Keith Thurman was stopped inside six rounds by towering WBC super-welterweight world champion Sebastian Fundora this weekend in Las Vegas.
The champion, who stands at 6-foot-5½, used his significant height and reach advantage from the off, making it hard for Thurman to settle and land any sustained attacks.
‘One Time’ showed impressive resilience as Fundora peppered the body and landed cleanly up top, but a steady decrease in output saw him, bloodied and bruised, stopped on his feet by referee Thomas Taylor.
Speaking at the post-fight press conference, Thurman criticised Taylor for stepping in and waving the fight off.
“Fundora’s a tremendous champion, but whoever the f**k that referee was, don’t hire him for f***ing main event s**t again, real talk.”
“I never got dropped in the whole fight. I’m getting caught on the back end of punches. The referee told me in the locker room, ‘show me something, move your feet, duck your head – I won’t stop the fight.’ … The fight was getting fun. People were getting on their feet. We were just getting into the grind.”
As for his future, the 37-year-old former unified world champion made it clear he intends to fight on.
“I’ll be back, man. I want to do great things in boxing once again, and I’m gonna come back hard, I’m gonna come back strong.”
Fundora’s latest successful title defence opens the door to several high-profile match-ups in the division, with the likes of Vergil Ortiz Jr and a returning Jermell Charlo likely to be calling for a shot. There is also the prospect of a three-belt unification against the winner of Xander Zayas vs Jaron Ennis.
