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Sebastian Fundora is a walking contradiction.
And it makes him one of boxing’s most-fascinating talents, with perhaps the sport’s most-limitless potential.
The 24-year-old unicorn stands at six-foot-five-and-a-half, and weighed in at 153.5 pounds ahead of his super welterweight bout against Carlos Ocampo, which he’ll headline on Showtime’s card Saturday night from Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif. Fundora’s sister, Gabriela, fights on the card as well.
Yes, that is all correct. Fundora (19-0, 13 KO’s), at his height, fights at super welterweight. Carrying an incredibly thin frame, he’s able to make the 154-pound limit, resulting in him regularly towering over his opponents in a visual seen almost nowhere else in the sport. Ocampo (34-1, 22 KO’s), who also weighed in at at 153.5 pounds, stands at five-foot-ten – roughly seven inches shorter than Fundora.
“It’s not even keeping the weight down, it’s just something I walk at,” Fundora told The Post ahead of the bout. “That’s how I do it. My sister does the same thing, she fights at 112 pounds, she’s like five-foot-nine, towers over the opponents, but we walk at this weight. We’re always training as well, maybe that helps as well, but we just have a fast metabolism and it’s just nature I guess.”
Beyond the contradiction of someone his size fighting at that weight, everything about Fundora’s style contradicts what one might expect. Despite his stark height and reach advantage, Fundora is most comfortable and at his best fighting on the inside, overwhelming and suffocating his opponents from up close rather than using his length and picking his spots from father away.
“It’s just something I got used to,” Fundora said. “A lot of these shorter fighters would like to fight on the inside, and instead of backing away from it, I kind of accepted it, and learned how to fight on the inside, and that’s really how I got it. It gives me a different view on different styles. It gives me more of an advantage, I feel like that gives me more of an advantage than the reach itself. The fact that I can fight two different ways, it helps solve a lot of these fighters a lot easier.”
Vicious and physically imposing inside the ring, Fundora carries a polar opposite demeanor outside it. He’s soft-spoken, carrying an authentic smile as he discusses his rare aesthetic. He’s fully aware of the dominance and rare potential he possesses, but never lets a hint of complacency creep into his voice. He avoids trash-talk and pre-fight antics with opponents if he can help it, preferring to do the majority of his talking with his fists. Unlike other young, rising stars in the sport, Fundora does not have a large social media presence, and is not overly focused on personal promotion.
In all ways, Fundora carries himself like an ordinary guy. Once the bell rings, however, he’s anything but.
“It’s not what I’m bringing, it’s almost what I’m bringing back,” Fundora said. “What I would want to bring back from boxing is the gentleman’s sport. Not everything has to be all talk, that’s not really my style. If I can teach that to the next generation, or my generation as well, why not? We don’t need all the extras, like the pushing in the weigh ins and stuff like that to show that it’s going to be a good fight. Boxing is entertaining itself.
“That’s our style. And I think that’s how it should be for fighters. This is a serious sport, all the extra stuff, again, is just extra. You prove yourself in the ring, and that’s where everyone wants to see you fight, they don’t want to see you talk.”
A southpaw, Fundora’s style has worked flawlessly, but he is coming off a fight in which he faced the first adversity of his professional career. Despite defeating Erickson Lubin via ninth-round corner retirement, Fundora was floored and hit the canvas for the first time in his career. Fundora recovered from the seventh-round knockdown and subsequently pummeled Lubin’s face, forcing his corner to stop the bout and spurned an image that promptly went viral.
Erickson Lubin’s corner threw in the towel after round 9 — this was his face at the time of the stoppage 👀 #LubinFundora (📸 @espnknockout) pic.twitter.com/hbQ2fyMMnv
Fundora is the WBC’s mandatory contender in the super welterweight division, which has Jermell Charlo in possession of all four belts as the undisputed champion.
The Lubin fight marked a significant step in Fundora’s ambition for world titles, and he promises a win over Ocampo will bring him to the precipice of just that.
“I’ve been getting this question a lot,” Fundora responded with a laugh, when asked if he needed to hit the canvas for the first time and show he can recover to prove he can be a world champion fighter among the best in the sport. “I didn’t prove anything to myself, I felt like I proved to everybody else that I’m the real deal, that I can become a world champion. Of course, that’s definitely necessary. And you have to either prove it to yourself or to the fans, but you do have to prove yourself. Unfortunately, even if everybody knows what’s up, you’re still gonna have to do it. I think it helps grow not only as a boxer, but as a person as well.
“This fight, it’s to stay busy. I’m not overlooking Ocampo, Ocampo is a ranked fighter as well, talented fighter, he’s on an 11-win streak, but this is to stay busy until we have our chance to fight for that mandatory. I think Tim Tszu is fighting [Jermell Charlo] first, we’ll see how that one plays out, but hopefully we have next.”