Sebastian Fundora has an opponent for his plan to stay sharp while waiting for his shot at the WBC super welterweight title.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the undefeated Fundora will box Carlos Ocampo in the main event of a “Showtime Championship Boxing” tripleheader October 8. The 6-foot-6 Fundora will defend his WBC interim 154-pound championship when he meets Mexico’s Ocampo in a 12-round bout that likely will take place at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Big Fight Weekend’s Dan Rafael first reported Friday that Ocampo will face Fundora on October 8. Fundora’s father and trainer, Freddy Fundora, revealed earlier this month that his son would headline a card on that date at Dignity Health Sports Park.
BoxingScene.com also has learned that Showtime’s co-feature October 8 will pit Dominican contender Carlos Adames against Mexico’s Juan Macias Montiel in a 12-round fight for the WBC interim middleweight title. As previously reported by BoxingScene.com’s Jake Donovan, the opener of this three-bout broadcast will be a 12-round rematch between IBF bantamweight champion Fernando Martinez and former champ Jerwin Ancajas.
Fundora (19-0-1, 13 KOs), of Coachella, California, knocked out Erickson Lubin in his most recent bout, a memorable battle that deserves serious consideration for “Fight of the Year.” A resilient Fundora got up from a seventh-round knockdown to stop a battered Lubin (24-2, 17 KOs) after the ninth round April 9 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
Fundora is the WBC’s mandatory challenger for undisputed 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo. Houston’s Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) has committed, however, to making a mandated defense of his WBO belt against Australia’s Tim Tszyu (21-0, 15 KOs) in his next fight.
Ocampo, meanwhile, has won 12 straight fights since Errol Spence Jr. knocked him out in the first round of a June 2018 bout in Frisco, Texas. Ocampo (34-1, 22 KOs) was the mandatory challenger for Spence’s IBF welterweight title at that time.
The winner between Adames (21-1, 16 KOs) and Montiel (23-5-2, 23 KOs) is expected to become the WBC’s mandatory challenger for its middleweight champion, Jermall Charlo.
Montiel lost a 12-round unanimous decision to Charlo 14 months ago in Charlo’s hometown of Houston, but he gave Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) more trouble than anticipated. Adames defeated Ukraine’s Sergiy Derevyanchenko (14-4, 10 KOs) by majority decision in his most recent action, a 10-rounder December 5 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Martinez upset Ancajas by unanimous decision February 26 at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas to win the IBF 118-pound championship. Argentina’s Martinez (14-0, 8 KOs) out-worked the Philippines’ Ancajas (33-2-2, 22 KOs), who was a 5-1 favorite, and won their 12-round bout by wide distances on all three scorecards (118-110, 118-110, 117-111).
Ancajas had a rematch clause in the contract he signed for an optional defense of his title against Martinez, who was ranked 11th by the IBF.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.