Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.<\/a><\/p>\nMendoza, meanwhile, handed Fundora what remains his sole career loss in 2023, landing a surprise knockout in the seventh \u2013 and while well behind on the scorecards.<\/p>\n
\u201cFighting Fundora is kinda interesting,\u201d Mendoza said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough to get ready for a guy at that height in this weight class.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a lot of advantages against you in the ring.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main thing a lot of people didn\u2019t recognize in my fight with him was lateral movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey noticed him getting downhill on me and kinda landing shots, but they didn\u2019t notice how many shots I was able to get out of the way of.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lateral movement was a big factor for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd a couple other things I\u2019ll keep in the vault, because I\u2019m still trying to get the rematch with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
So as for how Sunday\u2019s fight goes?<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly think Thurman\u2019s a big threat,\u201d Mendoza continued. \u201cBecause he\u2019s known for really good lateral movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows how to get you to cross your feet up and come in with that leaping hook, which we saw in my fight with (Fundora). That can be his kryptonite.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keith Thurman will take on \u2018The Towering Inferno\u2019 this weekendSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, American Chordale Booker, who lost his own title fight to The Towering Inferno in 2023, also recounted his difficulties against the rangy champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s already hard to fight someone who\u2019s 6\u20196\u201d,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never been in the ring with anybody that tall. Somebody with that much length.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came out, threw the jab, and I remember the first thing I did was pull back — and he still hit me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was, like, \u2018oh s***t\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWatching all his old tapes, I trained for a guy who was tall but gave up his height. He had just had that fight with Tim Tszyu, and he clearly worked on his range, which made it a difficult fight for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGirt, meanwhile, is convinced Thurman will get it done.<\/p>\n
When asked if he feels the great\u2019s lack of activity in recent years could play against him, the trainer replied: \u201cI mean, it could. But I think Keith is the type of guy that, he wants it bad enough, he\u2019ll figure out a way to win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s Tim Tszyu sits among a group of fighters who have this week detailed the incredible challenge that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[2095,277283,190898,64,63,689,802,117834,169752,276239,277289,277284,2105,277288,11464,2623,3415,2789,2627,2782,2041,2067,677,123802,277285,219493,2784,277287,85,277286,3711,5942,2614,54809,2753,2836],"class_list":["post-562625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-america","tag-american-champ","tag-american-trainer","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-boxing","tag-brian-mendoza","tag-buddy-mcgirt","tag-errol-spencer","tag-fight-hub","tag-getting-downhill","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-incredible-challenge","tag-keith-thurman","tag-las-vegas","tag-lateral-movement","tag-mgm-grand-inc","tag-nevada","tag-nick-walshaw","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-pbc","tag-real-tough-motherfucker","tag-ring-looking","tag-sebastian-fundora","tag-sole-career-loss","tag-sports","tag-super-welterweight-crown","tag-super-welterweight-title","tag-tim-tszyu","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-weight-class","tag-world-champion","tag-world-title"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562625","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=562625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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