LAS VEGAS – Too long, too strong, too much.
Sebastian Fundora, the 6ft 6ins WBC 154lbs titleholder, fulfilled his “Towering Inferno” nickname Saturday night, making the third successful defense of his belt with a sixth-round TKO of former unified welterweight champion Keith Thurman at MGM Grand.
Fundora, 24-1-1 (16 KOs), blasted a hard left hand to Thurman’s head after the challenger was inspected by a ringside physician between rounds, and referee Thomas Taylor saw enough, ending the bout at the 1-minute, 17-second mark.
Making full use of his 11ins reach advantage, Fundora pounded the 37-year-old Thurman with whipping lefts throughout the bout. And so it was appropriate that’s how he ended things.
Fundora said the inspiration for that kind of blow originated from an Instagram post headlined, “Fly Bird, Fly,” that told of how “birds use their whole wings to fly.”
Thurman, 31-2, whose only other career loss is to Manny Pacquiao, couldn’t solve the physical disadvantage.
Fundora opened his title defense by smacking Thurman in the face with an early left, keeping the former champion at bay with his jab and effective defense.
Fundora buckled Thurman’s legs with a left hand after Thurman tried ducking in for a body shot. Although Thurman tended to the body, Fundora’s activity proved more effective.
Thurman had to work so hard to penetrate Fundora’s reach advantage that he was exposed to scoring lefts in the third.
Finding his range, Fundora stuck lefts to the jaw while whipping in a later head shot in the fourth, adding a combination that kept Thurman in a tentative mood.
The action intensified in the fifth, with Thurman sneaking in two shard rights. But Fundora dished out the damage of several combinations that shook Thurman with whipping lefts and painful combinations that widened the disparity.
“We worked very hard for this fight. I’ve always looked up to Keith Thurnan, who I see as a Hall of Famer, for sure,” Fundora said. “All respect to him. I had to work to prove [I was better than] him, and prove it to the world.
“I reminded him, you’re in my world now.”
Fundora spoke of the benefits of hardened training camps led by his trainer-father Freddy Fundora and including undisputed flyweight champion and sister Gabriela Fundora.
In a division that counts many elite fighters, including Xander Zayas, Jaron “Boots” Ennis, Vergil Ortiz Jnr and Premier Boxing Champions veterans Jermell Charlo and Errol Spence Jnr, Fundora said he’s trained to “fight anyone.”
“It’s the best division right now,” he said. “I’ll fight anybody.”
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.
