Fundora vs Booker FULL FIGHT: March 22, 2025 | PBC on Prime Video

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please for a solemn moment as we pause the action to recognize yesterday's passing of boxing legend George Foreman. An Olympic gold medalist and two-time heavyweight champion of the world, Big George became the oldest man to win the heavyweight title at the age of 45. Loved and respected worldwide, not only for his achievements in the boxing ring, but also for his devotion to his faith and family, his endeavors as a successful entrepreneur, boxing analyst, and inspirational preacher. At this time, we ask you to please rise and remain silent as our timekeeper tolls 10 in honor of the Hall of Famer and one of the all-time greats, Big George Foreman. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. May God rest his soul. Well fans, in the spirit of Big George, who inspired fans around the world, let's now welcome the main event boxers who are looking to build their own legacy in the ring in this our main event of the evening, the unified WBC and WBO super welterweight championship of the world. All right. We are set for the main event introductions from here in the fight capital of the world, Las Vegas. Once again, the dulcet tones of Jimmy Lennon Jr. Ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you to the Michelob Ultra Arena here at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, as premier boxing champions presents the PBC championship boxing on prime featured attraction brought to you by TGB Promotions, Samson Boxing and Mayweather Promotions, sponsored by DraftKings Sportsbook. The crown is yours. This bout is sanctioned by the WBC president, Mauricio Suleiman, and the WBO president, Gustavo Olivieri, along with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. The chairman is Dallas Hawn, executive director, Jeff Mullen. Now introducing our three judges scoring from ringside. From New York, Max DeLuca. From Oklahoma, David Sutherland, and from New Jersey, Steve Weisfeld. Introducing our third man in the ring, the referee in charge of the action, Thomas Taylor. All right, fans, here we go with the main event of the evening. Twelve rounds of boxing for the unified WBC and WBO super welterweight championship of the world. And now, ladies and gentlemen in attendance, and boxing fans joining us around the world, live from the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, it's prime time. Introducing to you first the challenger on my right, fighting out of the red corner. Entering the ring wearing black trunks with blue and neon green trim. Fighting out of his home of Stamford, Connecticut, he weighed in at a trim and ready 152.6 pounds with a record of 23 wins and one defeat. He has 11 wins coming by way of knockout. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the challenger. Tonight making his first attempt at a world title, here is the battle ready southpaw top contender. Introducing Cordell, The Gear. And his opponent across the ring, the defending world champion, ready to go in the blue corner, wearing blue trunks, fighting out of his home of Coachella, California. He weighed in at a ready 152.8 pounds with a fine record of 21 wins, one loss and one draw. He has 13 wins coming by way of knockout. Tonight he is making the first defense of his title. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the all action newly crowned unified WBC and WBO super welterweight champion of the world, known as the towering inferno, introducing Sebastian. Once again, our referee in charge is Thomas Taylor. Now to give instructions. Okay, coaches, coaches, everything under the letters and above is going to be good. Everything white letters underneath here is up is good. Guys got my instructions in the back. Protect yourselves at all times. Listen to my commands. Touch them up. One of the best in the sport, Thomas Taylor, will be overseeing this championship fight. Sebastian Fundura defending his unified 154 pound title for the first time against prohibitive underdog Cordell Booker, who's riding a six fight win streak. The loss, like Fundura came against the Southpaw, it came in the first round when he was overwhelmed by Emma Williams. But that was then. This is now. What will we see out of Fundura in the early going immediately? The jab. Good start. Well, the double down on that loss for Booker, that was at 160 pounds at 154 and below throughout his career. He's seven and oh with four KOs, although he's had issues making the weight, although both of them came under 154. What do you make of that? That means they're ready for a championship fight. Abner, do you think, I mean, coming under the weight is saying something? Yeah, when it is one fighter and the other one comes in heavier, it tells you that the other one's probably dehydrated. But both of them coming in below the weight class, I think they're just physically ready. They're pros. Yeah, they're professionals. A championship fight. And when we look at the keys to victory for Fundura, you want to fight tall, stay disciplined. Volume, breaks, rhythm, of course. No Mendoza moments. He was knocked out by Brian Mendoza, the shocker of an upset for