LAS VEGAS – The way Sebastian Fundora sees it, he’s settling in for the long haul as unified champion of boxing’s richest division.

“Right now, 154’s the place to be. … I can’t make it any higher,” Fundora, 27, told BoxingScene at his Wednesday public workout before his first title defense, against Chordale Booker on Saturday night at Mandalay Bay.

The Premier Boxing Champions bout on Prime Video is Fundora’s first since his unexpected rise to capturing the WBO and WBC belts on March 30, 2024, when, as a replacement opponent for injured Keith Thurman, he badly bloodied the top of then-champion Tim Tszyu’s head with an accidental elbow and proceeded to outbox the Australian while winning a split decision.

One fight removed from a knockout loss, Fundora, 21-1-1 (13 KOs), was champion.

He has been off for nearly a year following the crumbling of his team’s attempt to make a fight with former three-belt welterweight champion Errol Spence Jnr, and is a prohibitive betting favorite against Connecticut’s Booker, 23-1 (11 KOs), the WBO’s No. 5-rated contender.

Although Fundora told reporters Wednesday he has felt a jolt of confidence while elevating to champion, the circumstances of his ascension and the expected Saturday triumph cast some uncertainty over how the rest of the crowded talent pool of 154lbs feel about Fundora’s credibility.

Yet in conversations with several junior middleweights and their representatives, Fundora, a 6ft 5½in champion with a staggering 80-inch reach, is viewed mostly as the rightful top dog.

“To me, the best is Fundora,” WBC No. 1 contender Serhii Bohachuk, of Ukraine, told BoxingScene last month. “He is a very good boxer. I’ve had a lot of experience sparring with him. He is very strong. I’ve felt his punches in the gym. He’s very special. He’s skinny, but he has great punching power and he’s in great condition.”

Bohachuk was due to fight Fundora last March before Thurman was injured and replaced. That sent Bohachuk to an August date against Vergil Ortiz Jnr, who edged him on the scorecards to become WBC interim titleholder to Fundora.

Coming off an impressive, convincing decision over former WBA 154lbs belt holder Israil Madrimov on February 22 in Saudi Arabia, Ortiz, 23-0 (21 KOs), is resting through a hand injury and is strongly positioned to meet Fundora later this year depending on negotiations.

“[Fundora] is definitely in the top three of the division. … He’s the only unified champion. He’s a difficult fighter to deal with,” Ortiz told BoxingScene on Wednesday. “Not only is he a southpaw, he has power – those are challenges he brings.”

Ortiz said Fundora’s layoff is excusable.

“That’s boxing," he said. "He’s taking these fights as he can. Every boxer wants to fight. I’m sure it’s not his fault. We just do what we can.”

Ortiz’s “top-three” ranking of Fundora is hooked to his self-confidence and the fact that the WBA titleholder is unbeaten four-division champion Terence Crawford.

Crawford, however, may be gone from the division for good considering he’s preparing for a September super middleweight showdown against four-division champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.

The other belt holder is IBF titlist Bakhram Murtazaliev, of Russia. Murtazaliev, 23-0 (17 KOs), knocked down Tszyu four times, finishing him in the third round of their October bout.

Kathy Duva, Murtazaliev’s promoter, told BoxingScene she’s planning to contact Fundora promoter Tom Brown by Monday should Fundora notch the expected victory and seek a unification bout later this year.

Duva wanted Murtazaliev to fight Ortiz on an originally planned June 28 card on Alcatraz Island in California, but Ortiz was unavailable and Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh announced the Alcatraz bout would move to March 2026.

“Bakhram has made it clear that his No. 1 priority is to fight unification fights, so, of course, the winner of this fight is high on our list of targets,” Duva said. “We’re watching this fight Saturday with great interest.”

Duva said Alalshikh clearly has his eyes on securing a Murtazaliev fight, “but we haven’t gotten an offer from them and there’s a few possibilities out there. Nothing is certain.”

In fact, Murtazaliev fought on Premier Boxing Champions cards from 2019 to 2022 as he awaited a mandatory shot at then-titleholder Jermell Charlo.

On Saturday’s undercard, Arizona’s Jesus Ramos Jnr, 22-1 (18 KOs), will land on his second PBC Prime Video card in less than two months when he meets Argentina’s Guido Emmanuel Schramm, 16-3-2 (9 KOs).

“I’ve got to give a dominating performance to stay relevant and gain more exposure,” said Ramos, who said he took only three days off after his February 1 victory before getting the call for Saturday’s card.

Winning on the same card as Fundora will bolster Ramos’ case for a title shot against the Southern Californian.

“The guy in the main event has the belts,” Ramos said. “I think [Fundora] is one of the best. He’s been around a long time. He’s been in wars. He’s got that awkward style, being so tall. It makes everything so complicated.”

Welcoming the challenges, Fundora said he intends to honor the best attributes of a champion by remaining willing to fight anyone.

“Without these titles, it’s a little harder to get fights,” he said. “Now that we have these titles, you have to fight us if you want to become a champion. I have open doors for anyone who wants to fight for a championship.

“I have the titles. I have to prove it again Saturday.”

Fundora responded well to his peers’ praise.

“We know the sport. … The fighters know the titles mean something,” Fundora said.

“You don’t just win them by luck. You really have to work for this position, especially in this division. The fact I have two belts – I own half the division – really proves who is the best at 154.”

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.