Sebastian Fundora will replace injured Keith Thurman as the opponent for WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu for the headliner on Prime PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Fans view PBC’s decision to keep the card on PPV as unpopular, with a sticker shock of $75. Unfortunately, this is not a must-see TV-level fight, and this event could bomb badly.
Breaking: Tim Tszyu will now defend his WBO junior middleweight title vs. Sebastian Fundora on March 30 in Las Vegas in the main event of PBC’s inaugural PPV on Prime Video, sources told ESPN. Keith Thurman suffered a biceps injury in training and was forced to withdraw.
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) March 18, 2024
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With the old war horse Thurman exciting the card, it would have been better for Premier Boxing Champions to take the event off pay-per-view because he was only semi-star on the entire card. Tszyu isn’t a star, at least not in the U.S., and Fundora certainly isn’t.
The 35-year-old Thurman suffered a bicep injury, forcing PBC to find a substitute, with the lanky 6’5 1/2″ recently brutally knocked out Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KOs) to step in.
With Fundora fresh off a KO, it’s a serious gamble for PBC to use him as a substitute for a PPV event. You’d like to see some inventiveness on the part of PBC by using one of their talented fighters firing on all eight cylinders, like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis or perhaps a middleweight to face Tszyu rather than Fundora.
Given the way Brian Mendoza flat-lined Fundora, it’s questionable whether it’s safe for him to step in against a big puncher like Tszyu without taking a tune-up to ensure his 100% health for this level of competition.
For younger fans unfamiliar with Thurman, given his many years of inactivity, they’re nonchalant about him being unable to fight on March 30th.
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They’ve never seen and don’t care that he’s off the card. It was an odd decision in the first place for PBC to have selected Thurman as Tszyu’s opponent, given his age, inactivity, and the fact that he’s never fought at 154.
Thurman has been so inactive that young fans only know him as that balding guy who occasionally posts on YouTube. He was useless for PPV purposes, and he wouldn’t be able to help Tszu, who is NOT a household name for U.S. casual fans.
They like the idea of Fundora replacing Thurman, as he is at least someone they’ve seen fight before, even though he is coming off a devastating knockout at the hands of Brian Mendoza in April of last year.