Sebastian Fundora and Tim Tszyu could meet a second time this summer, albeit with only one belt at stake
Lance Pugmire reports that unified super welterweight champion Sebastian Fundora, who was staring down the barrel of a Friday purse bid with mandatory challenger Xander Zayas, will vacate his WBO title in favor of a rematch with Tim Tszyu that will “likely” land at T-Mobile Arena on June 19th.
Thanks to a lengthy and ultimately fruitless effort to set up a showdown with with Errol Spence Jr, Fundora (22-1-1, 14 KO) has fought just once since upsetting Tszyu on short notice two Marches ago, mauling Chordale Booker in four last month. Tszyu (25-2, 18 KO) is 1-1 in that span, suffering a disastrous knockout loss to Bakhram Murtazaliev before beating up Joey Spencer earlier this month, and appeared to be zeroing in on a grudge match with Keith Thurman after “One Time’s” mauling of Aussie Brock Jarvis.
Considering Fundora is overdue for a WBC mandatory, it’s unclear how Sulaiman and co. can justify this, especially with Vergil Ortiz Jr holding the interim title. Not saying I wouldn’t want to see this, just saying that Tszyu hasn’t done enough to merit another crack when you’ve got a clear contender ahead of him.
As for the WBO belt, Pugmire claims that Zayas (21-0, 13 KO) will fight Jorge Garcia Perez (33-4, 26 KO) in what could be a banger. Zayas looked solid in a rout of Slawa Spomer earlier this year and Garcia pulled off a major upset of Charles Conwell just over a week ago.
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