A look back at this weekend’s action and the gains and losses beyond just the wins and losses, with Sebastian Fundora and Moses Itauma winning the big main events on Saturday, and Keith “One Time” Thurman taking a beating, among more names we saw in action.
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Sebastian Fundora
You can reasonably say that Keith Thurman just wasn’t a serious contender at 154 lbs, but what Fundora (24-1-1, 16 KO) did to him still can’t be overlooked. He made Thurman look slow, feeble, and overmatched in every respect.
The
bigger thing with Fundora right now, in my view, is that this is clearly a fighter who has really come into his own. Years ago when Sampson Lewkowicz first announced he had signed this largely-unknown, 6’5” super welterweight, I thought it was almost a gimmick deal. I think a lot of people did. Generally speaking, people who are that abnormally tall for a division just don’t really develop into top fighters. You can name a few over the years, sure, but then think about the dozens if not hundreds more you could cite on the other side of the coin. It’s unusual.
And for a long time, while Fundora was getting TV fights and working his way up, he definitely still looked like a project as much as if not more than a prospect. He had obvious advantages, but also clear flaws.
The rough edges have been sanded down, though. This is now a fighter who isn’t just difficult to fight, he’s really good. He generates power, he can — and most important, will — fight at distance, and if you want to mix it up inside, he’s very good in there, too.
It’s going to take a real top talent to beat Fundora these days. Sure, Brian Mendoza landed one great punch once, and that can happen again, but Fundora is better now than he was then, too. Hopefully, everyone can find him a worthy next challenger. The two most intriguing names at 154 for him would be Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr, and Ortiz is tied up in a spat with Golden Boy at the moment, while Ennis is a Matchroom fighter. Fellow 154 lb titlists Xander Zayas and Josh Kelly are also worth considering, of course.
Josh Holmes
I’m not trying to tell you that a 30-year-old fighter from Earby, Lancashire, pretty much unknown until yesterday’s one-round stoppage of Alex Murphy, is now a star. What I am saying is that compared to where he was 24 hours before his fight, his profile has shot upward, big time.
Holmes (18-0, 7 KO) and Murphy put on a cracking three minutes, or at least the final minute of it. Holmes got hurt, but ripped back to drop Murphy two times and end the fight suddenly and dramatically.
Holmes won’t be looking to the world stage next by any means, but the more serious domestic scene at 135 lbs in the UK will now be calling. At the very least, he’s found the path, now we’ll see if he can walk it.
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Moses Itauma
The 21-year-old Itauma already has an absolute mountain of hype behind him. Every fight, it looks like it’s earned.
Inevitably, someone will hang in longer. Someone will stand up to his shots a bit better, and even more than that, he won’t land as easily on somebody. Somebody will make him miss. They’ll match up better. They’ll have some of his quirks scouted. They’ll be prepared. The more tape there is on Itauma, the closer that gets.
Real challenges will come. Nobody in boxing history — not Joe Louis, not Muhammad Ali, not anyone — has had a long, successful, and serious career without meeting their match and having some tough nights, in defeat and in victory.
But the eye test — look, it’s not everything, but Itauma passes it in a way I don’t think I’ve seen in a young heavyweight during my life as a boxing fan. I was alive for young Mike Tyson, and I knew of him and knew who he was, but I was a kid. Itauma doesn’t compare to the likes of Jared Anderson, or even Anthony Joshua, who obviously went on to have a pretty great pro career, made a lot of money, won titles. I’ll say it flat out: He’s better than they were. And I don’t think it’s close.
This is the type of young fighter promoters and fans alike dream on. The ceiling is outer space. Jermaine Franklin gave him a few rounds and then got KO’d in highlight reel fashion. Now the hunt continues to find the challenges. They’ll come.
Yoenis Tellez
The win over Brian Mendoza gives Tellez (12-1, 8 KO) a little boost, and it’s not like his loss to Abass Baraou should be held against him forever. He fought a good opponent and lost a fight, he’s bounced back nicely with two straight wins and showed a lot of grit on Saturday night, fighting through a busted nose and a very tough, very determined opponent. Tellez, 25, is still in the mix at 154, and the win solidifies that.
