LOS ANGELES – With Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Carmelo Anthony and Kawhi Leonard seated ringside, the boxer whose body type most resembles that of an NBA player didn’t deliver the knockout they wanted.
Sebastian Fundora instead utilized the boxing skills he is attempting to hone and went all 12 rounds with game Spaniard Sergio Garcia in their WBC super welterweight elimination match. The crowd booed when the 6-feet-6 Fundora was announced as the winner of a unanimous decision on the Gervonta Davis-Isaac Cruz undercard at Staples Center.
Judges Lou Moret (118-110) and Alejandro Rochin (117-111) scored 10 and nine rounds, respectively, for Fundora in a fight that appeared much more competitive than that. The third judge, Tom Carusone, scored it 115-113 for Fundora, a gangly southpaw who remained undefeated (18-0-1, 12 KOs).
His win moved the fourth-rated Fundora into a final WBC eliminator with top-ranked Erickson Lubin (24-1, 17 KOs). The Fundora-Lubin winner will earn a shot at WBC 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KOs), who will box WBO champ Brian Castano (17-0-2, 12 KOs) in an immediate rematch February 26.
Fundora had knocked out Nathaniel Gallimore, Habib Ahmed and Jorge Cota in his three previous fights, respectively. Spain’s Garcia, the WBC’s number two contender in their division, lost for the first time as a professional (33-1, 14 KOs).
Fundora landed a left and Garcia connected with a right simultaneously with just over 1:15 remaining in their fight. Garcia clipped Fundora with a right hand that got the crowd’s attention just before the final bell sounded.
Garcia blasted Fundora with a right hand that moved Fundora backward in the 11th round.
Garcia pressed the action for much of the ninth and 10th rounds and landed some body blows. He had trouble catching Fundora clean to his head, though.
Fundora connected with a right to Garcia’s body and followed up with a straight left to his head with just over a minute to go in the eighth round.
Fundora found his range for some of the seventh round. Garcia tried as best he could to lunge and land on him, but Fundora defended himself better in that round.
Garcia caught Fundora with a left-right combination with just under 1:15 on the clock in the sixth round. Fundora fought Garcia on the inside for most of the fifth round, when both boxers landed head shots.
An aggressive Garcia tried to force his way inside during the fourth round. Fundora established distance at times and landed several straight left hands of his own in the fourth round.
Garcia seemed to buzz Fundora with a right hand to his head in the final minute of the fourth round.
Garcia’s right hand backed Fundora into the ropes with just under 1:50 to go in the third round. Garcia snuck in a right hand just before the third round ended as well.
Garcia lunged and landed a jab on Fundora with about 1:15 to go in the second round. He caught Fundora with a right uppercut approximately 15 seconds later.
Fundora violently snapped back Garcia’s head with a straight left hand with just under a minute on the clock in the first round.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.