Written by Eóin Kennedy
Since Keith Thurman pulled out of this Saturday’s light-welterweight world title championship bout with Tim Tszyu and been replaced with Sebastian Fundora, the stakes have been significantly raised. Not only have the WBC added their world title to the trinkets that will be on offer on Saturday night (in addition to Tszyu’s WBO title), but also the winner is being tipped to go on and face boxing’s consensus pound-for-pound number one, Terence Crawford. Well, I should correct that and say Tszyu is being tipped to win and go on and face Crawford. Not many are giving late replacement Fundora much of a chance on Saturday night in Las Vegas, but the freakishly rangy Florida native has operated near the highest level of boxing already and he will be eager to not only steal the titles from his opponent on Saturday, but also the massive opportunity to fight Crawford.
It felt like the world was waiting an eternity for Crawford and Errol Spence to finally throw down in the biggest fight in boxing and after they finally did last July the understanding was that there was a two-way rematch clause and regardless of the result, we would be seeing the pair immediately run it back. Crawford’s one side demolition of Spence stunned the boxing world and in turn also extinguished most of the clamour for the rematch in the process. Despite that fact, Spence still had the option to trigger the rematch clause but almost nine months on, it looks like the Texas fighter will be forgoing that option. That leaves boxing’s reigning king, Crawford, looking for a new opponent.
Reports are circulating that both Crawford and Tszyu’s teams are already in negotiations for a fight later this year, provided the Australian fighter comes through his defense against Fundora on Saturday. Some fans have already expressed concerns that if Tszyu is to be Crawford’s next opponent then the drawback is that we won’t see the undisputed welterweight world champion back in action until late summer at best. Tszyu will need time to recover from his fight on Saturday and I’m sure will be adamant that he gives himself ample time and as thorough a training camp as possible for a fight against the deadliest fighter in boxing right now. While there is discontent about this match-up meaning that Crawford won’t fight again until later this year, fans should be reminded that he hasn’t fought more than once in a calendar year since 2019. At this stage of his career having already achieved and earned so much, I think we can only realistically expect to see Crawford fight once in a twelve-month period.
Writing Fundora off altogether would be a foolish thing to do as he does have pedigree and if he is able to us his height and reach advantages then he can be a tough puzzle for any opponent to figure out. While the fight promoters, PBC, will feel confident that Tszyu will take care of business on Saturday and progress to the Crawford showdown, they will also be cognisant of the fact that this is boxing and that a plan B must be put in place. Well, that plan B will be standing across the ring from Tszyu on Saturday night. Should Fundora manage to overcome the explosive power and pressurising style of the Australian champion and prevail, then it is he who will be preparing for the toughest fight in the sport later this year.
