154-pound champ Tim Tszyu is scheduled to defend his belt and fight for a vacant title against Sebastian Fundora on pay-per-view Saturday in Las Vegas.
TIM TSZYU (24-0, 17 KOs) VS.
SEBASTIAN FUNDORA (20-1-1, 13 KOs)
- Date: Saturday, March 30
- Time: 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT (main event later in show)
- Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
- TV/Stream: Pay-per-view ($69.99 in U.S.)
- Division: Junior middleweight (154 pounds)
- At stake: Tszyu’s WBO and vacant WBC titles
- Pound-for-pound: None
- Odds: Tszyu 4½-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
- Significance (up to five stars): *****
- Also on the card: Rolando Romero vs. Isaac Cruz, junior welterweights (for Romero’s title); Erislandy Lara vs. Michael Zerafa, middleweights (for Lara’s WBA title); Elijah Garcia vs. Kyrone Davis, middleweights; Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Angel Cordova, flyweights (for Martinez’s WBC title); Serhii Bohachuk vs. Brian Mendoza, junior middleweights
- Background: Tszyu was scheduled to face veteran Keith Thurman but Thurman pulled out of the fight after injuring his biceps less than two weeks before the opening bell. Fundora, scheduled to fight Bohachuk on the card, agreed to step in and challenge Tszyu. The champion has established himself as an elite fighter with a series of impressive performances, including convincing victories over Terrell Gausha, Tony Harrison, Carlos Ocampo and Brian Mendoza in his last four fights. He was expected to fight then-undisputed champion Jermell Charlo last year but Charlo ended up challenging 168-pound champ Canelo Alvarez and was stripped of his WBO belt at the opening bell. That allowed Tszyu to be elevated from “interim” beltholder to full champion before the Mendoza fight. Fundora was fortunate to get a shot at Tszyu in light of the fact he’s coming off the first loss of his career, a seventh-round knockout against Mendoza in April of last year. The 6-foot-5½ slugger was winning the fight when he was stopped by a brutal three-punch combination. Fundora had given a series of strong performances before his setback, including a ninth-round stoppage of Erickson Lubin in 2022. Also on the card, veteran Erislandy Lara (29-3-3, 17 KOs) will defend his 160-pound title against Michael Zerafa (31-4, 19 KOs). Lara is 40 years old. And Julio Cesar Martinez (20-3, 15 KOs) will defend his 112-pound belt against Angel Cordova (18-0-1, 12 KOs).
[lawrence-related id=41162,41119,39539,39372,39356,36648,36644]