Booker. He wants to make it ugly, make it smart, land early, land clean. And of course, when facing Fundura Abner, you've got to weather the storm of strikes like a parka. You do. And you're seeing it early from Fundura, jabbing and walking Booker back to the ropes. Again, you've got to weather that if you're Booker. Wait for the right moment and make your punches count. And it's not that we're asking Fundura to fight boring and get behind that big jab. No, no. It's just that not being in the line of fire goes a long way for a guy who has a great chin, but doesn't always need to rely on it every single fight. Already throwing three to one out. Throwing Booker three to one is Fundura. Feeling out tactical start to the fight, Booker. And Fundura both lefties. There's a right hook. The lead right hook by Booker. And of course, we saw Zhu land the right hand last March against Fundura early in the fight. He seemed to land it at will early on against Fundura. And we've seen Fundura, just like Elijah Garcia earlier tonight, who, by the way, wow, escaping with a victory over Terrell Gachet. That's still unbelievable. But in any event, he doesn't move his head off center. And for Fundura, that's the same plot. He gets hit repeatedly, but shows that he's got a beard, even against Mendoza. That first left hook buckled the knees and took another right and left to send him crashing to the couch. And even looping. Indeed, the lights have never been too big for Fundura. Neither has the violence that he typically creates inside the ring. He wants to be a star. He's not afraid to go through hell to get there. That right hand has been effective for Fundura with the jab and that curling right hook. And now Booker backing up. I want to see Fundura cut off the ring now. He's following Booker all around the ring. Good jab, but cut off the ring. And once you do that, make sure you throw that left hand. If Fundura's going to command this distance with his jab, it's going to be hard for Booker to land enough punches to win these rounds. Tim Zulich right hand that landed there for Cordell Booker. And again, he's facing the tallest man ever to win a title at 154 pounds in Sebastian Fundura. We mentioned he being the tallest 154-pound champion ever. Well, he's taller than any other champion in the sport. And he has an 80-inch wingspan. That's tantamount to Alexander Usyk, who's 6'3", and a heavyweight champion. So, Sebastian Fundura's not supposed to exist, and yet he does. And he is the man who has half the crown. Terence Crawford, another belt holder. Murtazaliev, who trounced Tim Zulich. So, right now, Fundura, and of course, Jermell Charlo, in recess. You know, still the lineal champion. There's so many names. We have Zander Zayas here tonight. I mean, there's so many people. Keith Thurman. I know who they keep going. That's why it's so deep. Yeah. But again, Fundura, just an exciting fighter all around. As a boxer, as an aggressor, brawler. But there was a chip on his shoulder this time, Abner. We talked about him, too. He's getting sick and tired of being asked about the fact, you know, as he said, he's not a novelty actor. You know, we call them different names. He's a guy who wants to prove that he is the man at 154 pounds. And yes, he's a nice guy, a family man. But in the ring, he's a killer. Oh, he is. He is. And again, I know people wanted him to fight as a taller man, use his God-gifted advantages. But all around, he's just an explosive, great fighter. He just landed his 100th punch. No matter what, he fights so exciting. Even when he loses, he's exciting. And at his best, he puts so much pressure on his opponents with that swarming style. Yep. He's already crashed to the 100-punch throwing mark in this fight just in round two. So he's, you know, he throws punches in bunches, relentless pressure. And yet, I'm going to say, Booker doing a pretty good job of not being hit with a lot of these punches either. Referee Taylor warning Fundura. I think he caught Booker with an elbow. And the stats right now, I mean, in terms of percentages, not that high. And, you know, Booker's utilizing movement. We said he was going to be elusive. He's going to utilize the real estate and try to bait Fundura into counter shots. Right now, he's just backing up, not countering. Yeah, Booker's got to count. Yeah, count and wait for Fundura to walk in with that jab. Look how he walks in with his head up high. So he's got to counter that Booker, but he's on his back foot. So it's going to be difficult for him to come back with something. Yeah, and Fundura undermentioned it, Brian. He needs to cut off the ring. Because, oh, he's just following Booker around and Booker's just moving. There's not a lot of sustained action here. The jab from Fundura's landing. But there's that right hand. That right-hand counter is always going to be there. Fundura really needs to be cognizant of that. You would think that they would make adjustments in camp. At some point, you are who you are, and what Fundura is is a pressure, all-action fighter who's not going to back down. It looks like a wind gust would knock him over, but he's a sturdy fighter with a great chin. A walking exclamation point who would hope