In a big surprise, tall 6’6″ Sebastian ‘The Towering Inferno’ Fundora (19-0-1, 13 KOs) stopped #1 WBC Erickson ‘The Hammer’ Lubin (24-2, 17 KOs) in the ninth round in a battle for the interim WBC 154-lb title on Saturday night at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
The young 24-year-old ‘Towering Inferno’ Fundora knocked Lubin down in the second round and had him badly hurt. However, in a big comeback, Erickson recovered and rallied to knock Fundora down in the 7th round.
That was the last stand for Lubin, as Fundora recovered quickly in between rounds and continued batter ‘The Hammer’ unmercifully in the eighth and ninth rounds, forcing Erickson’s trainer to step in and halt the contest.
At the time of the stoppage, all three judges had Lubin ahead, but it didn’t matter. There was no way he was going to survive for another three rounds with the way he was being chewed up by the human buzzsaw Fundora.
The guy was throwing nonstop punches, and even though they weren’t devastatingly powerful, there were just so many of them. Fundora was the equivalent of water breaking down a rock tonight.
Undercard results:
Tony “Superbad” Harrison (29-3-1, 21 KOs) dominated Sergio Garcia (33-2, 14 KOs) by a lopsided 10 round unanimous decision in a WBC 154-lb title eliminator.
The judges’ scores were 98-92, 100-90, 100-90. With the victory, the former WBC junior middleweight champion Harrison is now mandatory for champion Jermell Charlo.
In an entertaining fight, junior middleweights Kevin Salgado (14-0-1, 9 KOs) and Bryant Perrella (17-3-2, 14 KOs) fought to a ten-round draw. The scores were 97-93 for Perrella, 96-94 for Salgado, and 95-95. Salgado looked like he may have done enough to deserve the victory, but the obviously saw enough from Perrella to score it a draw.
It’s taken the 26-year-old Lubin all this time to come back from that loss five years ago, he cannot afford to get beaten by Fundora tonight if he doesn’t want to set himself back for again.
“I don’t think I ever fought anybody taller than me. I think in the amateurs, I fought a guy that was 6’3″ just like me. Other than that, no,” said the 6’6″ Sebastian ‘Towering Inferno’ Fundora to K.O. Artist Sports when asked if he ever fought anyone as tall as him.
Full televised card:
Erickson Lubin vs. Sebastian Fundora
Tony Harrison vs. Sergio Garcia
Kevin Salgado vs. Bryant Perrella
“You can be tall but just because you’re tall doesn’t mean you know how to fight,” said Fundora. “You could put Lebron James in the ring, and I can tell already he wouldn’t know how to fight.
“It’s just if you know how to handle it. I could go onto a basketball court and I wouldn’t know how to dribble a ball. You could know that just by looking at me. A fighter’s mindset. I’m not talking crap.
“If we win this fight, the next fight will be for the title. Whether it’s all of them or just one if they vacate at all, but the next one should be a world title fight.
“I have [Jermell] Charlo winning this fight, but Castano did his thing too. If he comes in and did what he did last time, a little bit better, then he might win too,” said Fundora in picking Jermell Charlo to beat Brian Castano on May 14th in their undisputed fight at 154.
“I see the power of Charlo catching him again, and that’ll make the difference in the fight. I’d like to fight Charlo because he has more of the belts right now. He’s the one that’s been a champion for a long time as you said.
“It would be a nice win, and after I beat him, I’d like to go fight Castano. Beat them both,” said Fundora.
“While it makes sense for Lubin to go to the body, he needs to mix it up,” said Shawn Porter to the Porter Way Podcast analyzing the Erickson Lubin vs. Sebastian Fundora fight.
“The good part of this fight for Lubin is Fundora will eat some shots. He’s going to be open, you’re going to have opportunities, but what do you do with those opportunities? After you throw a punch, you got to be ready for the defense.
“Lubin has got to be responsibly defensively after he throws his shots. It’s going to be a little bit of a reach. If Lubin is not responsible defensively after the offense, it’s going to be a long night for him.
“I’d like to say that Lubin can catch him early and get him out of there early because Fundora is going to take the shots. Fundora has shown that he has a good chin.
“Lubin has been shown that he can be dropped. This is a good fight. I can see why you’re so excited about this fight,” said Porter.
“There are a lot of possibilities in this fight,” said Carson Merk. “I like that Lubin has Kevin Cunningham as well. I trust in him a lot.”
Erickson Lubin will need to try and find a way to deal with the height, reach, and high volume punching of 6’6″ Sebastian ‘Towering Inferno’ Fundora tonight in their WBC 154-lb title eliminator on Showtime at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Las Vegas. The Lubin vs. Fundora fight will be shown live on Showtime Boxing.
#1 WBC contender Lubin (24-1,17 KOs) is fighting his most important bout since his loss to Jermell Charlo in 2017, and he can’t afford to lose again.
