Fundora upsets Tszyu, Cruz dominates Romero

For the first two rounds on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Tim Tszyu (24-1, 15 KOs) appeared on his way to successfully defending his WBO 154-pound title against Sebastian Fundora (21-1. 12 KOs)..

He bloodied Fundora’s nose and was having a lot of success. However, at the end of Round 2, Tszyu was hit in the head by an accidental elbow from Fundora and was covered in blood. Unfortunately, Tszyu’s corner had a hard time stopping the bleeding. From there, Fundora used his reach and jab to defeat the Australian by a split decision to capture Tszyu’s WBO strap and the vacant WBC 154-pound title.

One judge scored the fight 116-112 for Tszyu but was overruled by scores of 116-112 and 115-113 for Fundora.

After Keith Thurman withdrew from the fight with Tszyu due to injury, Fundora, who was already on the card, was elevated to the main event and took advantage of this opportunity.

“We’ve been praying for this moment for a long time, and I’m just happy that Tim Tszyu gave me the opportunity and the opportunity became my dream come true,” Fundora said.”

In hindsight, Tszyu’s corner should have stopped the fight before the fourth round and declared it a no-contest, but that’s not who Tsyzus is, which he discussed after the bout.

“I’m a throwback fighter, and whatever circumstances come up, I’ll keep going,” Tszyu said. “But all credit belongs to the man who won tonight. These things happen. My momentum was rolling in the first two rounds, and then boom, you’re blinded completely. This is boxing; it’s part of the sport.”

According to CompuBox stats, Fundora out-jabbed Tszyu 93-39 and threw 721 punches to Tszyu’s 400. Tszyu held a 44% connect rate and a 136 to 101 edge in power punches.

Fundora became the second world champion in his family, following his sister Gabriela, the current IBF Flyweight World Champion.

After the fight, former unified world champion Errol Spence Jr. entered the ring to express his interest in a matchup with Fundora, which the newly crowned champion quickly welcomed.

“Errol is one of the pound for pound greats,” said Fundora. “So fighting him and getting a win would be history for me.”

“It’s time to get it on,” said Spence. “He’s got the big dog now. It’s my first time seeing him in person. He’s got good height, but we’ll break him down.”

If Tszyu doesn’t get cut, he probably wins the fight, but this is boxing, and anything can happen in boxing. Terence Crawford is Fundora’s mandatory for the WBO belt, so he’ll probably drop that and fight Spence next, but we’ll see.

Cruz silences Romero

Rolly Romero talked a lot before his fight with Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz; however, Cruz let his fists do all the talking and then some. 

In the co-main event, Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs) beat up and beatdown Romero(15-2, 13 KOs) and stopped him in the eighth round to capture Romero’s WBA 140-pound title.

Cruz, who was fighting at 140 pounds for the first time in his career, had Romero in trouble in the first round after he connected with a left hook to the top of the head that wobbled Romero, but he was able to survive.

As the fight continued, the Mexican champion continued to get the best of Romero; Cruz had Romero hurt in the seventh; in round eight, he put it away with an onslaught of power punches, and referee Thomas Taylor waived off the fight 59 seconds into the round. 

“I’m very happy and humbled to win this title for my family and for Mexico,” Cruz said after the win. “I was prepared for this. I wasn’t here to just fight. I was here to terminate him…I did my talking right here in the ring. And I did this not just for me but for everybody that is here at T-Mobile Arena. There’s going to be a Mexican champ at 140 pounds for a long time.”

Romero had a new trainer in Ismael Salas, but none of that mattered. Despite the setback, Romero is confident he’ll be successful going forward.

“We gave the fans a great fight,” he said. “Unfortunately, we came up short. I want to thank ‘Pitbull’ Cruz and all the fans that came out and made this a great event. I’ll be back.”

We’ll see what Cruz does next. A rematch with Gervonta Davis would make sense, but Cruz may have some mandatory fights he needs to take care of before that could happen. For Romero, it’s back to the drawing board. He needs to improve; he has only had 17 fights, so maybe there’s time to make that happen.