to end this evening with an exclamation point. We are through two rounds of our championship fight in Las Vegas. Surprise me. Let's go, guys. Got to go. Coach, got to go. Sebastian. Three. Cordell. Cordell. Three. Three. Let's go. The bell and round number three. Booker lands five jabs per round. Nearly double Fundura's average and even here in the early going through two rounds he has done about that, landing about five jabs per round, although in this fight, Fundura's landing a lot more jabs. He's landing about seven or eight a round, so a good start for Fundura in that department. If Booker is unable to hurt Fundura, he's going to have to outwork him. He's going to have to work behind that jab, throw combinations like he's doing right here. Yeah, be first. He's got to take that jab away from Fundura. Going to the body. And work in the inside. You get those moments right there. They're free. You get your space. Let those hands go if you're Booker. Booker continues to move to his right, retreats in the back foot, and Fundura's letting him off the hook literally here, just following him. There's those right hands from Booker, blocked by the high peek-a-boo guard of Fundura. Fundura's already thrown 130 jabs, landed 17 compared to 12 of 47 for Booker. There's a jab, lands four for Fundura. That's a good jab right there from Booker, but again, jab and then he steps away. He's got to work his way inside. Stay in there. Body shots, uppercuts, and then turn on. This is the most active output we've seen so far from Booker. He definitely does not want to be on the ropes as Fundura is literally punching down at him with that big left hand. Yeah, and that's when Fundura takes advantage when they start putting their head down like that, he lands that beautiful uppercut, short uppercut from Fundura. Booker's been in Vegas away from any distractions of home since February 22 from Stamford, Connecticut, home of my former employer, Thriving Financial Huffs, just outside New York City. It's better known for hedge funds than haymakers, but Booker wants to stamp his name in the history books as the first Stamford-born boxing champion. What about the first Connecticut-born PBC analyst? Oh, whoa! Yes, you're right. I agree with you. And Booker getting tagged here, Abner and Will, and Fundura looking to put the pressure on. He... Booker's on the verge of really tasting the pressure of Fundura. Fundura noticed that he heard him, that he got him with some nice left hands as the straight and the uppercut as well. Now putting the pressure from Fundura and really pressing on the gas. Oh, wow! That was a great shot from Booker. That was a big left hand. Another left hand from Booker, but the counter right by Fundura stops the momentum. Final 10 seconds. Fundura's bleeding from the nose here. Third round comes to a close. Good chemistry out here. Yeah, a lot of great chemistry right there, and we continue right now with a round that could be tantamount to dropping a sleeve of Mentos into a liter of Coke if Fundura has his ways. A little explosive here in the fourth. Thank you, sir. Oh, Booker trying to sit down and punch it again, and he lands that right because Fundura stands straight up and right in front of you. He doesn't move his head. Overhand right, overhand left are gonna land at Will. You want to continue to throw those shots at Fundura's attention. Booker's trying to make it a fight here. I mean, how much inches does he have to overcome? It's literally trying to climb Everest. It's only 10 inches of reach, 8 1⁄2 inches of height, but I think Booker learned at the end of round three when he landed that big overhand left that that can be a punch that's there consistently. He's opened this round with a flurry of those, and I think fighting in the trenches, Abner, could favor Booker at times here. And it did right there. Just when you called that, he landed a beautiful uppercut in the inside. So, yeah, you might want to stay there for a little bit longer, land those shots, and like I said, just step to the side, not going backwards. Minute gone here in the fourth in round three. Fundura threw 104 punches, the highest since he threw 104 against Jorge Cota six fights ago. So even more offense from Sebastian Fundura now going to the body, chopping away at Booker. Midpoint of the fourth, and Fundura beginning to wear down Cordell Booker. Fundura really getting some leverage on those body shots with that left uppercut, those hooks down low. Booker trying to use a Philly shell from southpaw. Taylor warning, tell him it wasn't your fault against Zu, but watch the elbows, watch the forearms. And it wasn't, right? I mean, Zu just leaned in. It was an accident. It was an accident, exactly. And again, Fundura again pushing back Booker, doing exactly how he fights, pressing, volume punching, and he knows he's going to get caught here and there, but it's just the volume. And he's going to break down Booker, it seems. Booker bleeding from the nose once again as the uppercut continues from Fundura. Uh-oh! On the inside, Booker backing up, Booker much more. Can Cordell Booker take from the towering Inferno? Looking to house down here in Las Vegas. That's the second time Booker has