By: Sean Crose
Word is out that former welterweight world titlist Keith Thurman will be facing the current WBC junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora in this October in Las Vegas. This frankly is an interesting bout as Old Lyon Thurman hasn’t been doing much in recent memory, yet has stayed active enough to be considered, well, active. Fundora, a Young Buck, has been doing very well for himself lately. Will he be able to overcome Thurman’s natural skill set is another matter. Unfortunately for fans, this interesting matchup is going to cost. Yes, it’s going to appear on pay-per-view. Please don’t harm the messenger. It’s been said this was the sort of fight that would have been a main event when PBC had deals with outlets like NBC. Those days, however, are long gone in the sport of boxing.
The truth is Thurman is a decorated enough fighter and has a unique enough personality to draw in eyeballs. There’s also the question of whether the man is kaput as a big name fighter or not. This fight should answer a lot of questions, provided Thurman doesn’t hurt himself in the lead up. The fighter named One Time has suffered from a string of injuries throughout his career, after all. The man is also closer to 40 than he is to 30, Whereas Fundora is in his twenties and likely just entering his prime.
This is all good for Fundora of course as he has just emerged from thoroughly defeating Tim Tszyu for the second time. A towering junior middleweight, Fundora is not only unique in his build, but is also quite skilled. Defeating someone like Fundora may be – no pun intended – a tall order for Thurman. Back in the day of course, Thurman was viewed as one of the better fighters on the planet. Still, time moves on.
It’s hard to promote a pay-per-view event when outlets like Peacock and organizations like UFC are moving away from it. Then again, boxing fans have heard it all before, only to see pay-per-view stay right where it’s been. With boxing no longer on standard television, though, Pay-Per-View is arguably in the way of the sport’s progress.
Still, this does have the makings of an intriguing throwdown. Fundora has only gotten better but it’s hard to imagine Thurman having forgotten any of the old tricks that got him to where he was in his prime. Fundura may well be favored, but it might be a mistake to shrug Thurman off this time around.