LAS VEGAS \u2014 One of the best divisions in boxing, super welterweight, continues with aplomb on Saturday, March 28 as Sebastian Fundora defends his WBC championship against the former unified welterweight champion, Keith Thurman, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
The all-bark, no-bite bout between Vergil Ortiz and Jaron \u2018Boots\u2019 Ennis may dominate 154-pound headlines, but Xander Zayas\u2019s title unification win over Abass Baraou last month, and the Fundora vs Thurman fight next, there are timely reminders that it\u2019s far more than a two-man division. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the best,\u201d Fundora told Boxing Social weeks out from his title defense \u2014 the third of his career after picking up the belt with a split decision over Tim Tszyu in 2024, and putting it on the line twice since.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many names,\u201d the 28-year-old told us. \u201cIt\u2019s just who has the better marketing. [Turki] Alalshikh is backing Ortiz and Ennis, and he\u2019s pushing them, which is good. Because by the time we fight them, they\u2019ll be the guy, and when we win, we\u2019ll be the guy.\u201d <\/p>\n
Fundora\u2019s confidence isn\u2019t misplaced. <\/p>\n
At 6-foot-6, and with an 80-inch wingspan, Fundora is laughably huge for the division, and he continues to improve with every fight, developing from an inside fighter to a more well-rounded champion in recent years. <\/p>\n
After winning a Fight of the Year contender over Erickson Lubin in 2022, he rebounded from a knockout loss to Brian Mendoza the following year, to win three in a row in fan-friendly fashion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always felt the best in the division,\u201d Fundora said. \u201cAnd when the time comes [against Ortiz vs Boots winner], we\u2019ll show you guys again why we\u2019re here.\u201d<\/p>\n
First, Fundora must dispatch Thurman, arguably the biggest name on his resume.<\/p>\n
\u201cI expect a vintage Thurman but whether it\u2019s vintage or veteran Keith, I\u2019ll be ready,\u201d Fundora finished. \u201cAnd whatever he brings we\u2019ve been training hard to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fundora vs Thurman airs Mar. 28 atop a Premier Boxing Champions on Prime Video PPV card.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 One of the best divisions in boxing, super welterweight, continues with aplomb on Saturday, March…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-479859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}