By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten Interim WBC Junior Middleweight Champion Sebastian Fundora of West Palm Beach, Florida takes on Brian Mendoza of Albuquerque, New Mexico this Saturday, April 8th, The 12-round fight from Carson, California can be seen live in America on Showtime. Fundora won the interim belt when he got up from the canvas in the seventh round to stop Erickson Lubin in the ninth in a slugfest last April and then beat Carlos Ocampo via a unanimous decision in October. Mendoza last boxed was November when he stopped Jeison Rosario in the fifth round.
Sebastian Fundora and Brian Mendoza
The 25-year-old Fundora is a bit of a freak of nature as the ‘Towering Inferno’ stands just over 6-feet-5-inches tall with an 80-inch reach. This gives the southpaw a seven-inch height advantage over Ocampo as well as a 10-inch edge in reach. He climbs into the ring with a near-perfect record of 20-0-1 with 13 Ko’s and has boxed 109 rounds since making his pro debut in 2016 following his amateur career.
Fundora also has better-than average power to go along with a solid chin as his current knockout ratio stands at 61.9 per cent but he has gone the distance in two of his last four fights. His lone draw was a 10-round affair with Jamontay Clark in August, 2019 in a shot at the vacant WBC Youth Welterweight Title. So far he’s beaten the likes of Ocampo, Lubin, Donnie Marshall, Nathaniel Gallimore, Habib Ahmed, Jorge Cota and Garcia as a pro.
Mendoza is 29 years old and fights out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He’s boxed 82 rounds since making his pro debut in 2014 following his amateur career. He makes the ring walk with a record of 21-2 with 15 Ko’s with his two defeats coming in his last five bouts. He dropped an eight-round split decision to Larry Gomez in 2019 and a 10-round unanimous decision to Jesus Alejandro Ramos in September, 2021.
At 5-feet-10-inches tall with a 70-inch reach, Mendoza gives up a lot of height and reach to Fundora but it may not be that much of a disadvantage as Fundora prefers to fight on the inside. As far as power goes, Mendoza also has plenty of it with a current knockout ratio of 65.2 per cent. None of his first 16 opponents entered the ring with a winning record though but the last seven have. His biggest wins have been over Rosario and Thomas LaManna and will be taking another step up in class this weekend against Fundora.
Prediction…
Even though Fundora’s as tall as a heavyweight with an 80-inch reach, he doesn’t usually use his size to his advantage as he likes to fight on the inside and go toe-to-toe. This results in excitement for the fans but he absorbed a lot of punches from Lubin and Sergio Garcia in recent contests. He’d be advised to use his size advantages against Mendoza but it’s simply not his style. Mendoza has a solid chin and heavy hands but I’m expecting Fundora to emerge victorious once again this weekend in another fan-friendly fight.
