Sebastian Fundora is 6 feet and 6 inches tall, yet fights in the super-welterweight division.
Fundora is set to face 23-1 Chordale Booker on March 22nd, with Booker, who has lost only to Ammo Williams, challenging for Fundora’s WBC and WBO world titles.
The gigantic super-welterweight has had a turbulent couple of years lately, and has been involved in some iconic moments in recent boxing, but his last two fights have taken a lot out of him, and it remains to be seen what’s left.
Sebastian Fundora bounced back from KO loss with gruesome war
Fundora won the WBC interim title in 2022 against Erickson Lubin, and defended it the same year against Carlos Ocampo.
It was in 2023 that the interim champion came unstuck, when he defended the title against Brian Mendoza.
Mendoza delivered a knockout of the year contender that sent the 6ft giant slamming onto the canvas. Fundora’s title was taken from him, but it was not long til he’d get it back.
Six months after defeating Fundora, Mendoza took on Tim Tszyu, who may face Keith Thurman next, and lost a unanimous decision, meaning to get the title back, Fundora now had to face the son of a legend.
In March last year, Tszyu and Fundora fought in the most bloody fight in recent boxing after a cut opened up on Tszyu’s head, leaving both fighters covered in blood.
Fundora won a split decision and reclaimed his title, though many believe this was because Tszyu, who was praised by Paulie Malignaggi, was unable to see properly on the night as a result of his cut.
Tszyu faced Bakhram Murtazaliev in his next fight and was dominated and stopped in three rounds. Tim Bradley said of Tszyu’s loss to Murtazaliev – “He’s mentally messed up”.
Sebastian Fundora’s next opponent was his third choice after Crawford and Spence
Fundora’s next fight against Booker was not the originally planned fight for the champion.
In 2024 it was reported that the WBO ordered a fight between Fundora and Terence Crawford, who was coming off a win over Israil Madrimov after his blockbuster performance against Errol Spence before that.
The fight never happened, and Crawford is now set to face Canelo Alvarez at the end of the year in Saudi Arabia.
The other fight Fundora wanted was Spence, whose only loss came at the hands of Crawford. Spence has been out of the ring since his fight with Crawford in July 2023, and it seemed like the perfect comeback fight.
This, however, also fell through. When asked if he thought the fight would ever happen, Fundora said: “We’ll see.”
One man who has called out Fundora is Vergil Ortiz Jr., who also called out Boots Ennis and Crawford.