Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The WBO has refused to sanction Joey Spencer as a potential challenger for WBC/WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora, who he will defend against in his next fight in March.
Spencer rejected
It’s no shocker that Spencer (19-1, 11 KOs) is not sanctioned by the World Boxing Organization as an opponent for Fundori (21-1-1, 13 KOs) as neither of them rank him in the top 15 of the four sanctioning bodies at 154. Therefore, Fundora management has to choose one of the highly ranked candidates in WBO rank.
Options
1. Xander Zaias
2. Charles Conwell
3. Josh Kelly
4. Jorge Garcia Perez
Fundora has not fought since upsetting WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tsziu on March 30, 2024. It wouldn’t be ideal for Fundora’s ‘The Towering Inferno’ to take on Zaias or Convell, who is coming off a long year-long hiatus.
A better choice would be Josh Kelly. He’s a light puncher and a fairly basic fighter—more like a British domestic fighter than a real contender. It would be easy work for the 6’6″ Fundora to dominate, fight and have fun whipping him.
I can’t believe Kelly is ranked in the top 10. How in the world is this guy ranked in the top three? He’s more top-50 material, but would be perfect for Fundora right now.
Fundora, 27, was in talks to defend against Errol Spence in March, but the World Boxing Organization refused to sanction the fight this week. Their rationale was that Spence was coming off a 1.5-year layoff, a knockout loss to Terence Crawford, who is not ranked in the WBO’s top 15 and has never fought in a weight class. Those were pretty good reasons.
Fundora Stalled
Fundora will soon have to fight because he was out of the ring for too long and was ruining his career. Yes, he’s young enough that such a layoff wouldn’t hurt him like an older fighter, but his popularity is suffering. He failed to capitalize on his victory over Tsziu by returning to the ring soon after.
“I am told that the WBO has refused to approve Joey Spencer as a potential challenger to the current super welterweight champion, Sebastian Fundora, for next March. This week, negotiations to see Fundor vs. Errol Spence officially fell through. #espnknockout,” said Salvador Rodriguez Ks.
