Sebastian Fundora is now cleared to maneuver ahead with a deliberate voluntary protection.
Whom he plans to face, nevertheless, might decide whether or not he will get to maintain his WBO junior middleweight title.
The Ring has confirmed that Fundora (21-1-1, 13 knockouts) was conditionally permitted by the WBO for an non-compulsory protection. The ruling got here in lieu of a beforehand ordered title consolidation bout versus Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs). As beforehand reported by The Ring, each events agreed to go their separate methods for a minimum of one battle. The concession by Crawford freed up Fundora to face an opponent of his workforce’s selecting.
One key stipulation to sanction the battle was that the challenger have to be presently ranked within the high 15.
Replace on #FundoraCrawford “talks”:Advised that the WBO has accepted the settlement for Fundora to pursue a voluntary protection. Nonetheless, should come vs. High 15 ranked opponent and {that a} battle vs. Spence will NOT be sanctioned as WBO title protection.
— Jake Donovan (@JakeNDaBox) October 10, 2024
That might presumably kill plans for a focused showdown versus Errol Spence Jr. (28-1, 22 KOs). Such a battle was rumored ever since Fundora’s March 30 break up resolution win over Tim Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) to win the WBO and vacant WBC 154-pound titles. Spence joined Fundora within the ring to personally difficulty his problem, which was verbally embraced by Fundora.
Nonetheless, Spence has not fought since a lopsided ninth-round stoppage defeat to Crawford final July 29 in Las Vegas. The feat noticed Crawford win The Ring championship and absolutely unify all of the alphabet titles at welterweight.
The lengthy layoff coupled along with his final win final coming in April 2022 have left Spence out of the WBO rankings. He’s presently ranked No. 1 by the WBC at junior middleweight, which might allow a minimum of that title to be at stake.
Fundora is now liable to being stripped of his WBO ought to he comply with subsequent face Spence. The demand to face a High 15 contender was instructed on to Fundora’s workforce by the WBO earlier this yr.
The initially ordered Fundora-Crawford bout was an extension of a ruling utilized per the conditional phrases by the sanctioning physique in March. It got here in its approval for Fundora to problem Tszyu on quick discover. Fundora received their blood-soaked March 30 Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Prime pay-per-view headliner through break up resolution. He additionally picked up the vacant WBC 154-pound title with the win.
Crawford owns the WBA title and the interim WBO belt at 154.
Quite than a three-belt unification bout, Fundora and Crawford will as a substitute head in separate instructions.
Crawford has fought simply as soon as since his win over Spence. It got here in his 154-pound debut, the place he edged Israil Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) on Aug. 3 to win the WBA title and the vacant interim WBO belt.
No different battle has since graced the ideas of The Ring’s No. 3 pound-for-pound entrant exterior of a superfight with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs).
The curiosity stays a technique, for now. Alvarez—the reigning RING, WBC, WBA and WBO tremendous middleweight champion—was beforehand dismissive of the matchup when requested about it. He stays noncommittal on that matchup or another in the interim.
Fundora-Spence is tentatively focused for the primary quarter of 2025, ought to the bout transfer ahead.
Jake Donovan is a senior author for The Ring and vice chairman of the Boxing Writers Affiliation of America.
Observe @JakeNDaBox
