WBO: Fundora risks being stripped unless Spence gets ranked

Sebastian Fundora has the WBO’s blessing to pursue a junior-middleweight title defense other than Terence Crawford, but at this hour, Fundora’s top choice of former three-belt welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. is being frowned upon by the sanctioning body.

The WBO’s lead attorney told BoxingScene Thursday that if Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) chose Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) right now that Fundora would be stripped of his belt.

“Fundora must comply with WBO rules and fight an active, world-rated contender,” the attorney, Gustavo Olivieri, said. “Simple as that.”

By virtue of his bloody March 30 split-decision victory over Tim Tszyu in Las Vegas, Fundora of Coachella, Calif., captured both the WBO and vacant WBC belts. He was met in the ring afterward by Texas’ Spence, who expressed interest in meeting Fundora next.

Both fighters are under the Premier Boxing Champions banner.

But the WBO quickly let Fundora know he was obligated to next fight its “super” champion, the four-division world champion Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), and Fundora has sought to retain both of the belts.

Crawford, following his WBA junior-middleweight victory over Israil Madrimov on Aug. 3, has pushed instead for a showdown against four-division and super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, balking at the WBO deadline to negotiate a deal with Fundora.

On Wednesday, following a 10-day extension on Sept. 30, Crawford agreed to let Fundora pursue an alternate fight that would allow the new champion to retain the WBO belt.

(Whether that move means Crawford feels he now has an “in” to fight Alvarez is uncertain because Alvarez has previously shuttered the idea of fighting the lighter man, and he’s also expressed interest in a showdown with WBA light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol should Bivoil win that division’s undisputed title Saturday versus Artur Beterbiev in Saudi Arabia).

So while the speculation quickly turned that Fundora would go after a pay-per-view fight with Spence that could take place at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium, the WBO says not so fast.

The WBO will only sanction title fights against opponents ranked in its top 15, which Spence is not.

Olivieri noted other Spence flaws: He’s coming off a one-sided knockout in his undisputed-welterweight-title beating by Crawford in July 2023, hasn’t fought since and hasn’t petitioned to enter the WBO’s top 15.

If Fundora fights Spence under those conditions, he will be stripped, Olivieri said.

That seems harsh and odd given that many of the occupants of the WBO’s top 15 would be underdogs if they fought Spence.

The cast under top-ranked Tszyu (who is participating in an Oct. 19 IBF title fight against champion Bakhram Murtazaliev) includes No. 2 Josh Kelly, the young No. 3 Xander Zayas, No. 9 veteran Erickson Lubin and No. 12 Jorge Garcia Perez (30-4).

The opening for Spence is this:

“Team Spence or his representatives can certainly petition and argue the reasons as to why he is deserving of world-rating consideration and request an opportunity,” to be ranked in the top 15, Olivieri said.

That opportunity will be at the WBO’s ratings and mandatories portion of its upcoming convention in Puerto Rico, on Oct. 31.

If successful in winning WBO sanctioning and winning his next fight, Fundora will be obligated to fight Crawford next, the WBO reminded.

Unless Crawford opts to fight someone else again, which would cause him to waive his position as a mandatory foe to the WBO champion.