Sebastian Fundora Routs Ocampo To Retain Interim WBC Title

Sebastian Fundora threw and landed more punches than he ever had in a fight but Carlos Ocampo stood up to every one of them.

In the end, however, Fundora won a lopsided unanimous decision in an entertaining fight to retain the WBC interim junior middleweight title in his first defense in the main event of Showtime’s Premier Boxing Champions card on Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

Fundora won 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111 in a fight that appeared more competitive than the scores would indicate. Fight Freaks Unite also had Fundora winning, 116-112.

.@SebastianFundo1 put the work in over 12 tough rounds against Ocampo 👊🏽💥#FundoraOcampo pic.twitter.com/hbLuLIWvCc

— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) October 9, 2022

At 6-foot-6 – huge for the 154-pound weight class — “The Towering Inferno” indeed towered over the 5-foot-10 Ocampo but for much of the fight Fundora elected to slug with him on the inside in the center of the ring rather than using his height and reach advantage.

Fundora (20-0-1, 13 KOs), 24, of Coachella, California, did use his physical advantages early on, jabbing from the outside and landing long overhand lefts.

“I am pleased with this performance because I did what we trained for,” Fundora said. “I trained for boxing and I trained to stay at a distance and I think we did that in the fight.”

In the fourth round, however, Fundora switched up and moved to the inside, dispensed with boxing and was welcomed by Ocampo, who was fine with banging it out toe to toe.

Fundora landed several heavy blows but Ocampo absorbed them well, although did get a bloody nose and mouth for his trouble in the second half of the fight.

“I wanted to display a little boxing. I thought I would show a little boxing and put that on display but you know I still had to bang for the fans,” Fundora said. “That’s what they came here for so I had to give it to them. I felt my jab was solid and the difference and had him backing up.”

While Ocampo (34-2, 22 KOs), 26, landed many shots, Ocampo returned fire, but in the view of referee Jack Reiss the shots had nothing on them and after the eighth round he went to Ocampo’s corner and told him that he had nothing on his punches, he did not like his body language and that he would consider stopping the fight if he didn’t see something.

It was surprising considering Ocampo had not been knocked down or badly rocked and had also landed many punches on Fundora. Nonetheless, Ocampo had one of his best rounds of the fight in the ninth.
But it was not enough to blunt the southpaw Fundora’s attack, including the many right hooks he landed on the inside.

At the start of the 11th round, Reiss admonished Ocampo’s corner for what he termed purposely spilling water in the corner to give Ocampo a little extra rest time while it was cleaned up before the round could begin. Reiss did not dock a point from Ocampo but went to the commission members at ringside and told them he wanted Ocampo fined for it.

While action slowed down in the final few rounds as Fundora once again turned more toward boxing and using his reach, he was clearly in control and cruised the final two rounds.

“I like to break my opponent down and he was very tough and his face swelled up too,” Fundora said. “But he banged. He’s a tough Mexican. My hat’s off to him.”

Fundora, who claimed the interim belt by ninth-round knockout of Erickson Lubin in their fight of the year contender in April, landed 259 of 871 punches (30 percent) – both career-high totals — and Ocampo landed 192 of 869 (22 percent). Fundora outlanded Ocampo 57-27 to the body but Ocampo’s 27 power connects in the fifth round and the 192 punches landed overall were the most by any of Fundora’s opponents.

“I never felt like he hurt me. It was a tough fight, and Fundora was a quality opponent,” Ocampo said through an interpreter. “I definitely want a rematch as soon as I can. I’m gonna train even harder to knock him out next time.”

Ocampo, who is highly unlikely to get a rematch, saw his 12-fight winning streak come to an end. It was his first loss since moving up to the junior middleweight division and although he lost he performed far better than he had in his only other loss – a first-round knockout as the mandatory challenger for welterweight world titlist Errol Spence Jr. in June 2018.

As for Fundora’s future, he wants a shot at undisputed champion Jermell Charlo, who has WBO and IBF mandatory defenses to deal with ahead of a possible Fundora bout.

“Of course, I want to face the winner of Charlo and (WBO mandatory Tim) Tszyu,” Fundora said of a fight that is slated to take place in January. “I’m the WBC mandatory. I’ve earned my spot and we’ll see what happens. But I hope I’m next. Fingers crossed.”