WBO rejects Joey Spencer, Fundora needs a new opponent

The WBO has refused to sanction Joey Spencer as a potential challenger for WBC/WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora to defend in his next fight in March.

Spencer rejected

It’s no surprise that Spencer (19-1, 11 KOs) is not being sanctioned by the World Boxing Organization as an opponent of Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) because he is not ranked in the top 15 by any of the all four sanctioning bodies at 154. That leaves Fundora’s management needing to pick one of the top-ranked contenders in the WBO rankings.

Options

1. Xander Zayas
2.Charles Conwell
3. Josh Kelly
4. Jorge Garcia Perez

Fundora has not fought since defeating WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu on March 30, 2024. It would not be ideal for ‘The Towering Inferno’ Fundora to face Zayas or Conwell, who are coming off a long layoff from one year.

A better option would be Josh Kelly. He’s a light puncher and a pretty basic fighter: more of a British domestic fighter than a true contender. It would be easy for the 6’6″ Fundora to overpower him, hit him, and have fun spanking him.

I can’t believe Kelly is in the top 10. How the hell is this guy in the top three? He’s more top 50 material, but he’d be perfect for Fundora right now.

Fundora, 27, had been negotiating a defense against Errol Spence in March, but the World Boxing Organization declined to sanction the fight this week. Their reasoning was that Spence was coming off a year and a half layoff, a knockout loss to Terence Crawford, not ranked in the WBO’s top 15, and had never fought in the weight class. Those were very good reasons.

stagnant fundora

Fundora needs to fight soon because he’s been out of the ring for too long and it’s ruining his career. Yes, he’s young enough that that kind of layoff won’t hurt him like it would an older fighter, but his popularity is suffering. He was unable to build on his victory over Tszyu and returned to the ring shortly after.

“They tell me that the WBO refused to endorse Joey Spencer as a potential challenger to the current super welterweight champion, Sebastián Fundora, for next March. This week, negotiations to see Fundora against Errol Spence officially collapsed. #espnknockout”, said Salvador Rodríguez in unknown.