New opponent? Tszyu, Fundora say no problem on 12 days' notice
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Tim Tszyu and Sebastian Fundora came face to face — rather face to chest — for the first time on Thursday at a joint media workout at Split-T Boxing Club in Las Vegas as they adjust to their restructured main event on 12 days’ notice.
Tszyu will defend the WBO junior middleweight title for the second time and the vacant WBC 154-pound belt will also be up for grabs in the fight against Fundora, which will headline the first Premier Boxing Champions event with new partner Prime Video on March 30 (Prime Video PPV and PPV.com, 8 p.m.) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Tszyu was initially paired with former unified welterweight titlist Keith Thurman in a 155-pound nontitle bout. But when Thurman suffered a biceps injury this past Sunday, underwent an MRI on Monday and was ruled out of the bout, PBC and TGB Promotions re-arranged the card. They moved Fundora from a vacant WBC title fight against Serhii Bohachuk in the pay-per-view opener into the main event.
Tszyu and Fundora both quickly accepted the new assignment and Bohachuk will remain on the card and face Brian Mendoza for the vacant WBC interim title. Mendoza is coming off a decision loss to Tszyu in his first title defense in October and was on standby and training (in Tszyu’s camp) for just such an emergency.
The change of opponent is far more dramatic for Tszyu than Fundora. The 5-foot-8 Tszyu will go from preparing to fight the similar sized right-handed Thurman to a 6-6 southpaw in Fundora, who aptly is nicknamed the “Towering Inferno.”
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