By Brian Webber: Sebastian ‘The Towering Inferno’ Fundora says he’ll come back “stronger” from his seventh-round knockout loss to Brian Mendoza last Saturday night.
Fundora says he will return but failed to mention whether he wants a rematch with the 29-year-old Mendoza. It will be difficult for Fundora to come back from this defeat because he’ll need to change his fighting style, and it’s unlikely he’ll be able to accomplish that task to find the same success that he briefly enjoyed in the last two years.
You can’t blame Fundora for electing not to say anything about wanting to avenge his defeat because fighting Mendoza again would be a bad idea. He’d been hitting Fundora with mammoth shots the entire fight and finally took him out in the seventh.
Can Fundora come back from his loss?
The 6’5 1/2″ Fundora (20-1, 13 KOs) lost his interim WBC junior middleweight title in getting knocked out by Mendoza (22-2, 16 KOs) in the main event on a Showtime-televised show at the Dignity Health Sports Park, in Carson, California.
Fundora, 25, got careless in the seventh when he attempted to throw a left uppercut from outside. In boxing, throwing uppercuts from long range is a no-no, but Fundora is the type of fighter that does things in reverse.
Mendoza took advantage of Fundora’s careless mistake by hitting him with a left hook and a right hand that knocked him senseless. While Fundora was falling, Mendoza hit him with another left hand. At the time of the knockout, Mendoza trailed by scores: of 54-60, 55-59, and 54-60.
Winning and losing are part of the game. I gave it all, but today I came up short. Thank you to my fans for your support, and know that setbacks are opportunities to learn and grow. Being champion is about heart and determination, and I’ll be back stronger than ever.
— Sebastian Fundora (@SebastianFundo1) April 9, 2023
Fundora has a lot of work to do to return from this defeat because his defense was nowhere to be found in this fight, and he doesn’t appear to know how to use his height & reach.
Having seen Fundora attempt to use his height & reach in his previous fight against Carlos Ocampo, he gets countered a lot. His jab is slow, and he doesn’t have much power in either hand when fighting from the outside.
Fundora’s bread & butter punch is his uppercut, and he can’t use that shot from the outside, as we saw in his knockout against Mendoza.
The truth is that Fundora never fought a big puncher until last night, and he fell apart. He cannot carve out a career by avoiding the killers at 154 like Mendoza, Tim Tszyu, and Jermell Charlo.
“[Jermell] Charlo is the undisputed, so that’s the obvious answer,” said Brian Mendoza at the post-fight press conference when asked who he wants to fight next. “I really don’t care. I’m the easiest fight to make. I fought Jeison Rosario on ten days’ notice.
“I want Charlo because he’s undisputed, and I’m obviously next in line. Whatever is the best opportunity? I told my team after my last fight that I wanted the best opportunity at 154 or 160. I feel comfortable in both weight classes now.”
