Sebastian Fundora, Bakhram Murtazaliev plans begin to give shape to 154

Boxing’s best division is ready to flex its depth as the plans for junior middleweight titleholders Sebastian Fundora and Bakhram Murtazaliev started to unfold Friday.

Fundora, 21-1-1 (13 KOs), and former three-belt welterweight titleholder Errol Spence Jnr, 28-1 (22 KOs), are currently awaiting contracts to be sent to them by Premier Boxing Champions, according to Fundora promoter Sampson Lewkowicz.

Confirming a report by boxing writer Dan Rafael of the “Fight Freaks Unite!”  Substack newsletter, Lewkowicz said the bout is being targeted for March 29 in Las Vegas.

As for WBC/WBO titlist Fundora, he will only be able to defend his WBC belt against the top-ranked Spence. WBO President Gustavo Olivieri told BoxingScene last month that his organization won’t sanction the fight.

Spence hasn’t fought since his crushing July 2023 loss to Terence Crawford, he has never fought at 154lbs, and he is not ranked in the WBO’s top 15, Olivieri said in explaining his position.

If Fundora loses to Spence, the WBO belt will go to interim titleholder Crawford, who wears the WBA 154lbs belt by virtue of his August 3 unanimous decision victory over Israil Madrimov.

Madrimov is now headed to a February 22 showdown with unbeaten Vergil Ortiz Jnr in Saudi Arabia.

And after defending his belt for the first time with an impressive knockout of former titleholder Tim Tszyu in October while fighting with a broken knuckle, Murtazaliev is interested in returning by May against either Crawford, the Ortiz-Madrimov winner or recent WBC interim belt holder Serhii Bohachuk, his promoter Kathy Duva told BoxingScene on Friday.

Crawford’s interest is in fighting super middleweight titleholder Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in May.

“He’s always interested in being in tough,” Duva said of Murtazaliev. “His No. 1 wish is Terence Crawford. If not, there’s a lot of top fighters in that division and some welterweights interested in moving up. We’ll sit back and let those fights happen” while recovering and taking the period around Ramadan off.

“[Bohachuk] is a fight I’d love to see. [Murtazaliev] is going to match up best with guys who fight like Bohachuk. That’s an amazing fight. Let’s just see.”

Murtazaliev may also be connected to a 154lbs fight that may land on the Fundora-Spence card.

The IBF currently lacks a No. 1 or 2 contender at 154lbs, but the promoters for third-ranked Erickson Lubin, 26-2 (18 KOs), and eighth-ranked Ardreal Holmes, 17-0 (6 KOs), are in negotiations to fight, with the winner positioned to become Murtazaliev’s mandatory foe.

Duva said her fighter will be happy to meet his mandatory in the fall.

“There’s lots of interesting fights. It’s a great division to be in. And Bakhram has made it clear he wants the biggest fights he can get to,” Duva said. “So we’re working on it.”

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.