Sebastian Fundora stands out in stoppage of Chordale Booker

LAS VEGAS – Sebastian Fundora has drawn attention for his towering 6ft 5½in height, for his tree-branch-like reach and for being the brother of undisputed female champion Gabriela Fundora.

Saturday night’s convincing fourth-round stoppage of Chordale Booker made Fundora something more: a full-fledged unified champion in boxing’s deepest weight class, 154lbs.

“The sky’s the limit,” Fundora, 27, said in the Mandalay Bay ring after finishing WBO No. 5-rated contender Booker, 23-2 (11 KOs), at 2 minutes, 51 seconds of the fourth round.

Fundora’s standing has drawn some skepticism because he won the belts against Tim Tszyu last March in a blood-fest of a bout prompted by Fundora’s pointed elbow ripping a gaping hole atop Tszyu’s head.

And although Booker, coming off a six-fight winning streak, was not a household name in a division that counts Vergil Ortiz Jnr, Russia’s IBF titleholder Bakhram Murtazaliev and Ukraine’s Serhii Bohachuk, Fundora did what he was supposed to.

He dominated, testing openings with his jab and wicked reach, and seeing enough through three rounds to pursue the finish.

Earlier in the fourth, Fundora landed two crushing left-handed uppercuts to set up a power left to the head that caused a falling Booker to desperately grab at Fundora’s arms as he headed downward, prompting referee Thomas Taylor to award Fundora the knockdown.

Knowing the challenger was hurt, Fundora did what the best champions do: end it.

He unleashed hard lefts that found the side of Booker’s head, and as the smaller man reached to find his footing, he was so vulnerable that Taylor had no choice but to rush in and wave his arms to signify the fight was over.

CompuBox reported that Fundora outlanded Booker 79-37 in total punches and 50-16 in power punches.

Fundora said there was never a reason to worry about his extended layoff, caused mostly by futile negotiations with former three-belt welterweight champion Errol Spence Jnr.

“I’ve been working out in the [California] mountains since May,” he said.

Fundora said he didn’t even bother to summon a southpaw to camp, even though Booker is left-handed.

“I don’t think he wanted to trade at all,” Fundora said.

Both left-handers originally sought openings with jabs in the first round, with Booker trying short punches to split Fundora’s defense and Fundora sending hard offerings from his rare 80in reach.

By the end of the second, the unified champion found Booker’s head with a left-right-left delivery.

Working off that reach and jab, Fundora adeptly found Booker with lefts, spicing in slapping rights and repetitive pressure in the third. It caused the suffering Booker to dart away and become exposed to a power shot that Fundora failed to execute but clearly enjoyed viewing for access that would arrive in the fourth.

The WBO on Friday communicated that it will likely promote unbeaten Xander Zayas, of Puerto Rico, to become Fundora’s mandatory challenger.

“Whoever,” Fundora said when asked who he wants next. “We have two belts. We have to defend them, and we’ll unify, too.”

Spoken like a champion.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.