By Dan Ambrose: Sebastian ‘The Towering Inferno’ Fundora (20-0-1, 13 KOs) will return to the ring next month in defense of his WBC interim junior middleweight belt against #12 IBF Brian Mendoza (21-2,15 KOs) in a 12 round fight on Showtime on April 8 from the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., The card starts on Showtime at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.
In the chief support bout, light welterweight contender Brandun Lee battles former Teofimo Lopez knockout victim Pedro Campa in a 10 round bout. Campa was stopped in the seventh round by Teofimp last August.
It’s a strange choice of opponent for Lee to be fighting in the co-feature, as you’d like to see him facing someone that had at least one in their last fight rather than coming off of a knockout.
Also on the April 8th Fundora-Mendoza card, featherweight Luis Nunez (18-0, 13 KOs) faces Christian Olivo in a 10 round fight.
The 6’6″ Fundora makes his second defense of his interim WBC 154lb title after defending it last October in a dull 12 round decision win over Carlos Ocampo.
Fundora, 25, needs a better performance against Mendoza if he wants the boxing public to take him seriously as a potential threat to unseating undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo.
Against Ocampo, Fundora fought scared, looking like he was afraid to go into attack mode against him after his war against Erickson ‘The Hammer’ Lubin last April. That fight might have taken something out of Fundora because he looked scared to mix it up against Ocampo, who had been knocked out in one round by welterweight Errol Spence Jr in 2018.
“I’m well-prepared for this matchup,” said Fundora. “I’m training hard, as usual, and I’m ready to put on a great show for the fans in Carson all over again.
“We expect a great fight from Mendoza. I hope he brings his best so that we can give the fans their money’s worth. Every single fight is important, so we’re going in there to win and get to where I want to be, and that’s world champion of the 154-pound division.”
Mendoza, 29, is coming off a fifth round knockout win over former IBF/WBA junior middleweight champion Jeison Rosario last November. In the fifth, Mendoza landed a perfectly thrown uppercut to knock Rosario out.
Fundora will have to be careful of Mendoza’s power because he’s dangerous with his single shots, but he has an extremely low work rate and he doesn’t like to be pressured. Jesus Ramos and Larry Gomez both beat Mendoza with pressure.
