WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora’s promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, says he’s open to negotiating a fight with mandatory Terence Crawford.
Lewkowicz states that Crawford hasn’t mentioned wanting to fight Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs), and the World Boxing Organization hasn’t sent a letter ordering them to negotiate. He also says His Excellency Turki Alalshikh hasn’t talked of wanting to make a fight between Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs).
Crawford Still Wants Canelo
Likely, Crawford is still holding out his dim hope of a fight against superstar Canelo Alvarez falling into his lap, which is highly unlikely. Canelo already said he doesn’t wish to discuss a fight against anyone else until after his next title defense against Edgar Berlanga on September 14th.
He is open to a match against Crawford, but his asking price may be too high for Turki to agree. Unless Canelo is willing to drop his asking price of $150 million, Crawford must move on and take the next best fight, easily Fundora, unless he wants to fight young Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
“We’re waiting for the WBO to send us a letter for the mandatory and negotiate,” said promoter Sampson Lewkowicz to Fighthype when asked if Sebastian Fundora could be defending his WBC and WBO Junior middleweight titles against Errol Spence next.
“If you see Crawford, he talks about everyone, but he never mentions Fundora as well as Turki Alalshikh. I respect him, even though he didn’t mention Fundora. He has a right not to mention, but no one got in touch with me about that fight [Crawford vs. Fundora].
If Crawford, 36, chooses not to force a title fight against WBC/WBO 154-lb champion Fundora, ‘The Towering Inferno’ will likely defend against Errol Spence next. That massive fight will bring in a lot of revenue on PPV and ticket sales.
It’s understandable why Crawford might not be in a hurry to fight again, as he’s coming off a win over WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov last Saturday night. Moreover, Crawford usually only fights once a year.
So, he’ll sit inactive for the next 12+ months, reveling in his win over Madrimov before returning to the ring in the first half of 2025.
“Probably there’s no interest, and whatever he makes a decision, I will never go against a new promoter [Turki]. I would never do that,” said Lewkowicz about Turki’s interest in a fight between Crawford and WBC and WBO 154-lb champion Fundora. “If he wants to do the best fight, let him do it, but I would never interfere with Turki.
Crawford’s Decision
“We need to negotiate. That would be a tough fight, but we wait. This is a chess game. We need to wait,” said Lewkowicz when asked if he’d like to make a fight between Fundora and Crawford. “We are the champions. So, we’re waiting for that letter, and we’ll see what happens in the end.”
Lewkowicz has a clear interest in a fight between Crawford and Fundora. Now, it’s up to Crawford and Turki if they want to go in that direction for the Nebraska native’s next fight or focus on trying to put together a match against Canelo once he’s done with his defense against Berlanga.
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