Sebastian Fundora vs. Keith Thurman set for 154-pound title bout in Las Vegas this October

WBC junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora will defend his title against former unified champion Keith Thurman on Oct. 25. Premier Boxing Champions announced the bout on Friday afternoon.

Fundora is coming off the best win of his career, an emphatic drubbing of Tim Tszyu in July. The fight with Tszyu was a rematch of their bloody March 2024 war, which Fundora narrowly won to capture the WBC and WBO titles. Many felt the first meeting was highly impacted by a cut Tszyu suffered early on caused by an accidental elbow from Fundora.

Any doubts over the result of that first fight were quickly erased when Fundoa dropped Tszyu in the opening round and continued to dominate the fight until Tszyu retired in his corner after the seventh round.

At 6-foot-5, Fundora presents significant problems for opponents at 154 pounds. Early in his career, Fundora didn’t utilize his reach well, opting to fight in close quarters. In recent fights, he has begun to utilize his jab much more, forcing opponents to have to work their way inside.

Thurman will be tasked with solving that puzzle, and he’ll have to do it while also dealing with ring rust.

Thurman became a unified champion at welterweight in 2017 when he defeated Danny Garcia, adding Garcia’s WBC title to his own WBA belt. Two fights later, in July 2019, Thurman dropped a split decision to Manny Pacquiao.

Thurman has only fought twice since the Pacquiao loss, defeating Mario Barrios in February 2022, and stopping unheralded Brock Jarvis this past March.