Former champion believes clean power will force Fundora to change his approach
Keith Thurman is centering his fight with Sebastian Fundora around one idea, landing a clean shot that forces a reaction. The former champion believes that moment will change how the fight unfolds.
WBC junior middleweight champion Fundora (23-1-1, 15 KOs) does a lot of his work in range. He throws, he absorbs, and he keeps the pressure going. That approach has held up because most opponents have not been able to make him pay for it in a way that changes his behaviour. Thurman, 37, views the openings in Fundora’s style as the main issue.
If Fundora, 28, can take the shot and keep doing what he does, the fight stays the same. If he cannot, everything changes quickly. The former two-time 147-lb champion Thurman is betting on that second outcome, and his language has been consistent about it. The inactive Thurman, who has been brought in to sell the fight on PPV, is relying on one clean moment that forces a response.
Thurman has relied on sharp, visible punches that interrupt the flow of a fight rather than blend into it. He is not trying to match Fundora’s work rate over long stretches. He is trying to break it with something that stands out enough to shift the direction.
Fundora has been comfortable in fights where he can trade and keep moving. Thurman is questioning whether that comfort holds once he is hit with something he cannot ignore. That is the entire point he is pushing, and it reduces the fight to a narrow test.
It comes down to whether Fundora changes once he feels the shots, and Thurman believes he will.
Fundora defends against Thurman this Saturday, March 28th, in the main event of a $75-priced event on Amazon Prime Video pay-per-view at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
