By Craig Page: Sebastian ‘The Towering Inferno’ Fundora intends to make a statement this Saturday night on October 8th when he defends his interim WBC junior middleweight title against Carlos Ocampo in the main event on Showtime at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Fundora (19-0-1, 13 KOs) needs to keep winning for him to get a title shot against undisputed 154-lb champion Jermell Charlo, who only fights once a year and has a queue formed of mandatory challengers waiting for their chance to challenge him for his four belts.
While the 26-year-old Ocampo (34-1, 22 KOs) has an impressive ring record, it’s mostly just victories over fluff opposition and not the real McCoy.
Ocampo did step up once in his ten-year professional career against Errol Spence Jr in 2018, but he was quickly knocked out in the first round.
Spence took advantage of Ocampo’s weakness to the body, and took him out by going downstairs with his punches. If Fundora focuses on throwing body shots, he has a good chance of duplicating what Spence did against Ocampo four years ago.
After that loss, Ocampo returned to fighting the same fluff opposition that he’d built his earlier record on, and he’s not lost since. Given that the 6’6″ Fundora is a volume puncher, Ocampo may stick around until the later rounds before getting stopped.
Fundora does have good punching power, but he’s not the type that will score a fast knockout unless his opponent is chinny.
“I feel like I proved to the people that I’m an elite fighter,” said Sebastian Fundora. “I can hang with anyone, and I can stop them as well. I showed that I have what it takes to become a world champion.”
Fundora still hasn’t proven he’s an elite fighter yet. He did stop Erickson Lubin in the ninth round of their grueling fight last April, but he hasn’t beaten anyone else of note. It would be interesting to see Fundora against Tim Tszyu and Tony Harrison.
“I’m going to keep sending the same message as always, and that’s saying clearly that I’m going to become a world champion at 154 pounds,” said Fundora.
“Ocampo might come into this fight to display his boxing skills, or he might come on the inside looking to exchange. I’m confident in my corner and how we prepared, and it’s going to show in the ring.”
