By Miguel Maravilla at ringside
One of boxing’s latest wonders was victorious Saturday night as the 6’6, WBC interim super welterweight champion Sebastian “The Towering Inferno” Fundora (20-0-1, 13 KO’s) of Indio, California won a workmanlike twelve round unanimous decision over Ensenada, Mexico’s Carlos Ocampo (34-2, 22 KO’s) in headlining Showtime Championship Boxing at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. Scores were 117-111, 118-110, 119-109.
In typical fashion the much taller Fundora pumped out the jab, but Ocampo threw the chopping right that connected on Fundora. Ocampo connected with a right in the second, but Fundora responded with his right, busting the Mexican’s nose as Ocampo began to bleed. Measuring with the jab in round three, Fundora appeared to be timing as Ocampo charged and attacked to close the round. It was an inside fight in the fourth as Fundora and Ocampo exchanged, neither taking a step back.
Continuing inside in the fifth, Fundora connected with an uppercut, but Ocampo held his ground and fought on, a short right by Fundora to close the round stopped Ocampo’s momentum. Staying in the phone booth in the sixth, neither took a step back but Fundora began to get some snap on his punches in getting some distance. Ocampo continued to stand and trade with Fundora in the seventh, on the inside as that fight appeared to be in his favor. Hammering away inside, Fundora appeared to be softening up Ocampo and started to land thudding shots as Ocampo appeared to be tired on shaky legs.
With the doctor and referee keeping a close eye heading into the ninth, Fundora chopped down Ocampo and was patient working inside. Late in the fight in the tenth, Ocampo and Fundora kept working on the inside as neither stopped nor backed up. During the championship rounds in the eleventh, Fundora boxed from a distance and jabbed as Ocampo’s face was busted and he continued to chase and eat the jab in the process. The final round saw Fundora box and fight conservatively sticking the jab as Ocampo looked for one last hurrah but appeared a defeated fighter.
Fundora vs GGG! Wonder what weight Fundora will finish his career at?
i guess its just boxing this day and age. does showtime use canned crowd noise? when fundora landed one punch the crowd erupted in noise. who pays the judges and ref and announcers? this was a boxing show and a fix
Do you think Ocampo won? I agree announcers and judges are in lock step with the house fighter and networks. But i didn’t listen to this one. From what I saw though lit looked like Fondura was the winner.
Perhaps this unfair because I look forward to seeing Fundora fight, but I keep having the following thought everytime I see this guy in action: He needs to quit boxing. I say this because he looks like he is heading for dead-end no matter what he does: As he moves up in class and fights say, a Charlo, it appears he is surely going to get KO’d badly. If he keeps fighting these lower level fights, he takes a ton of brain damage en route, probably, to getting KO’d, anyway. In theory, he could adjust his fight style and use his height and reach to make it more likely he could win a championship and take a lot less punishment in the process, but in practice — if tonight’s outside fighting (poor) and subsequent retreat into a slugfest is any indication — he will never be able to do that. I hope I am wrong, but it seems like Fundora almost certainly hits a dead-end, getting KO’d at the top level and taking a ton of brain damage for the privilege.
I don’t think Fundora took any damage. He was smiling at the end and he looked unmarked. It is remarkable to me how such a tall skinny fellow can be so strong and take punches so well.
As you said he took the punches well. But he took punches nonetheless. A lot of them. And clean. Over the long run: Lots of punches to the head = damage.
That what they said about Paul Williams and looked how that worked out for him.
Fundora did a real nice job of boxing steady through 12 rounds. He’s a real class act too. I’d like to see him have at least 2 or 3 more fights though before jumping in there with someone like Charlo. I like this kid but he needs a little more experience and a lot more head movement.
Zero chance against Charlo, it would seem. Just gets hit too much. What would those 2 or 3 more fight be for? Is he really improving, anyway? He keeps falling back into these un-strategic slugfests and actually says he enjoys them, which portends little chance of this unwise pattern going away (until he gets devastatingly KO’d and it’s too late). The situation looks hopeless.
Charlo, well which one exactly? Seems whenever a fighter is up and coming Charlo is the name on everybody mind as the measuring stick or a fight they would like to see. He’s no where near ready for Charlo and not sure he will. His style is tailor-made perfect for either Charlo
I thought it was a close good fight. Ocampo was outgunned by Fundora, but I thought he fought a good fight. There’s no doubt who won, but I think it was a little closer than what the judges had. Having said that, I wasn’t impressed one bit by Fundora. I think he wore Ocampo out , but i think it had more to do with Fundora’s size than the damage he did on him. I think first time he fight a power puncher he’s getting knocked out. Or a good strong boxer and he’ll get outbox.
On another note, what the F***K is wrong with Jack Reiss? Ocampo wasn’t hurt, he was tired as he’ll but he was fighting his heart out. This is not the first time a se Reiss act this way. He seems to think he owns everything inside the ring like his entitled to do whatever he wants. And what about when he said that they should deduct money from Ocampo’s corner because they spilled water on purpose. Maybe they did it on purpose, but is not his job to say that crap. Deduct a point yes, that he could do that but that’s it. I’m getting tired of that ass****.
Right. I think the win was simply down to size, reach but also youth. His youth is going to fade fast with the amount of brain-altering punches he keeps taking for basically no good reason.
I agree with you on most everything you said, especially about Jack Reiss. Based on his lousy performance last night, he should be the one who have money deducted from his purse.
I’m not a fan of Reiss either.
Fundora boxed early then late, but slugged it out in the middle rounds. He could be a lot more effective while boxing if he put some snap on his jab. He used it mostly as a range finder with a lot of pawing but with little power behind it. He fell short on many of those jabs.