been down in his career. The first time was gotten lost, and it's over. Sebastian Fundura takes care of business. He defends the unified 154-pound title for the first time, and he does it by closing the show in the fourth round, closing the book on Cordell Booker. Did he ever. He closed the range, he closed the distance, he closed the gap, and in the inside, Fundura, like always, doing damage. The uppercut, the straight left. I mean, there's so much power behind those hands from Sebastian Fundura. The longest all around, just perfect. The longest limbs in the division just shortened his night. Fundura with the fourth round finish. And when we asked him about why he fights like he does, he said, if you saw me fight up close, you'd understand why I do it. His signature combo, a punishing right hook, followed by a sharp left uppercut. His sister, Gabriella, undisputed flyweight champion. It's a family affair. They're the first siblings to hold titles simultaneously. Second siblings to win championship, brother and sister since the Yamanakas in Japan, but Cordell Booker, disconsolate, dejected, gave it all he could, but huge underdog for a reason. Sebastian Fundura at the top of his game, and here is how he maintained his hold on the Unified Gold AM. We're going to see the knockdowns here. Beautiful uppercut that he's known by. Short, crisp left uppercut. Not once, not twice, but three times that he landed and he was out on his feet. We're going to see another look at the knockdown, set up jab, and the uppercut again. Walking in straight with the uppercut, and he doesn't even have to bend his knees. The power comes from the torque, how he turns the punch. Sebastian Fundura, beautiful turned uppercut, and Booker, again, trying to be in this fight, trying to hold, but again, it was too much. We talked about one of the keys for Fundura, being volume breaks rhythm, and the volume over a hundred punches thrown through the three rounds into the fourth, and then the referee saw enough. Thomas Taylor intervened, saving Booker to fight for another day, and giving Sebastian Fundura another impressive win. Another impressive win for Sebastian Fundura, and he wants the big names now, Mauro. That's what he wanted. He wanted to make his statement tonight, and he did that. Lots of big names, and I'm sure we'll get into it with Brian Campbell, but for the towering Inferno Sebastian Fundura, he was like a metronome of mayhem. He timed it perfectly, and speaking of great timing, let's go to Jimmy Lennon Jr. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the time of two minutes 51 seconds, and round number four, our referee in charge, Thomas Taylor, stops the contest. He is the winner by way of technical knockout, and still the unified WBC and WBO super welterweight champion of the world, the towering Inferno Sebastian Fundura. Sebastian Fundura remains unified 154 pound champion as he records his 14th knockout, and he is standing by with our Brian Campbell. Sebastian Fundura, long layoff, but you look like you haven't missed a beat. Respectful embrace there between the two fighters. Didn't seem like you had nearly a year off. How good did it feel to shake off the rust and deliver the boom tonight? I felt ready this whole time. You know, I've been working very, very hard this past year. We went back into camp back in May last year. After that fight, I know there was a misunderstanding of me having a broken note, but we were working the whole time. We were working the whole time, and now I successfully defended my two titles once now. I just got to know that if I defend my WBO five times, I could become super champion as well. So, you know, the sky's the limit. You're, of course, known for your all-action style. I don't think it's possible for you to make a bad fight, but what did tonight prove about your punching power? I think maybe to the fans that I'm a powerful fighter. You know, I felt I was always a powerful fighter, but, you know, with this fight, I guess it just showed even more. You also showed a big jab in the early rounds to outbox Booker. What was the game plan against a much smaller, trickier softball? You know what's funny about this camp? We didn't even have a softball in, so it was just catching the footwork. He was moving a lot. I don't think he really wanted to trade at all, and we were just waiting to wear him down. Touched him in the body, I think, the third round, and he started slowing down a lot, so we worked off of that, and it worked out. I don't have to tell you that this might be the deepest division in all of boxing. You could be the power player with two of four recognized world titles around your waist. Who does the towering Inferno want next? I'd love to be undisputed champion like my sister, you know, the youngest undisputed champion in the world, but whoever they have for me next, whether it's the IBF champion, the one I think Spence, not Spence, Spence as well, Bakrum is the IBF champion. I'd like to fight him as well. We just got told that the WBO mandatory is the Puerto Rican kid, Zayas. Talented fighter. Whoever, whoever, you know, we have two belts. We have to defend them, and if anybody's willing to unify, let's do that too.