By: Sean Crose
The first thing that strikes you about the man is his height. At over six and a half inches tall, he’d fit right in with a room full of heavyweights. Sebastian Fundora is no heavyweight, however. In fact, he’ll be fighting for numerous junior middleweight titles this weekend when he squares off against the five eight and a half Tim Tszyu in Las Vegas. Again, Fundora’s height – considering the weight division he’s fighting in – is stunning. It also gives the Californian a distinct height advantage against most, if not all, of his opponents. Fundora, however, may need all the advantages he can get heading into this weekend.
For the 24-0 Tszyu is a hard hitting, ultra confident Aussie, one whose on the verge of being a legitimate star in the sport of boxing. Indeed, he was originally supposed to face popular former welterweight champion Keith Thurman. An injury took Thurman out of the fight, however. Suffice to say, Thurman’s loss was Fundora’s gain, for now the 13-1-1 fighter has a chance to become a junior middleweight world titlist, as well as the toast of boxing. All he has to do is defeat Tszyu Saturday night in Las Vegas…but that’s no easy task.
Sure enough, Tszyu is the favorite walking in to this week’s pay per view main event, and with good reason. Fundora lost his last fight, after all, via knockout to Brian Mendoza. In other words, he hasn’t looked his best lately. What’s more, Tszyu is undefeated, and two of his last three fights have ended within the distance. There’s the matter of Fundora’s height, however. Plus the fact he’s a southpaw. Plus the fact that Tszyu has a tendency to hold his head a bit upright. In other words, this is one of the more interesting matchups to be made this year.
“What a change of events huh?” Fundora asked at press conference on Thursday. “From opening the card to now fighting on the main event right here in the fight capital of the world, Las Vegas…this is a big opportunity we’re going to take advantage of and become a world champion on Saturday night.” Tszyu, who himself has been looking for a huge opportunity to prove just how good he is, probably views Saturday in some regards the same way Fundora does. Whoever wins is arguably going to find himself in the spotlight from now on – a motivating factor if ever there was one.
