Sebastian ‘The Towering Inferno’ Fundora says he’d like to take on Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin if possible. The 6’6″ Fundora is coming off an exciting fight of the year war against Erickson ‘The Hammer’ Lubin last Saturday night on Showtime at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas in Las Vegas.
Canelo Alvarez has two tough fights ahead in 2022 against Dmitry Bivol on May 7th and Golovkin potentially on September 17th. If Canelo wins those fights, he could face the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Joe Smith Jr. in December.
Fundora slowly wore Lubin down over the first eight rounds before putting him away in the ninth round. Along the way, Fundora took a knee in the seventh round to avoid getting stopped.
All in all, it was by far the most exciting fight of the year thus far. For Lubin, the fight proved to be a costly one in terms of the punishment he took.
‘The Hammer’ Lubin ended up with a separated shoulder and a broken nose. Lubin’s face was so badly swollen at the end of the contest that he looked unrecognizable.
The undefeated Fundora (19-0-1, 13 KOs) can increase his chances of getting a fight against those superstars if he can dethrone the winner of next month’s fight between 154-lb champions Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano.
As the new WBC interim junior middleweight champion, Fundora is in the position to challenge the Charlo vs. Castano winner later this year.
“Who wouldn’t. Everyone wants to fight Canelo,” ‘The Towering Inferno’ Fundora said to The DAZN Boxing Show.
“If I can make that weight, why not?” continued Fundora about a fight with Canelo. “It’s not losing the weight, it’s gaining the weight so if I can move up eventually to 160, 168, then I’ll definitely do it.
“Maybe in the future, I just have to put that weight on and we’ll see where we’re at,” said Fundora about a fight between him and Canelo.
It’s unlikely Canelo will entertain the idea of fighting Fundora because he’s still focused on capturing belts, and he’s not going to want to face a fighter from two divisions below the weight class he’s fighting at.
Fundora would need to move up to 168 and beat some solid fighters in that weight class to be considered as a viable alternative for Canelo.
“If the opportunity is there, I’ll do it,” Fundora said when asked if he’d be interested in a fight against Gennadiy Golovkin. “It’s boxing, it’s a sport, it’s the business.
“For me, nothing’s really taken out of the ring, but in the ring, there’s no respect whether it’s your best friend or family member. Outside the ring, it’s all love,” said Fundora.
The 40-year-old Golovkin is likely going to retire after he faces Canelo in September. Even if GGG doesn’t hang up his gloves, he’ll be focusing on guys at 160 or 168, and he won’t bother with Fundora.
The 6’6″ Fundora is going to need to learn how to take advantage of his size before he can start looking at fighting the bigger punchers like Canelo, Golovkin, and Charlo because he gives up his height by standing in close.
“Fight of the year,” said Carson Merk to Porter Way Podcast on the Erickson Lubin vs. Sebastian Fundora fight. “It’s crazy to see him in person that close.
“I thought it was the right call,” said Merk on Lubin’s trainer Kevin Cunningham pulling him out in the ninth round. “Broken nose and separated shoulder [for Lubin]. Thankfully, if you can say ‘thankfully,’ that’s the extent of it. It looked a lot worse.
“In the first round, Lubin was perfect. It was exactly what we thought he needed to do. Get your shots off, turn and get low. He did it in the first round, and we were like, ‘Okay.’
“It was inconsistency [from Erickson]. The second round happened, and it was lucky for Erickson that it [the knockdown by Sebastian] came towards the end of the round because he was going to get stopped. He got hurt.
“It didn’t look like a conscious decision,” Merk said when asked if Fundora purposefully spit out his mouthpiece in the seventh round when he was knocked down by Lubin.
“Also, Fundora jumping up in the air after knocking him down was kind of funny. He [Lubin] got hurt and I thought, ‘Just stay on your feet]’ and then he knocks him down. I was thinking, ‘He’s [Lubin] not in good shape.’
“He got up and didn’t look in good shape. ‘Fundora, if he jumps on you, this is going to be a wrap.’ He makes it out of the round.
“If he [Erickson] had just fought his fight [he would have won]. He didn’t need to be on the inside getting hit with that many uppercuts. He would throw a shot and stand there at midrange, and Fundora was able to get you and tag you.
“I don’t usually say much at fights, but I kept saying, ‘Don’t just stand there. Circle the ring, get around him.’ He [Lubin] would throw these shots and just stand there. He just stayed in the range, and Fundora, oh my God. Those uppercuts.
“Fundora, we got to give him a lot of credit. You don’t break somebody’s nose and separate their shoulder by not punching hard. You don’t get up from a knockdown without having some marbles.
“I think he’s [Fundora] better than I thought, but it frustrates me that he doesn’t fight better from the outside. But my gosh is he accurate with that uppercut, and that thing, it doesn’t look like it feels good.
“He popped Erickson’s head back every single time he hit him with that. He was batting 1000. That’s pressure meeting pressure, and it bursts pipes.
“[Jermell] Charlo knocks him out, I’ll say it,” said Merk about his opinion that Fundora would lose to Jermell. “Charlo is the only one
“Fundora surprisingly is there to get hit in the head because he’s so close and he’s digging down with the uppercuts. No, I think Charlo stops him. You’re talking about a huge power puncher in Charlo,” said Merk.