Yoenli Hernandez
Hernandez (10-0, 9 KO) was one of my favorite breakout candidates coming into this year. The 28-year-old Cuban middleweight has a division that is really there for the taking and has been for a while, and could badly use an exciting new star.
Hernandez can be that. Terrell Gausha was a so-so opponent, but a cagey veteran who can hang around, and might have, except Hernandez just kept throwing enough punches, with so little coming back from Gausha, that referee Allen Huggins stepped in in the fourth round. It wasn’t the best stoppage, but it had been one-way traffic, and Hernandez has an offense-first instinct that is fun to watch. Still plenty to prove, but “El Diablo” is making a few waves.
Willy Hutchinson
Hutchinson (20-2, 14 KO) has kind of quietly had a really good run of form in his last four fights. He did lose to Joshua Buatsi, who was just better than him, but there aren’t that many really good light heavyweights out there, and Hutchinson’s wins over Craig Richards, Mark Jeffers, and Ezra Taylor are as solid as anyone active at 175 can boast right now, apart from the very tip-top fighters. He’s a sneaky fringe contender at the moment.
Brad Pauls
Pauls (21-2-1, 12 KO) beating Shakiel Thompson didn’t surprise me, but he still did it impressively, dropping and stopping the previously-unbeaten middleweight in the ninth round.
Pauls mentioned after the fight that he’s supposedly been brought in to lose repeatedly only to upset the apple cart. That’s probably slightly overstated, but he did prove a step too far for Thompson and he was the guy who took the “0” (and the other “0,” I guess) from Nathan Heaney. He’s a very good middleweight at the domestic level and could be a great next opponent for young British champion George Liddard.
Liam Davies
Now a two-weight European champion and a fringe contender at 126 lbs. The top tier of the featherweight ranks is filled with really good fighters, but boxing routinely offers world title fights to less qualified and flat-out worse challengers than Davies would be. He might still get his shot at world stage glory after a beatdown of Francesco Grandelli.
◄ Holding Steady ►
Brian Mendoza
The 32-year-old Mendoza (23-5, 17 KO) lost for the third time in four fights, and really for all it matters, it’s three straight losses in real fights, the other was a club-level tune-up in Mexico last July. But even with clear scores in Tellez’s favor, Mendoza fought hard and probably earned himself another shot to get back in the race at 154 lbs, or he could look at 160, potentially.
Mendoza’s a good, hard-working fighter. His upset win over Fundora was a one-shot stunner in a fight where he’d really lost the first six rounds before landing it. But he is good. He hangs tough. And there are a lot of fights for him at 154/160 where he can sign up as “the opponent” and hopefully make something happen. He lost again, but I think he stayed steady, which is the best you can hope at 32 with a losing streak.
Jermaine Franklin
Think Franklin (24-3, 15 KO) also pretty much holds firm. He’ll be an attractive choice for a bit more as a high-end prospect checker, even with Itauma smoking him in that fashion. Franklin has never had the highest upside — he’s not particularly big for a modern heavyweight, he doesn’t have abnormal speed or power. He wasn’t gifted at birth with exceptional qualities to be a high-end. He’s learned his trade and made the most of it.
As with Mendoza, more offers will come because of how he fought in defeat. Everyone in boxing can’t be a superstar. In fact, very few can. Even in the heavyweight division alone, BoxRec lists 1,616 active fighters. There are a lot more Franklin and Mendoza level guys than there are true elite stars across boxing, and yet a lot fewer Mendoza and Franklin level fighters than you might imagine.
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Terrell Gausha
Gausha (24-6-1, 12 KO) is probably going to be in about the same spot he was going into his loss to Yoenli Hernandez, but I do think the stock drops a little. It wasn’t high to begin with, but he was beaten up for three rounds and stopped in the fourth, he’s never looked so out of his depth.
Gausha’s 38 and probably has at least considered hanging up the gloves by now. That’s three straight losses, though he was arguably jobbed a year ago against Elijah Garcia. He’s had a fine career. He just never got over the hump. He could also fight on a few more years, probably, and hang around making a little more money. Given PBC’s penchant for veterans who peaked in the 2010s, he’ll probably have the chances if he wants them.
