{"id":501411,"date":"2026-03-29T07:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T07:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/501411\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T07:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T07:33:08","slug":"sebastian-fundora-demolishes-keith-thurman-in-las-vegas-to-retain-wbc-super-welterweight-title-boxing-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/501411\/","title":{"rendered":"Sebastian Fundora demolishes Keith Thurman in Las Vegas to retain WBC super-welterweight title | Boxing News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sebastian Fundora handed Keith Thurman the first stoppage defeat of his career as he demolished his fellow American inside six rounds to retain the WBC super-welterweight title.<\/p>\n<p>The referee waved off the contest at just under the halfway stage with Thurman &#8211; whose only previous loss had come against Manny Pacquiao on points in 2019 &#8211; sporting a bloodied face and unable to deal with a barrage of punches.<\/p>\n<p>Fundora, 28, held a distinct height and reach advantage &#8211; standing over 6ft 5in compared to his 5ft 9in opponent &#8211; and used that to keep former unified weltwerweight champion Thurman, 37, at bay as he dominated in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n<p>Thurman&#8217;s inactivity perhaps showed &#8211; he had only fought twice between this bout and that defeat to Pacquiao seven years ago &#8211; and he had his legs buckled early on via a potent Fundora left hand.<\/p>\n<p>Thurman&#8217;s head and body took a pounding as Fundora brushed aside a fighter he has always admired.<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/skysports-sebastian-fundora_7205880.jpg\"   alt=\"Sebastian Fundora hits Keith Thurman in a super-welterweight bout in March 2026 (Associated Press)\" data-testid=\"article-image-image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Image:<br \/>\n        Fundora&#8217;s height and range proved too much for Thurman to deal with<\/p>\n<p>Fundora: Fight a lot easier than I expected<\/p>\n<p>Fundora, who took his record to 24-1-1 and left his opponent&#8217;s at 31-2, said afterwards: &#8220;I told him that I&#8217;ve always looked up to him. He&#8217;s a Hall of Famer, for sure.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All respect to Keith, that&#8217;s why I had to train so hard. That&#8217;s why I worked so hard to prove to him, to prove to the world that I am the best 154.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was a lot easier than I expected.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was a little nervous because he&#8217;s such a big name, but we got in there and I remind myself as soon as we step through everything, this is my world. You&#8217;re in my world.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think 154 is the best division right now, so whoever wants it next, we can get it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Stoppage was premature &#8211; I had more in me&#8217; <\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/skysports-keith-thurman-sebastian-fundora_7205879.jpg\"   alt=\"Keith Thurman lands a left to Sebastian Fundora in a super-welterweight bout in March 2026 (Associated Press)\" data-testid=\"article-image-image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Image:<br \/>\n        Thurman said he had &#8216;more in him&#8217; when the fight was stopped in the sixth round<\/p>\n<p>Thurman was frustrated the bout was stopped so early but hailed Fundora as a &#8220;great young fighter&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The Floridian said: &#8220;The fight was getting really good. The fans were loving the action and the referee stopped it too early. They don&#8217;t have the guts to let the fights go on like (in past years).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He talked to me and said if I was moving my feet he wouldn&#8217;t stop the fight. I wasn&#8217;t on the ropes taking shots. It was very unfortunate to not give the fans a better show.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Win, lose, or draw, I thought it was a little bit premature. I had more in me.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sebastian definitely came in shape. He throws a lot of punches. The uppercut he caught me and cut me with was an awkward punch that I&#8217;ve never been hit with before.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The man brings it. He&#8217;s a tremendous champion, and I can lift my head up high knowing I was defeated by a great young fighter.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sebastian Fundora handed Keith Thurman the first stoppage defeat of his career as he demolished his fellow American&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-501411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}