this.

“It was very close [to being confirmed]. All of the stars were aligned; I needed one more tick, and that tick didn’t come, and that tick wasn’t approved by me, because I wanted Fundora.

“[Before fighting Spencer] I thought that I was still one fight away from getting back to the very top, and this is the very top now.

“We had the rematch clause and he abided by it. It’s quite simple. I do respect that. [Fundora] had to give up the WBO title, which means a lot as well, you know? There’s definitely respect there for him being a man of his word, that’s for sure.

“[It’s a] red hot division; some red hot challenges; some big money to be made. This is a good time to be in this position.”