Former world champion Shawn Porter views Sebastian Fundora as a “one-dimensional” challenge for WBO junior middleweight champ Tim Tszyu, an easy opponent for him to solve this Saturday, March 30th, in their headliner at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Porter feels that Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KOs) would be as much of a puzzle for Tszyu (24-0, 17 KOs) compared to his previously scheduled opponent, former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Keith Thurman, who would have made things difficult potentially for him.
It’s not the ideal situation for Fundora to be used as the replacement, given that he was brutally knocked out in his last fight by Brian Mendoza and is coming off an 11-month layoff.
You couldn’t pick a worse substitute if you tried, and PBC has compounded the problem by keeping the event on Prime PPV with an asking price of $70 rather than making it free for Amazon subscribers.
For many boxing fans, the sole purpose of buying the event was to see the charismatic Thurman. Now, with him off the card, they’re left with the stork-like, “one-dimensional” Fundora, who has basically no chance against Tszyu. An undercard is arguably a trainwreck.
Fundora: Good but Vulnerable
“Fundora is a good boxer, bout against Tim Tszyu, there are a lot of things that Sebastian does or does not do that puts him in harm’s way,” said boxing expert Shawn Porter to the Probox TV YouTube channel, talking about the 6’5″ replacement opponent Sebastian Fundora taking on WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu this Saturday night on Prime Video PPV.
Fundora did beat Erickson Lubin two years ago, stopping him in the ninth round in 2022, but Tszyu is a better fighter than him, and he won’t be able to use the same tactics against him as he did against ‘The Hammer.’
“This is not the fight that is going to show that Tim is at world championship level,” said Porter. “Everybody is questioning where he’s at. The reason being is that Fundora is very one-dimensional. Fundora is right there to be hit, and yes, Fundora is very tough as well, but he doesn’t present any sort of puzzle for Tim.”
Fundora isn’t a good enough fighter to prove that Tszyu is a true world-class fighter, and that’s the disappointing part. Fans will have to wait for Tszyu to fight Terence Crawford, Errol Spence Jr., Israil Madrimov, or Vergil Ortiz Jr. to find out if he’s a world-class fighter.
“That’s what I liked about the fight with Keith,” said Porter. “Even if Tim had won, he would have had to solve some puzzles, and I don’t see these same puzzles with Fundora. From what I’ve seen with Tim is he’s very determined, he works extremely hard, and he gets prepared for every fight that he has.
An Easier Transition for Tszyu
“How can he make a switch so quick from fighting someone like Keith to fighting someone like Fundora? I think Fundora is the easier puzzle to get ready for. He’s straight up and down, and there’s not a wide range of offense and defense coming from him,” said Shawn Porter.
It should be pretty cut and dried for Tszyu to make the adjustments from Thurman to Fundora because it’ll be as simple as him getting in close and nailing him with huge punches at point-blank range, waiting for him to go down the way he did in his last fight against Brian Mendoza.
