Highly ranked junior middleweights Erickson ‘The Hammer’ Lubin and Sebastian ‘The Towering Inferno’ Fundora are in negotiations for a fight in the spring on Showtime in the co-feature bout on the undercard of David Benavidez vs. David Lemieux in Phoenix, Arizona
According to Mike Coppinger, the World Boxing Council ordered the match between the #1 WBC Lubin (24-1, 17 KOs) and the unbeaten #4 Fundora (18-0-1, 12 KOs). The winner of the fight will be the mandatory for WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo.
The tall 6’5 1/2″ Fundora, 23, has recent wins over Sergio Garcia, Jorge Cota, Habib Ahmed, and Nathaniel Gallimore.
For his part, the southpaw Lubin has won his last five fights since losing to Jermell Charlo by a first round knockout in 2017.
At the time of the fight, there were a lot of boxing fans that second-guessed the decision by Lubin’s management to let him fight the then 27-year-old Charlo. When was only 22 and not ready to take on the much older and more experienced Jermell.
Since his loss to Charlo, Lubin has reeled off six wins over these fighters: Jeison Rosario, Terrell Gausha, Nathaniel Gallimore, Zakaria Attou, Ishe Smith, and Silverio Ortiz.
If Lubin defeats Fundora, it’ll be interesting to see if he’s ready for Jermell this time. However, it’s possible that Charlo might not be the WBC 154-lb champion by the time the smoke clears from the Lubin vs. Fundora fight.
Charlo will soon be facing WBO junior middleweight champion Brian Castano in a rematch after the two fought to a controversial 12 round draw last July in a fight that many boxing fans felt the Argentinian should have won.
The main event fight between former IBF middleweight champion Lemieux (43-4, 36 KOs) and former two-time WBC super middleweight champion Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs) should be an interesting one.
Benavidez, 24, and Lemieux will be fighting for the WBC interim 168-lb title. This is a move being done by the World Boxing Council in response to the WBC super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez requesting permission to go up to cruiserweight to challenge WBC champion Ilunga Makabu on May 7th.
The WBC is ensuring that they’ll have a potential new champion to plug into the spot as their 168-lb champion should Canelo decide not to return to the division to reclaim his four titles.
Some believe that Canelo won’t come back to 168 because if he does, it would mean that he would need to defend his WBC title against the Benavidez vs. Lemieux winner.
“The WBC granted Saul Alvarez, a special permission to challenge the WBC champion in the Cruiserweight division in 2022. Reason for which, the Board of Governors approved a WBC interim championship in the division which will be contested by #1 David Benavidez and #2 David Lemieux. pic.twitter.com/qzyMZZugOZ
— World Boxing Council (@WBCBoxing) December 16, 2021
