By Dan Ambrose: Sebastian ‘The Towering Inferno’ Fundora (20-0-1, 13 KOs) is ready to defend his interim WBC junior middleweight title next month on April 8th against Brian Mendoza (21-2, 15 KOs) on Showtime at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Fundora & Mendoza answered questions on Monday during their virtual press conference to discuss their fight next month on April 8th.
The 6’6″ Fundora let Mendoza know that he intends on showing that he’ll be facing the next world champion when they battle it out in their 12-round headliner clash in Carson.
It will be interesting to see if Fundora chooses to go to war with Mendoza like he did with Erickson Lubin last year or if he’ll elect to try and box from the outside, as he did in his previous fight against Carlos Ocampo.
Some boxing fans feel Fundora has lost his desire to slug with his opponents after getting dropped by Lubins and absorbing a lot of punishment in their war.
If the 25-year-old Fundora wins, he could challenge undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo next. Jermell’s broken hand has slowed him from defending against his WBO mandatory challenger Tim Tszyu. Charlo needs to get that fight out of the way before he can get to
“We’re waiting for our shot to fight for the title,” said Sebastian Fundora during Monday’s virtual press conference. “I’m always ready to go toe-to-toe. We must get past Mendoza to think of fighting for the championship.”
We could see Charlo-Fundora early next year if Charlo gets past Tszyu and Fundora defeats Mendoza. Charlo only fights once a year, so his defense against Tszyu in the late summer will likely be his only one in 2023.
In that case, Fundora will need to stay busy and continue defending his interim WBC title rather than sitting & waiting and getting rusty. At 25, it’s better that Fundora stays active because it’ll pay off when he challenges for a world title in 2023, whether against Charlo or Tszyu.
We’re where we want to be and just looking to get that title fight soon,” said Fundora. “We’ll have to see what he brings on April 8. We both have chips on our shoulders. We want to become champions, and we have to win on April 8 to do so.
“Some people are trying to skip me to fight for the title. Mendoza is going to find out that I’m the next world champion at super welterweight,” said Fundora.
