Sebastian Fundora official to defend WBC title against Keith Thurman in October
Keith Thurman has a chance to become a two-division world champion.
The former unified welterweight champion will challenge Sebastian Fundora for his WBC super welterweight title on Oct. 25 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Premier Boxing Champions confirmed Friday afternoon.
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Fundora vs. Thurman will headline an Amazon Prime Video pay-per-view telecast.
Fundora (23-1-1, 15 KOs) captured the WBC and WBO titles when he replaced Thurman to face Australia’s Tim Tszyu on late notice in March 2024. A horror cut suffered by Tszyu on his head limited his vision and aided Fundora to a split decision upset in a bloody affair.
“The Towering Inferno” was stripped of his WBO title after his stoppage win over Chordale Booker this past March, as Fundora opted to rematch Tszyu rather than face his mandatory, Xander Zayas. The rematch was ultimately a much easier night for Fundora, who knocked Tszyu down in the opening round and dominated large parts of the contest until Tszyu’s corner decided not to send their man out for Round 8. Now, Fundora is set for a third title defense of 2025.
Thurman (31-1, 23 KOs), the former unified welterweight champion, has fought just twice in the past six years since losing his WBA welterweight title to Manny Pacquiao in 2019. Thurman won a decision over current WBC champion Mario Barrios in 2022, and made a shock comeback against Australia’s Brock Jarvis this past March, taking out Jarvis in three rounds in his super welterweight debut.
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A rescheduled Thurman vs. Tszyu clash was being planned for July 6, however Tszyu opted to rematch Fundora instead. With Fundora stopping Tszyu once again, it’s created an opening for Thurman to challenge Fundora.
In the night’s co-feature, O’Shaquie Foster (23-3, 12 KOs) will defend his WBC super featherweight crown against the current WBC featherweight champion, Stephen Fulton (23-1, 8 KOs). Foster vs. Fulton was supposed to take place on an expected Aug. 16 Gervonta Davis vs. Lamont Roach 2 undercard, but Davis’ legal issues scrapped plans for a rematch. Davis instead takes on Jake Paul in November.
Fulton, who lost his unified super bantamweight title to Naoya Inoue in 2023, will look to become a three-division champion against Foster.
Elsewhere on the show, Jesus Ramos Jr. (23-1, 19 KOs) jumps up to middleweight to face Shane Mosely Jr. (22-4, 12 KOs) — the son of the legendary three-division champion, Shane Mosely — for the WBC interim title, and former WBC super welterweight champion Tony Harrison (30-4-1, 21 KOs) meets Mexico’s unbeaten Isaac Lucero (17-0, 13 KOs) in a middleweight contest.
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