Sebastian Fundora has always literally stood head and shoulders above the rest of the junior middleweight division.
The latest performance by the 22-year old prospect puts him squarely in the mix of rising young talent to watch.
Fundora racked up his best win to date, stopping Chicago’s Nathaniel Gallimore inside of six rounds Saturday evening live on Fox from Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California.
No knockdowns were scored in the contest, but a barrage of punches against a defenseless Gallimore prompted the stoppage at 1:28 of round six.
“I give myself a 10 out of 10,” a rightly confident Fundora told Fox Sports’ Jordan Plant after his statement-making performance.
Much is made about Fundora squeezing his 6’6” frame into a 154-pound uniform, though the Californian rarely utilizes his height and reach advantages in the traditional sense.
Typically a high-contact fighter, Fundora immediately worked his way inside Gallimore enjoyed success with short right hands and uppercuts. Fundora was still able to control the action, shooting his right jab and following with right hooks out of his southpaw stance.
Fundora picked up the pace in round two, putting in work the body. Right hooks and looping left hands raked the midsection of Gallimore, who stood his ground long enough to respond with an uppercut which caught Fundora’s attention.
Action flowed in Fundora’s favor in round three, using a purposeful jab to set up a whipping left hand to the body. Gallimore absorbed the shots well, coming back with power of his own in drawing blood from the nose of Fundora. Momentum remained with the unbeaten prospect, who had Gallimore briefly stunned after connecting with a left hand, right hook combination upstairs.
Fundora dominated round four, unloading on Gallimore whose offense suddenly shut down. In a round where Fundora outlanded his foe 38-3, referee Ray Corona expressed concern as he informed Gallimore to show him something to avoid the fight being stopped.
The ringside physician was in lock step with that assessment after visiting Gallimore in the corner in between rounds. The spirit was there but the ability quickly dwindling as Fundora poured on the offense in a brutally one-sided round five.
Fundora emphatically closed the show in style in round six. A three-punch combination upstairs had Gallimore hurt, with Fundora immediately following up with a right hook upstairs. A left hand found its way home upstairs on a stunned Gallimore before another right hook was all that the referee needed to see to intervene.
The career-best win is the second of the year for Fundora, who improves—in every sense of the word—to 15-0-1 (10KOs). His dominance was well reflected in final Compubox numbers, landing 168-of-484 punches for a 35% clip.
Gallimore–who was just 35-of-129 (27%) on the night—falls to 21-5-1 (17KOs), having now lost four of his last five starts while suffering his first stoppage defeat.
The bout served as the chief support to a welterweight title eliminator between former two-time titlist Shawn Porter (30-3-1, 17KOs) and unbeaten Sebastian Formella (22-0, 10KOs).
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox