The WBO has refused to sanction Joey Spencer as a potential challenger for WBC/WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora to defend against in his next fight in March.
Spencer Rejected
It’s not a shock that Spencer (19-1, 11 KOs) isn’t being sanctioned by the World Boxing Organization as an opponent for Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) because he’s not ranked in the top 15 by any of the four sanctioning bodies at 154. That leaves Fundora’s management needing to pick one of the highly ranked contenders in the WBO’s ranking.
Options
1. Xander Zayas
2. Charles Conwell
3. Josh Kelly
4. Jorge Garcia Perez
Fundora hasn’t fought since upsetting WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu on March 30th, 2024. It wouldn’t be ideal for ‘The Towering Inferno’ Fundora to take on Zayas or Conwell, who is coming off a long one-year layoff.
A better choice would be Josh Kelly. He’s a light puncher and a pretty basic fighter—more of a British domestic-level fighter than a true contender. He would be easy work for the 6’6″ Fundora to dominate, beat up and have a fun time whipping on him.
I can’t believe Kelly is ranked in the top 10. How on earth is this guy ranked in the top three? He’s more top-50 material, but he’d be perfect for Fundora right now.
Fundora, 27, had been negotiating to defend against Errol Spence for March, but the World Boxing Organization refused to sanction the fight this week. Their reasoning was Spence was coming off a 1.5 year off, a knockout loss to Terence Crawford, unranked in the WBO’s top 15, and had never fought in the weight class. Those were pretty good reasons.
Fundora Stalled
Fundora must fight soon because he’s been out of the ring for way too long, and he’s messing up his career. Yeah, he’s young enough for that kind of layoff not to hurt him like it would an older fighter, but his popularity is suffering. He failed to take advantage of his win over Tszyu by returning to the ring soon after.
“They tell me that the WBO refused to endorse Joey Spencer as a potential challenger to the current Super Welterweight champion, Sebastián Fundora, for next March. This week, negotiations to see Fundora against Errol Spence officially fell apart. #espnknockout,” said Salvador Rodriguez on X.
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