Curiosity And Power For Sebastian Fundora

Amidst the headline-grabbing Heavyweight wins Saturday by both Joseph Parker in the U.K. and then, Andy Ruiz in California, was intriguing Jr. Middleweight prospect, Sebastian Fundora and his latest knockout performance.

The massively tall 154 lb. Fundora stands a towering 6’6 and, as you can imagine, he used that wingspan and leverage to another spectacular win on the PBC on Fox undercard of the Ruiz – Chris Arreola pay-per-view. The 23 year old Fundora overwhelmed veteran Jorge Cota in a 4th round TKO. The win improved his professional record to 17-0-1 and clearly has the Coachella, California product on the way towards a world title shot probably in 2022.

? @SebastianFundo1 was teeing off on Jorge Cota!

Buy #RuizArreola PPV Now: https://t.co/yaVe8Z8598 pic.twitter.com/PHyOZB9R3I

— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) May 2, 2021

But, while he was almost like a tornado of inside punching, he did so foregoing an overwhelming height and reach advantage. And, there is clearly a lot of work for him to do, if he is going to be a serious championship threat.

One thing is his defense, or lack thereof.

Fundora was hit and often during Saturday night’s four rounds and he is obviously an easier target, when he’s fighting on the inside. This is, because it’s tougher for him to get his long arms up in front of him the block punches at close range.

Cota was able to take advantage of that and landed numerous clean punches on Fundora. A better, harder punching fighter will enjoy great success, and probably knock Fundora out, if he engages that way in a higher level bout.

There was also a keen observation Saturday from Fox Sports analyst and former Undisputed Heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis, who’s obviously an authority on being a taller fighter with long reach.

Lewis relayed that strategically, Fundora was making life much more difficult by simply not taking a half step back to create range for him to land his big punches. And, just as importantly, make it almost impossible for the shorter, smaller armed Cota to hit him without lunging at him.

That will be the challenge for almost anyone Fundora fights in the near future, who will be giving up 4 to 6 inches in height at least and another 6 to 8 inches in reach.

However, despite those criticisms, there is no denying that Fundora is exciting to watch and a big-time puncher, especially with the left hooks and left uppercuts. And, in the end he did butcher Cota into submission with those shots Saturday night in front of a roaring crowd of limited fans outdoors at the Dignity Health Sports Complex.

While Fundora doesn’t reside in the most glamorous division in boxing, Heavyweight, he certainly has a frame and the punching with it that reminds anyone who’s watching of “the big guys.” And while he’ll never make it to that weight, it’s much more realistic to speculate that Fundura would be likely be moving up to Middleweight soon.

At 160 lb. unbeaten Jermall Charlo rules the “WBC Kingdom,” while former Undisputed Champion Gennady Golovkin has regained the IBF Middleweight belt. Japan’s Ryota Murata has the WBA Championship and Providence’s unbeaten Demetrius Andrade maintains the WBO title.

The most logical fight would be with Jermall Charlo, as he and Fundora are both under the Premier Boxing Champions umbrella. Plus, it would be fascinating to see Charlo, who’s clearly the hardest puncher currently of the champions, try to solve the height and reach disadvantage in that one.

But, again, that’s off in the great distance.

The short-term future is Fundora, who’s got three straight KOs, getting back in there with an upgraded Junior Middleweight contender. And, then we’ll see, if he can improve in a couple of areas to add to what is obviously great potential.