Sebastian Fundora left Keith Thurman battered, bloodied, and beaten in one of the more savage performances of his extraordinary career on Saturday, March 28.
Thurman was never competitive in the fight, and Fundora showed him early the kind of night he was in for when he cracked him with a thumping left cross within seconds at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Fundora buckled Thurman’s legs in the second, turned up the pressure in each and every round, and forced a referee’s stoppage in the sixth.
“I always looked up to him,” said Fundora in his post-fight victory speech, of Thurman, a former unified welterweight world champion and a near mainstay of the modern American boxing scene. “A Hall-of-Famer, for sure.”
It is Thurman’s credentials in the sport that motivated him to prepare so diligently, he said. “That’s why I trained, worked, so hard to prove to him, and the world that I am the best at 154.”
On that performance, few can argue against him.
Many have made their claim. Xander Zayas is the division’s only unified champion, having beaten Abass Baraou earlier in the year to annex the WBA strap to go along with his WBO belt. There is IBF ruler Josh Kelly, and prominent non titleholders in Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, and Vergil Ortiz.
And while each of those guys has merit, few have now the body of work Fundora has, considering his Fight of the Year contending victory over Erickson Lubin, bloody war with Tim Tszyu, the beatdown in the rematch, and now a nasty knockout via referee stoppage over a well-known veteran in Thurman.
And, if the referee hadn’t stopped it, then Thurman’s corner likely would have considered it — because it was painful viewing. For as incredible as it is to watch Fundora enter his prime, it was just as uncomfortable to see the sport retire a legend, rather than allow Thurman to go out on his own.
See the damage to Thurman’s face right here:
On what’s next for him, Thurman said: “There’s all kinds of names — big names. 154 is the best division right now. So, whoever wants it next, they can get it.”
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