He did better in the inside fighting but wasn’t giving himself punching room to land shots with leverage. The lone exception is the uppercut to the body and head. He lands that uppercut with leverage. However, Ocampo took all of them without getting in serious trouble. He was dangerous early but was mostly winging ineffective arm shots in the second half of the fight. Most of those shots were just too wide to do much damage.
Fundora really needs to improve that jab to compete with someone like Charlo. The way it is right now, I just don’t see him beating Jermell without significant improvement in boxing at a distance.
The jab was indeed pawing. Unfortunately, during the post-fight interview he said he thought his jab was very good. Curiously, he also stated his team asked him just before coming into the ring whether he intended to box or bra tonight and he replied that he wasn’t sure. I think the comment was partially a joke but it seems to reflect a lack of strategy and a fundamental un-coachability. Add the terrible jab which he believes is sound and lack of strategy to the fact he says he likes to brawl and you’ve got a disaster waiting to happen.
*brawl
Tszyu Vs Fundora. Makes the most sense at this stage. The Charlos aren’t to be played with right now.
Fundora is unusually tall and looks incredibly frail. He hasn’t really been tested yet, where he faces an opponent talented enough to neutralize that height advantage by killing the body, a fighter with the power to hit Fundora hard and often, and seriously hurt him with a single shot. That time will come, and when it does, THEN we will see what he’s about. Until then, credit to him for continuing to win, especially against determined warriors like Ocampo.
We will see and we will very likely see him flattened. Everything you’re suggesting makes implicit reference to the fact Fundora gets hit a lot and prefers to fight that way. That is the real problem here.
Fundora is Paul Williams 2.0.. super tall and lanky with a volume approach.. a devastating face plant KO waiting to happen.. soon.
Yup. It will happen very soon I think.
Nice kid Fundora but he’s going to struggle with a better fighter. His torso is built for taking damage (huge target) and he kept moving in the wrong direction during the first part of the fight…you move to a righties strength against a better fighter, you’re going to pay. The referee completely sucked. He made the fight about HIM and he should never officiate another fight again. That he told the commission to fine the corner DURING the fight is a disgrace.
Fundora is a brawler & will never change his style. He’s a volume puncher & uppercuts on the inside are his favorite weapons. With that said, Charles Conwell is still the best prospect in the super welterweight division, but can’t get a fight. Conwell would knock out Fundora easily, but The Towering Inferno will never fight him.
CHARLO!! Nuff said!!
strong 155 pounder will stop fundora i thought ocampo fought a good fight and the scoring was terrible after 9 rounds i had it even referee wanted to stop the fight the fix was in to protect fundora who is a mediocre fighter not a towering inferno who looks easy to hit
Fundora might preserve himself for a while with the PBC having him fight 2X max a year. But when it’s the top of the division someone will take him down. He just can’t make the consistent mistakes each fight. But one thing is for sure- he makes for a interesting watch.
Usually interesting to watch-this wasn’t.
Clear win for Fundora, but it was competitive for all 12 rounds. Ocampo slowed down late, but was still landing clean shots.
Just a disgraceful job by Jack Reiss that had the normally calm and cool Al Bernstein outraged and rightfully so. How are you going to threaten to stop a fight in which the guy has a good workrate, is punching back, actually landing decent punches and to top it off the fight at least in my opinion was relatively close at the time of this “warning”? Then the buffoon talks about how the corner should have money deducted from their purse for purposely spilling water in the corner. If he’s that worked up about it, just take a point and move on.
As for Fundora, I think he did okay, I was expecting more, but at least he used his jab for a change, although a lot of the jabs were more of the pawing variety. A lot of people seem to think Fundora will be out of his depth against the very top of the division, but he showed a lot of resilience against Lubin. Fundora seems willing to take on all comers, so let’s see what he can do.
He’s game but not skilled enough in for the top fighters, that’s all.
The fight was closer than the scorecards. Ocampo was starting to take a beating and looked to be wearing down so I could see why they took a look at him. The commissioner in the corner was Jerry Cantu, I believe, and he’s reffed a fight where a fighter died so he wasm making sure there wasn’t a repeat. Jack Reid’s is a great ref and knows all the tricks these corner play.
*Reiss
Fundora looked good in the early rounds but as the fight progressed, Fundora was hit easily and his opponent lacked power to hurt him. Against any of the current champions, I see him Fundora getting beat..
Neither of theses guy is worth a crap. When boxing was a serious important sport they would be undercard fighters. The fight looked like two 5th graders flailing away at each other in their back yard. 50 years ago I watched Golden Gloves fighters who were better than them. Can you imagine what a Duran or Leonard or Hearns or John the Beast at 154 lbs. would do to Fundora? Boxing continues it rapid decline in some part thanks to PBC. Showtime announcers are paid shills
First, Fundora has been tested by a strong puncher at 154 (Lubin) and he passed the test. He may look skinny, but he can take a solid punch at 154.
Second, his jab was actually quite good when he used it against Ocampo. Most were pawed out there due to the right vs left dynamic, but he snapped quite a few through as well. When he was using it Ocampo was at a complete loss as to what to do.
Third, he waded into the brawl to entertain and for what it’s worth, was much more effective than Ocampo on the inside. He was trying to wear him out and get the stoppage and nearly did. I thought he had Ocampo nearly out at one point and didn’t realize it.
Fourth, Jack Reiss did realize it. He saw the legs were gone, the holding and the weak arm punches and let the corner know. A few are worried about Fundora taking damage, but criticize Reiss for his concern for Ocampo. Frankly, that fight wasn’t close as some suggested on here and probably should have been stopped by his corner.