Sebastian Fundora can now proceed with his planned voluntary defense.

However, who he plans to face may determine whether he manages to retain his WBO junior middleweight title.

The Ring confirmed that Fundora (21-1-1, 13 knockouts) has been conditionally cleared by the WBO for an optional defense. This ruling replaced the previously ordered fight to consolidate the title with Terence “Bud” Crawford (41-0, 31 KO). As previously reported by The Ring, both sides have agreed to part ways for at least one fight. Crawford’s concession allowed Fundora to face an opponent of his team’s choice.

One of the key conditions sanctioning the fight was that the contender must currently be ranked in the top 15.

Update enabled #FundoraCrawford “conversations”:
It said the WBO had accepted Fundora’s agreement to make a voluntary defense. However, there must be a match against a top-15 ranked opponent and the Spence fight will NOT be considered a defense of the WBO title.

— Jake Donovan (@JakeNDaBox) October 10, 2024

This would likely derail any targeted gameplay with Errol Spence Jr. (28-1, 22 KOs). Such a fight has been rumored since Fundora won a split decision over Tim Tszyu (24-1, 17 KO) on March 30 to capture the WBO and vacant WBC 154-pound titles. Spence joined Fundora in the ring to issue a personal challenge, which was verbally accepted by Fundora.

However, Spence has not fought since a lopsided ninth-round loss to Crawford on July 29 in Las Vegas. This feat allowed Crawford to win The Ring Championship and completely unify all alphabetical welterweight titles.

The long break, combined with his last victory in April 2022, forced Spence out of the WBO rankings. He is currently ranked first in the WBC junior middleweight rankings, which would allow him to fight for at least this title.

Fundora now faces being stripped of his WBO title if he agrees to fight Spence again. The request to face a Top 15 fighter was made directly to Fundora’s team by the WBO earlier this year.

The Fundora-Crawford fight was originally ordered as an extension of a conditional order made by the sanctioning body in March. It was agreed that Fundora would challenge Tszyu at brief notice. Fundora won her blood-soaked Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) March 30 Prime pay-perview by split decision. The victory also earned him the vacant WBC 154-pound title.

Crawford holds the WBA title and the WBO interim belt at 154.

Instead of fighting to unify the three lanes, Fundora and Crawford will go in different directions.

Since his victory over Spence, Crawford has only had one fight. This came in his 154-pound debut, when he defeated Israil Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KO) on August 3 to win the WBA title and the vacant WBO interim belt.

Since then, no other fight has occupied the mind of the third-ranked fighter in terms of weight for pound except the super fight with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KO).

For now, the interest remains unidirectional. Alvarez – the current RING, WBC, WBA and WBO super middleweight champion – had previously downplayed the fight when asked about it. For now, he is not involved in this or any other confrontation.

The Fundora-Spence fight is tentatively scheduled for the first quarter of 2025 if the fight continues.

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Author: Sean Crose

“Errol Spence Jr. Confirmed Fight.” – he said – “and it could be war.” Although he wasn’t known for his boxing coverage, he was right. Former welterweight champion Spence will return to the ring and yes, the fight could be a war. His opponent will be Sebastian Fundora, the WBO and WBC junior middleweight world champion. It’s been a long time since Spence stepped into the ring without holding a major world title – since he fought Britain’s Kell Brook for Brook’s IBF welterweight crown in 2017. However, a lot has changed since then.

In 2019, the Texan crashed his Ferrari Spider in Dallas and was lucky to survive. Then came endless negotiations to fight WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford for the all-important welterweight titles (Spence held the WBA, WBC and IBF belts). Then, when the fight finally went down in 2023, Crawford gave Spence a world-class beating. Since then, Spence has not entered the ring in professional competition. With Terence Crawford sidelined for Fundora’s duties, the door is open for Spence 28-1 to face Fundora 21-1-1.

However, fundora may not be uncomplicated. He is every bit a Spence warrior. Moreover, it is not without reason that it is called “The Towering Inferno”. Standing at almost six and a half inches statuesque, Fundora will have about a seven inch height advantage over Spence’s five-nine-and-a-half in the ring. However, Fundora has proven that it is not indestructible, provided that it can be reached. After all, Brian Mendoza knocked him out in the seventh round last April. And Spence is just powerful. It’s doubtful that the jump to junior middleweight will weaken Spence’s striking that much.

It is also worth noting that Spence has only lost one fight in his highly successful and decorated career. And that loss came at the hands of the gloved Crawford, who may be an all-time great. Shawn Porter, Mikey Garcia, Chris Algieri, Danny Garcia – Porter has defeated all recognized world champions. Some might argue that Spence will never recover from his loss to Crawford. This may be true. On the other hand, this certainly may not be the case. Although it has not been officially confirmed yet, it promises to be very intriguing.

Marc Ramsey is pleased with the work ethic of his super middleweight fighter Christian Mbilla. The coach believes Mbilli’s progress has earned the player a positive reputation, which is reflected in the rankings.

The 29-year-old Mbilli, ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the WBO and IBF rankings respectively, is fighting for the 168-pound title after an impressive 10-round unanimous decision victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko last month in Quebec City, Canada.

Mbilli, a French Cameroonian fighter, has steadily risen to become one of the hottest fighters at 168 after recording wins over Rohan Murdock and Mark Heffron earlier this year.

According to Ramsey, unified lithe heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev, whom he also trains, has raised the level of training in the gym.

“I want [Beterbiev] focus on his own thing, but still influences the rest of the gym to follow his ethics in training and as a professional,” Ramsey told Pro Boxing Fans. “And now it’s Christian Mbilli’s turn to follow in his footsteps. A very dedicated warrior, very trainable and talented, robust and has many tools.

“Christian also became an example for fresh and future players. I have some fresh potential clients and they all admire Christian and Artur, which is the reputation this gym currently has.

The hard-hitting Mbilli is on track to be considered a future opponent by 168-pound superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who dominated Edgar Berlanga in a unanimous decision last month. The unified 168-pound champion is considering his options and could decide to fight the winner of Saturday’s undisputed 175-pound championship fight between Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

Asked if his fighter would consider fighting Alvarez next, Ramsey said promoters Top Rank need to decide what’s best for Mbilla.

“We don’t know yet,” Ramsey said. “Christian underwent minor surgery right after his last fight. He’s fine now, but the decision will be made by the promoters. If it is Canelo, we will be very joyful. But we don’t want to wait for Canelo.

“We want to keep pushing [Mbilli]work with him technically and tactically to be prepared when the phone rings. Boxing is always a matter of timing, but we have this project and we really believe that we will achieve the goal with them at some point without a doubt.