Sebastian Fundora upset Tim Tszyu by a split decision to become a unified 154-pound champion in a horribly bloody fight Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
One judge had Tszyu winning 116-112 but the other two scored it for Fundora, 116-112 and 115-113. Boxing Junkie also had Fundora winning 116-112, eight rounds to four.
Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) got off to a strong start, getting past his 6-foot-5½ opponent’s jab to land some eye-catching punches that seemed to portend a strong performance.
Then everything changed in an instant. In Round 3, Tszyu suffered a deep cut on his hairline when his head collided with Fundora’s elbow. Blood gushed into his eyes for the remainder of the fight, impairing his sight and ability to fight effectively.
And Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) took full advantage. The “Towering Inferno,” a brawler at heart, used his long jab and timely power shots to keep Tszyu at a safe distance round after round.
Tszyu tried to overcome the monumental adversity and had some good rounds, when he landed the cleaner, harder shots. However, Fundora stayed the course, outworking his favored opponent to pull out the biggest victory of his career.
Fundora, coming off a knockout loss to Brian Mendoza, became Tszyu’s opponent on short notice when Keith Thurman pulled out with an injury. Now, after taking Tszyu’s WBO belt and the vacant WBC title, he’s a world champion.
You can read a full report here.
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Isaac Cruz has officially arrived.
The relentless “Pitbull” battered WBA140-pound titleholder Rolando Romero before finally stopping him in the eighth round to win his first major world championship.
The official time of the stoppage was :56 of Round 8.
Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs) did his thing from the opening bell, which is to plow forward and wing hard punches to the head and body. Romero (15-2, 13 KOs) tried to counter, tried to get out of the way but simply had no answer for the onslaught.
Cruz almost took Romero out in the opening round when he rocked him with a left hook to the temple. Romero survived but that only prolonged his struggle.
The new champion continued to walk Romero down, pounding him to every legal target on the body as the old champ jabbed, moved, held or sometimes fired back in an attempt to survive. Romero had moments when he caught Cruz with solid shots coming in but he never fazed the Mexican once, which seemed to seal his fate.
Cruz again almost took out Romero in the final minute of Round 7, when he battered Romeo around the ring and took nothing in return. Again, Romero survived.
The end came the following round when Cruz unloaded a vicious flurry of hard, accurate shots that seemed to paralyze Romero, which prompted referee Thomas Taylor to jump between them to stop the action.
Cruz has now won four consecutive fights since he was outpointed by WBA 135-pound champ Gervonta Davis in 2021.
Romero is now 1-2 in his last three fights. He was stopped by Davis in six rounds in 2022.
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WBA middleweight titleholder Erislandy Lara stopped Michael Zerafa in the second round to retain his belt.
Nothing much happened until the violent ending, as each fighter was in the process of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the other for one-plus rounds.
Lara (30-3-3, 18 KOs) evidently figured it out quickly. In the final seconds of Round 2, Zerafa missed a left jab, and Lara, a southpaw, countered with a right and then a straight left to the chin that put Zerafa onto his back and hurt him badly.
Zerafa (31-5, 19 KOs) was able to get to feet but stumbled into corner, which convinced referee Allen Huggins that the challenger was in no condition to continue. No one objected to the stoppage.
The official time of the knock out was 2:59, meaning one second remained in the round.
Lara, 40, was making the second defense of his title.
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Julio Cesar Martinez dropped Angelino Cordova twice in the third round and defeated him by a majority decision to retain his 112-pound title in his seventh defense.
One judge had it 113-113 but he was overruled by the other two, both of whom had it 114-112 for Martinez. Boxing Junkie also scored it 114-112 for Martinez, six rounds apiece.
Cordova (18-1-1, 12 KOs) got off to a strong start, taking the fight to Martinez (21-3, 15 KOs) and landing more consistently in the first few rounds.
Then came the most dramatic moments of the fight. The Venezuelan walked into two stiff left jabs in Round 3 and ended up on his behind both times, giving Martinez a 10-7 round.
The rest of the fight followed a pattern. The fleet Cordova was the busier boxer and rarely stood still, which made it difficult for Martinez to get into a rhythm and find his target. However, Martinez clearly landed the cleaner, harder shots when he did connect, seeming to hurt Cordova several times.
Martinez suffered a gruesome cut on his left eye brow in Round 10, the result of an accidental clash of heads, but he was allowed to continue and he continued to fight hard.
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Brian Mendoza couldn’t overcome Serhii Bohachuk’s relentless pressure.
Bohachuk (24-1, 23 KOs) had Mendoza (22-4, 16 KOs) fighting on his heels from the opening bell, outworking his opponent and ultimately delivering a significant beating to win a one-sided decision and the WBC “interim” 154-pound title.
The official scores were 118-110, 117-111 and 117-111. Boxing Junkie also had it 117-111, nine rounds to three.
Bohachuk was unable to put Mendoza down or seriously hurt him but he landed power shots almost at will to win round after round, which accounts for the scoring.
Mendoza, a strong puncher, had some good moments in the entertaining fight, but he couldn’t land the punch or combination of punches to derail the speeding Ukrainian train.
Bohachuk, whose previous 23 victories came by knockout, has now won six consecutive fights since he was stopped by Brandon Adams in 2021. He also bolstered his position as a genuine title contender.
Mendoza has now lost back-to-back fights after his sensational knockout of Fundora in April of last year. Tszyu outpointed him in October.
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Floyd Mayweather protege Curmel Moton, a 17-year-old junior lightweight prospect, defeated Anthony Cuba by a shutout decision in an entertaining eight-round fight.
All three judges had the same score, 80-72.
Moton (3-0, 2 KOs) dominated Cuba (7-1-2, 3 KOs) from the opening bell, outboxing and outworking his 21-year-old opponent. Cuba, who obviously has a good chin, took everything thrown at him but he didn’t have the tools to keep pace with Moton.
Moton had stopped his previous two opponents in the first round.
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Note: Middleweight contender Elijah Garcia was scheduled to fight Kyrone Davis on the Tsyzu-Fundora undercard but Garcia pulled out because of illness.
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Tim Tszyu and Sebastian Fundora are scheduled to fight for Tszyu’s WBO 154-pound belt and the vacant WBC title on a deep card Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Also on the show:
- Rolando Romero vs. Isaac Cruz, junior welterweights (for Romero’s WBA title) (PPV)
- Erislandy Lara vs. Michael Zerafa, middleweights (for Lara’s WBA title) (PPV)
- Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Angelino Cordova, flyweights (for Martinez’s WBC title) (PPV)
- Elijah Garcia vs. Kyrone Davis, middleweights
The featured portion of the show is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. (main event later in the show).
Boxing Junkie will post results, as well as a brief summary, immediately after the featured fights end. Simply return to this post and refresh when the time comes.
Full coverage – detailed fight stories, analysis and more – will follow on separate posts the night of the card and the following day.
Enjoy the fights!
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