Exciting news regarding the March 30th fight between defending WBO 154-pound champ and late-replacement challenger Sebastian Fundora. As per a message on social media from Mike Coppinger, WBO president Paco Valcarcel has let it be known that the winner of the bout that will go down in Las Vegas, will have five days to begin negotiations with the current WBO mandatory challenger, who happens to be reigning pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford.
Here is Coppinger’s message on X:
“WBO president Paco Valcarcel said the winner of Tim Tszyu-Sebastian Fundora must start negotiations with the mandatory challenger five days after the fight. That’s pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford, who was able to position himself into that spot as WBO super champ at 147. If Tszyu wins as expected, big-time fight with Crawford could be on deck this summer.”
As fans know, the chronically inactive Keith Thurman misses out on a go at the unbeaten Tszyu, this due to “One Time” suffering a biceps injury, and in steps Fundora at late-notice. As Coppinger writes, Tszyu, 24-0(17) is expected to defeat Fundora, 20-1-1(13) – although it could prove to be a fun fight at the end of the month – and it could then be a super-fight with the 40-0 master who was won world titles at 135, 140, and 147.
Crawford, who disappointingly fights just once a year (at least this has been the case in the years 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023, and may well be the case here in 2024), will at least be taking on a young, quite brilliant, hungry-for-greatness fighter if he does face Tszyu. Crawford, as special as he has looked in numerous fights, would be made the favourite to win, despite him giving away youth (“Bud” is 36, Tszyu is just 29) and natural weight. But this one, if it does actually happen, could turn out to be very, very interesting indeed.
Let’s see how Tszyu gets on with Fundora, who happens to be a southpaw just like Crawford!