‘The Towering Inferno’ Sebastian Fundora and Keith Thurman have a verbal agreement for an October 18th fight in Las Vegas. It’s a fight that had been talked about recently, and now it’s agreed.
Thurman Jumps the Line
Thurman (31-1, 23 KOs) will leapfrog over the higher-ranked fighters, Jaron Ennis, Serhii Bohachuk, Israil Madrimov, and Jesus Ramos, to challenge Sebastian Fundora (23-1-1, 15 KOs) for his WBC junior middleweight title.
For younger fans, they’d have preferred to see Fundora defending against one of those fighters than the fossil, Thurman, who hasn’t been active enough in the last eight years for him to relent to fans.
A Hustler’s Guide to Boxing
If nothing else, the former WBC and WBA welterweight champion Thurman has shown himself to be a good hustler with the way he’s talked himself into paydays against Manny Pacquiao, Mario Barrios, and Brock Jarvis in the last six years.
Keith doesn’t deserve a title shot against Fundora, yet here he is fighting for a world title. He should have had to fight one of the higher-ranked contenders in the WBC’s rankings to earn the Fundora fight.
Thurman hasn’t stayed active in between these gigs. It’s either been injuries or him just not enjoying the grind involved in staying busy.
Now that the Saudis are involved in the sport, Thurman has emerged from his den to get active again. However, Turki Alalshikh won’t be involved in this fight with Fundora. So, Keith won’t get the kind of money getting tossed around to fighters on Turki’s Riyadh Season cards.
A Surprise Vegas Main Event
Lance Pugmire broke the news of Fundora and Thurman verbally agreeing to the fight on October 18th. Now, it’s up to the 36-year-old ‘One Time’ to make it through training camp without his body falling apart again, like we saw last year when he suffered a bicep injury for what would have been a title shot against then WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu.
Fundora is likely to be a massive favorite against Thurman, who will turn 37 in November. If Keith comes to fight, he’ll likely be knocked out. The mobility that Thurman once had was gone in his recent comeback fight against Brock Jarvis last March. He’ll be food for Fundora if he can’t move around like he used to before age took his legs away.
