As intrigue of a fight between Sebastian Fundora and Errol Spence Jr. continues to simmer, promoter Sampson Lewkowicz is only focused on staging a fight for Fundora against Terence Crawford.
On Aug. 28, the WBO ordered the interim junior middleweight titleholder Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) to face full titleholder Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) and indicated that both camps had 30 days to agree to a deal or the matchup would be sent to a purse bid.
Although an agreement hasn’t been announced yet, Lewkowicz realizes that Crawford is committed to climbing up to 168 pounds, hoping to get a crack at super middleweight king Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
“It looks like Crawford only wants to fight Canelo,” Lewkowicz told BoxingScene. “If Canelo gets $100 million for the Crawford fight, he will take it and knock the shit out of Crawford. He’s not stupid. It’s an easy fight, and that’s it. It’s the end of Crawford’s career. If Canelo doesn’t take the Crawford fight, we’re ready to fight Crawford. All of our efforts are on Crawford. We have nothing else in mind. We want to fight Crawford. Sebastian believes that he will beat Crawford, and when he does, he will become a superstar. Sebastian has the balls and is a dangerous fight for anybody.”
Earlier this month Lewkowicz said he didn’t have an offer to consider yet for a Fundora vs. Spence matchup.
Fundora, 26, revived his career in March by scoring a split decision win against Tim Tszyu. It was Fundora’s first fight since suffering a stunning stoppage loss to Brian Mendoza in April 2023. Spence stepped into the ring following the Fundora-Tszyu fight, seemingly calling next to face “The Towering Inferno.”
Spence has not fought since suffering a one-sided stoppage loss to Crawford in July 2023 for the undisputed welterweight title, but he has indicated that a move to 154 pounds is next.
The soon-to-be-37-year-old Crawford, meanwhile, is coming off a unanimous decision win against Israil Madrimov in August in his 154-pound debut to win the WBA title.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter whose work has appeared on ESPN, Fox Sports, USA Today, The Guardian, Newsweek, Men’s Health, NFL.com, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Ring Magazine and more. He has been writing for BoxingScene since 2018. Manouk is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.
Read the full article here
