Brian Mendoza is looking to challenge Sebastian Fundora for the WBC 154 lb title, two-and-a-half years removed from his knockout upset win over Fundora.
The 31-year-old Mendoza is the only L on Fundora’s (23-1-1, 15 KO) record. Fundora is, of course, set to defend the title against ex-welterweight titlist Keith Thurman (31-1, 23 KO) on October 25.
“I knocked Fundora into another planet, and that’s something he just can’t forget,” Mendoza said on the “Drew & Pris Uncensored” podcast.
“He knows what happened,
and deep down, he knows it can happen again. … Fundora is scared of me. He keeps avoiding me. He knows I’m a threat to that belt, and I’m not going anywhere.”
Being fair here, it has to be said that Mendoza (23-4, 17 KO) got two more marquee fights out of that win over Fundora. Six months later, he lost a clear decision to Tim Tszyu in Australia, and he was beaten wide on the cards by Serhii Bohachuk in 2024.
His only win since the one-punch stunner over Fundora came on the 4th of July this year in Mexico, where he stopped club fighter Jesus Antonio Rojas in the fourth round.
But also being fair, while Mendoza doesn’t really seem tremendously qualified at the moment, neither does Thurman, who is 36 years old, has had one fight at the weight (a TKO-3 over Brock Jarvis in March), and has had all of two fights this entire decade.
So yeah, Mendoza might as well call out Fundora. He did knock him clean out when they met that first time, and boxing isn’t run as a meritocracy, but by what can make money. He should be doing everything he can to secure the biggest fight he can get, and that’s probably it.