Nathan Heaney
Heaney (19-2-1, 6 KO) felt he’d gotten the short end on the cards against Gerome Warburton, as did his dedicated fans. You could argue it, but a lot of that is going to come from just not liking the way Warburton fought. But he did it, Heaney couldn’t stop him from doing it, and it was effective enough for the judges. It wasn’t a pretty win, but it was a win.
Heaney’s made the most of his skill set. He cultivated an organic, passionate fan base, he had the emotional and memorable night winning the British middleweight title against Denzel Bentley, but he couldn’t afford to lose even a half-step and stay at that level, and he has. He fought 24 gutsy rounds with Brad Pauls and came out with a draw and a loss. His only since since Bentley in 2013 came over club fighter Grant Dennis last summer. Heaney says he’ll do at least one more fight, then go from there. He’s got a lot of grit, and he rode the rocket ship to the domestic peak, but those days look to be done.
Shakiel Thompson and Ezra Taylor
Similar situation. Both stepped up a bit, both lost. Thompson (15-1, 11 KO) is 28 and Taylor (13-1, 9 KO) is 31. They both just ran into someone better than them on the night. Now they try to bounce back, and when you get that sort of reality check about levels, it can be tough.
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Keith Thurman
Keith Thurman got beaten up by Sebastian Fundora. Badly. His face was a mess by the time referee Thomas Taylor called a halt to the fight in round six. Thurman, 37, had big dreams of an upset win over an in-prime puzzle of a world champion. Those dreams quickly became a nightmare.
Thurman’s an old fighter. He’s slower, the inactivity and injuries have taken their toll. He was never Floyd Mayweather defensively, but his reaction time has dropped considerably. If this didn’t show up in training camp for him, then he was operating on a sort of delusion. With live rounds flying against a top-level opponent, Thurman looked cooked.
Keith’s had so many setbacks over the years that you wonder if he’ll come out of that with the determination to fight again or maybe just say he gave it his best, he tried against the elite again, and he came up short. And that’s that. It would be fair and admirable, he’s had a terrific career, and I truly feel as though we really did lose, basically, a good five years of what could have been his prime or close enough to it, when he still would have been a top guy at 147, and maybe had a much better chance at winning a title at 154.
But, again, PBC loves its veterans from the years when they were an actual premier company in the sport. Errol Spence Jr’s name comes up for a comeback bid every now and then. Maybe PBC feels there are enough fans to sell that for $75 on pay-per-view.
If that is the last we saw of Keith, I think he went out prouder than some people do. He did try in there. He gave that what he had left. He got lit up for it, and he stayed up, looking to find some miracle. It wasn’t there for him, and I think Taylor might the right stoppage. Whatever “brand value” he came into that fight with got smashed up, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him again, no.
Elijah Garcia
It wasn’t all that long ago that Garcia (17-2, 13 KO) looked like a rising contender at 160 lbs. He was 19 and freshly 20 back in 2023, when he posted wins over Amilcar Vidal Jr, Kevin Salgado, and Armando Resendiz, all very solid for his age and experience level. Garcia had big dreams, wanted to race to a world title fight as soon as possible, and he seemed more enthusiastic about it than just crazy.
Then he lost to Kyrone Davis in 2024. He got a questionable win over Terrell Gausha in 205. On Saturday, on the PBC prelims, he lost to Kevin Newman II. The fight had a 172 lb catchweight. The last we’d seen of Garcia, he was at 160. Moving up in weight when young is not unusual, bodies keep growing and he’s had layoffs, but that on top of three straight fights of serious struggles that could easily all have been losses is going to raise eyebrows.
The young man, now 22, is at the crossroads. But this doesn’t have to be the end of the world or the end of the line.
Basically, he’s going to have to reboot and almost start over. If you were a ShoBox watcher a decade ago, you might remember a 22-year-old O’Shaquie Foster losing a couple of fights. He was out of boxing almost a year-and-a-half after the second loss. He came back fighting at very low levels, four-round bouts on club-level shows. He inched his way forward from there. A few years of that, he had just kept winning, and then he took the WBC super featherweight title from Rey Vargas. He’s a two-time champion now, 32 years old and still among the best at his weight.
It doesn’t have to be over for Elijah Garcia any more than it was for O’Shaquie Foster.
