Sebastian Fundora didn’t dazzle anyone but he was effective.
The 6-foot-5 junior middleweight contender pounded out a unanimous decision victory over Carlos Ocampo on Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
The official scores were 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111. Boxing Junkie scored it 116-112, eight rounds to four.
Fundora (20-0-1, 13 KOs) started off using his unusual height (6-foot-5) and reach, throwing more long jabs than usual to keep the much shorter Ocampo (34-2, 22 KOs) at range.
However, Fundora, a brawler by nature, settled into an inside fight in Round 4 and didn’t retreat until the last few rounds.
And, while Ocampo threw a high volume of punches and never gave up, Fundora got the better of the toe-to-toe exchanges by landing the cleaner shots — to both the head and body — round after round.
“I thought I would show a little boxing and put that on display,” Fundora said, “but you know I still had to bang for the fans. That’s what they came here for, so I had to give it to them.
“… You know I like to break my opponent down. He was very tough and his face swelled up but he banged. He’s a tough Mexican. My hat’s off to him.”
He went on: “In the middle I wanted to see if I could hurt him,” he said. “I know Spence caught him with a body shot, and I saw in the middle of the fight he was open for the left uppercut to the stomach, so I saw that would slow him down.”
The 24-year-old fighter from Southern California has now won seven consecutive fights since he drew with Jamontay Clark in 2019.
The victory over Ocampo, best known for his knockout loss to 147-pound champ Errol Spence Jr. in 2018, certainly wasn’t as sensational as his knockout of Erickson Lubin in April. However, it was convincing, keeping Fundora on track to get his first title shot.
He’s ranked directly below undisputed 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo in the WBC rankings, making him a prime candidate to face the winner of the Charlo-Tim Tszyu fight scheduled for January.
“Of course, I want to face the winner of Charlo and Tszyu,” Fundora said. “I’m the WBC mandatory. I’ve earned my spot, and we’ll see what happens. But I hope I’m next. Fingers crossed.”
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