WBC light middleweight champion Fundora, a connoisseur of chaos, welcomes more of it ahead of their title rematch on Saturday. \u201cI want another fight like the first one,\u201d he said earlier in the year. \u201cAnother bloody mess.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tszyu, a self-styled \u201cthrowback fighter,\u201d has long fought anyone, anytime, any place. With bouts against the likes of Jeff Horn, Tony Harrison and Bakhram Murtazaliev, he’s been true to his word.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Uncrowned, he recalled the cut that changed everything. \u201cI felt it straight away,\u201d he said, brushing it off as \u201ca bit of a scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The aftereffects still linger in his Sydney home. Inside a cabinet of memorabilia, he keeps the same handwraps from that night \u2014 and they are still stained crimson. His shorts remain soggy. Even his French bulldog, Pablo, refuses to give them a second sniff. \u201cIt was a lot of blood, man,\u201d Tszyu said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Spend time around these two and you\u2019ll see: This rematch isn\u2019t just another fight. It\u2019s a campaign. A second front. A test of strategy, discipline and will. And like all great battles, it has its own manual.<\/p>\n
Enter Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese military strategist whose teachings 2,500 years ago in “The Art of War” may offer a blueprint for how this rematch unfolds as his words echo through Fun-Tszyu 2.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAll warfare is based on deception.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKnow your enemy and know yourself, and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strategy & Planning<\/p>\n
Originally scheduled to fight Keith Thurman in 2024, Tszyu had to pivot fast when Fundora stepped in on short notice after Thurman suffered an injury to his biceps. Going from his original opponent \u2014 Thurman is 5-foot-7 with a 69-inch reach \u2014 to the 6-foot-6 Fundora with an 80-inch reach, is no small shift in task.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest takeaway I have from the first fight to the rematch,\u201d Tszyu said, \u201cis the fact that I get to actually prepare for him. I sort of came out swinging and had to figure everything out on the go.\u201d<\/p>\n
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This time, Tszyu has had a full camp to adjust. He\u2019s been sparring taller fighters, practicing the art of punching at a higher target, and drawing from the 12 rounds with Fundora that he\u2019s already banked.<\/p>\n
Fundora\u2019s approach is simpler. \u201cWhen it comes to strategy and planning, we hit the bag, we train, and we spar,” the champ said. “Whatever Tim brings is going to be great for him, but we’re focused on what Fundora can bring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sun Tzu placed deception at the heart of warfare, and Fundora’s simplified look at camp may well be a nod to this, particularly when he provides his thoughts on the famous quote: \u201cIn the midst of chaos, there\u2019s opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
It resonates with the Californian boxer. \u201cWe stay calm in chaos,\u201d Fundora said.<\/p>\n
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Why?<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause our camps are never easy. The fancy stuff, family \u2026 that’s easy. We’re smiling, and we’re enjoying it. We see fans. They’re greeting us, they’re loving us. But the camps are hard. They\u2019re tough. We go through lots of dramatic stuff through camp. We go through hardship.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the fight comes,\u201d Fundora continued, \u201cthe chaos that you guys see, well, it\u2019s nothing but a breeze to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Sebastian Fundora (left) towers over Tim Tszyu ahead of their championship rematch.<\/p>\n
(Melina Pizano via Getty Images)The importance of adaptation<\/p>\n
Tszyu acknowledges that, like Tzu warned, battles can be lost before they even begin. \u201cFights can be won before, but you\u2019ve got to be able to have a mindset of adapting to what\u2019s in front of you,” he said.<\/p>\n
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In the first fight, Tszyu had to adjust to Fundora\u2019s range, and then once again when the cut opened and blood poured everywhere. \u201cI didn\u2019t adapt as quickly as I wanted,” he said. “That\u2019s my biggest takeaway.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fundora sees it differently. He credits Tszyu, despite the waves of blood that blurred his vision. \u201cHe looked game through the whole fight to me,\u201d Fundora said, before admitting he targeted the cut deliberately. \u201cLike you said, this is ‘The Art of War.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Effective leadership and discipline<\/p>\n
Sun Tzu also emphasized the importance of leadership and unity: A well-led army does not falter.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019ve got the right people around me with No Limit, my manager, my coach, promoters \u2026 everyone’s on board and we’re all loyal to each other,\u201d Tszyu said. \u201cThat’s the main theme.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fundora credits his longtime manager Sampson Lewkowicz, and, of course, his father\/trainer Freddy<\/a>. \u201cMy team is one of the best in boxing because we go out there, we do our job, and we do it professionally,” he said. “We make sure there’s no bumps or cuts or anything like that, and we just get the job done \u2014 always.\u201d<\/p>\n That discipline may have shown in how each team handled adversity. Tszyu\u2019s corner could have pulled him after that cut in 2024, which may have led to a technical decision win at best, or a No Contest at worst. Instead, he fought on and lost a decision. Fundora, meanwhile, took a year off to heal and then steamrolled Chordale Booker in four rounds<\/a>. Tszyu returned too soon and was punished by Bakhram Murtazaliev<\/a> in a brutal TKO loss.<\/p>\n \u201cHe needed more time to recover,\u201d Fundora said of Tszyu. \u201cHe got hit more. We had a little swollen nose \u2014 nothing wrong with that. They gave us time to heal and we took full advantage [of that time away from the ring].\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n It\u2019s a lesson Fundora says he often discusses with his father. \u201cThese questions and talking points? They\u2019re not new to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Sebastian Fundora poses with his title belts after defeating Tim Tszyu in March 2024.<\/p>\n (Steve Marcus via Getty Images)Knowing yourself \u2014 and the enemy<\/p>\n Sun Tzu’s most famous principle may be this: \u201cKnow yourself and know your enemy, and you will not fear the result of a hundred battles.\u201d<\/p>\n Both fighters feel they\u2019ve gained that insight.<\/p>\n \u201cYou learn more from your losses than your wins,\u201d Tszyu said. \u201cI intend to come back and put on a show.\u201d<\/p>\n Fundora agrees \u2014 to a point.<\/p>\n He says he knows Tszyu more intimately than past opponents like Erickson Lubin or Brian Mendoza, but doesn\u2019t overthink it. \u201cI just need to focus on what I can do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n So what can Fundora do?<\/p>\n \u201cI can win,\u201d he finished. \u201cAnd I\u2019m going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are few fights in the modern era as spectacularly violent as the first time Sebastian Fundora and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,5155,82,8129,5154],"class_list":["post-7509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sebastian-fundora","tag-sports","tag-sun-tzu","tag-tim-tszyu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"LAS](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/a14d7a00-06b2-11f0-bffe-53c3fcf50116.jpeg\"\/)
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