Sebastian Fundora will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 8, facing Carlos Ocampo in a Showtime main event, defending his interim WBC 154 lb title.
The card, which was announced on last Saturday’s Showtime event but may have been missed by a few of you, so we’re telling you about it officially! here anyway, will also feature Carlos Adames vs Juan Macias Montiel for the interim WBC middleweight title, plus Fernando Martinez defending his IBF junior bantamweight belt against Jerwin Ancajas in a rematch.
Fundora (19-0-1, 13 KO) is coming off of a career-best win over Erickson Lubin on Apr. 9, where he picked up the interim belt. He will eventually be in line — as long as he wins on Oct. 8 — for a shot at the full WBC belt, one of four currently held by the division’s undisputed champ, Jermell Charlo. But Charlo has to deal with WBO mandatory Tim Tszyu first, and Fundora doesn’t want to just sit and wait.
Ocampo (34-1, 22 KO) is a 26-year-old from Ensenada, Mexico, and you may remember him well from another sanctioning body ranking he hadn’t really earned, when Errol Spence Jr dusted him in the first round of an IBF mandatory welterweight title defense in 2018. He’s won a bunch of fights since then, the best win of the lot coming against Mikael Zewski in March of this year. He will be a huge underdog against “The Towering Inferno.”
Adames (21-1, 16 KO) is also coming off of a career-best win, edging a majority decision over Sergiy Derevyanchenko last December. Montiel (23-5-2, 23 KO) is a young veteran you’ve probably seen plenty by now. He ended James Kirkland’s comeback bid with a two-minute stoppage in 2020.
Montiel also lost a wide decision to Jermall Charlo in a 2021 WBC middleweight title shot, went to a draw with Hugo Centeno Jr in 2019, and was stopped in two by Jaime Munguia at 147 lbs, back in 2017 before Munguia had broken through. Montiel can punch, but will also be a notable underdog.
The clear best fight here is the opener, the rematch between Argentina’s Martinez (14-0, 8 KO) and the Philippines’ Ancajas (33-2-2, 22 KO). Ancajas was a big favorite on Feb. 26, but was soundly and clearly beaten over 12 rounds by Martinez, who proved he has the goods to compete at a high level. Ancajas will need to fight a lot better than he did that night if he wants to regain the title.