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What’s It Like To Fight Sebastian Fundora?
Former Opponents Share Their Experiences Against 6’5”
World Champion & Explain Why Keith Thurman Could Have What
It Takes To Win
One of the most unique world champions to rise to the top of
the sport in recent memory, WBC Super Welterweight World
Champion Sebastian “The Towering Inferno” Fundora has vexed
nearly all of his opponents with outlandish height and
reach, combined with the come forward style of a differently
proportioned fighter, and will look to continue his recent
run of dominance this Saturday when he takes on his most
experienced opponent to date in former unified champion
Keith “One Time” Thurman headlining a PBC Pay-Per-View event
available on Prime Video from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in
Las Vegas.
Ahead of this pivotal March 28 showdown, Fundora’s opponents
shared their firsthand experience stepping into the ring
with the preposterously six-foot-five 154-pound world
champion, including his most recent foe, former champion Tim
Tszyu, who faced Fundora in a pair of memorable clashes.
“Fundora’s biggest advantage is the number of punches he
throws in a round,” said Tszyu. “It’s the fact that he
doesn’t let anyone rest. Because he’s so tall, he’s able to
just punch and punch without using too much energy. That’s
his biggest strength.
“He’s a bit of a nightmare, but he’s also easy to hit. But
he’s also tough as hell, he gets hit and keeps coming. It’s
hard to be strategic. When you fight Fundora, expect that
you’re gonna be in one of the hardest fights.”
In between fights against Tszyu, Fundora defended his
championships against WBO top contender Chordale Booker, who
had a moment early in the first round of their fight that
made him realize he was in for an even more challenging task
than he expected.
“It’s already hard to fight somebody as tall as Sebastian,
but it’s that length that he has,” said Booker. “He came out
and threw the jab and I remember the first thing I did was
pull, and he still hit me. I trained for a guy who was tall
and gave up his height, but when he came to fight me he had
just had the first fight with Tszyu, and he clearly had
worked on his range. That made it a difficult fight for me.”
Tszyu also emphasized the same point about Fundora’s length
and the difficulties that creates, especially related to how
much energy Fundora’s opponents have to exert compared to
him.
“I was just throwing haymakers without even looking and
every time that happened I was swinging at air,” said Tszyu.
“Because of his reach and his awkwardness and that he can
take a step back and be completely out of the way, he’s got
big strengths. The most challenging part was that there was
no wasted energy from him. The amount of work that I had to
do in a round, compared to him, my energy was much more
wasted.”
Two opponents who gave Fundora some trouble in their fights
also analyzed the challenges they faced in their respective
matchups. Contender Jamontay Clark fought Fundora to a draw
in 2019, while top contender Erickson Lubin was able to drop
Fundora before ultimately losing one of 2022’s best fights.
“It was an intense fight,” said Clark. “Every time a new
round would start, he would smile over at me and I was like
‘okay here we go again.’ I knew I had to be on top of my
game. When we fought, Fundora was really all pressure. But
watching his last couple fights, it looks like he’s started
to sit back on his back foot more and try to pop the jab. I
feel like he doesn’t bring his jab hand back all the way
fast enough, but he’s so tall that he can usually get away
with it.”
“Fighting Sebastian Fundora is a challenge for sure,” said
Lubin. “He’s just something you don’t see at this weight
class. He’s a great fighter who brings the fight. He makes
every fighter have to engage with him. He takes up a lot of
space in the ring and it was a different kind of challenge
for me.”
The fighter with the best blueprint on facing Fundora is
certainly top contender Brian Mendoza, who stopped Fundora
with a sensational knockout in one of 2023’s biggest upsets,
before Fundora earned his first world championship. For
Mendoza, one of the keys to beating Fundora is based in a
skillset that he believes Fundora will be forced to overcome
against the talented former champion Thurman.
“Fighting Fundora is definitely something that you can’t
truly prepare for,” said Mendoza. “You need tons of lateral
movement, which I think Thurman has, and you need to be able
to cross up his angles.
“I don’t think people really noticed my lateral movement in
our fight. They saw him getting downhill and landing on me,
but they didn’t notice how many shots I got out of the way
of. I think Thurman is a big threat because he knows how to
get you to cross your feet up and get you to come in with
that leaping hook. You saw in my fight with Fundora that it
can be his kryptonite.”
Moments after coming up short in their second fight, Tszyu
said in his post-fight interview that he “felt like I was
shadowboxing with myself sometimes,” in trying to turn the
tide against Fundora. When asked how he feels about going up
against an opponent who elicits that kind of reaction after
a fight, Thurman detailed why he’ll be able to end March 28
with a different outcome.
“It’s all about the reach factor that Tszyu was
referencing,” said Thurman. “He felt like he was
shadowboxing himself because he kept falling short and
missing by inches. He was able to land some punches as well,
but he’s more flat-footed and not as mobile as I am.
“I understand where he’s coming from. Fundora is like a
walking obstacle course for anyone in the division. He’s a
freak of nature and it’s gonna be challenging. He’s let
people on the inside in the past and I’m not sure he can
just pepper me with that jab all night like against Tszyu,
because I’m not gonna be standing straight up. I have good
head movement and bobbing and weaving tactics. We believe
that we’ll be able to get inside, be explosive and make up
for that gap and eventually get our hands on Fundora.”
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