In what was a sure-fire Fight of the Year candidate. Sebastian Fundora outlasted Erickson Lubin after round nine of their junior middleweight bout at The Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas,
In round two, Fundora dropped Lubin with a left uppercut.
In round seven, Fundora battered Lubin with flush uppercuts that opened up a cut around the right eye of Lubin. Lubin came storming back and rocked Fundora with a vicious combination and sent him to the canvas. That brutal round paved the way as the two slugged it out until round nine, when Fundora landed several more vicious uppercuts. When Lubin went back to the corner, Lubin’s face was swelled to where it was starting to disfigure and Lubin’s trainer Kevin Cunningham pulled the plug on the fight.
Fundora, 152.8 lbs of Cochella, CA is now 19-0-1 with 13 knockouts. Lubin, 153.2 lbs of West Palm Beach, FL is 24-2.
“I think this was probably my best performance ever,” said Fundora. “It was a back-and-forth fight. He really brought his hammer but I decided to bring my drill. The uppercut was landing like no other. The uppercut is my lucky punch. I’m here in Vegas, so I feel a little lucky, and that’s my lucky punch. It lands most of the time with everybody. Southpaw. Right hand. It doesn’t matter. Once I find that, I feel like the job’s done.”
“I got hit with a good punch and I didn’t feel like I needed to get hit again so I took a knee to get a little breather in and I recovered,” said Fundora. “I intentionally took a knee. I knew I had to take a knee because if I kept getting hit like that it wouldn’t be smart for me and I wouldn’t be able to recollect myself.”
“I think it was a good decision for Kevin Cunningham to stop the fight,” said Fundora. “His face shifted from round one to round nine. It completely morphed and there was a lot of blood coming out. He’s a tough fighter. He was in the game the whole time but there’s no need to get hurt that much.”
“I see Charlo winning the fight against Castaño,” said Fundora. “I feel like he’ll be too strong for Castaño the second time. If Castaño wins, that’s great too. I just want to go after all of them. This is the interim belt so I want the world champion title. I want the real deal.”
Harrison Decisions Garcia
Former world champion Tony Harrison won a 10-round unanimous decision over Sergio Garcia in a junior middleweight contest.
Harrison landed 197 of 491 punches; Garcia was 103 of 592.
Harrison, 153,4 lbs of Detroit, MI won by scores of 100-90 twice and 98-92 and is now 29-3-1. Garcia, 152.6 lbs of Spain is 33-2.
“I pitched a shutout against a guy who just fought a guy that’s in the main event right now,” said Harrison. “Muscles are the way in the street, but skills pay the bills.”
“All I needed to do was land one good punch, but I didn’t,” said Garcia. “Harrison fought his fight and was very smart with his jab and his elusiveness, major credit to him.”
“He was swinging for the fences,” said Harrison. “When he was missing shots, all I heard was ‘whoosh!’. I felt it. I was trying to throw a few more counter shots in between. My composure was everything.”
“I can put on a show all I want, but the bottom line is that I need wins and I have two losses in a row instead,” said Garcia. “Reality is that I’m not at a championship level yet, but I’ll keep fighting.”
“The first thing I’m going to do, I haven’t seen my kids in six months,” said Harrison. “I want to see my kids. My step two, I have a gym called Superbad Fitness. Every time it rains, it pours in the inside of my gym. My job is to find guys that can donate to our non-profit to save about a hundred kids that work out in my gym every day. That’s step number two for me. Step number three for me, I’m going to take a vacation.”
Salgado and Perrella fight to a draw
Bryant Perrella and Kevin Salgado fought to a 10-round split draw in a junior middleweight fight.
In round seven, Perrella started swelling under his left eye.
Perrella landed 98 of 503 punches; Salgado was 68 of 375.
Perrella won a card 97-93; Salgado took a card 96-94 and a third call was 95-95.
Salgado, 154.2 lbs of Nicolas Romero, MEX is 14-0-1. Perrella, 153.4 lbs of Pensacola, FL is 17-3-2. This is Perrella’s second consecutive draw.
“I thought my game plan and execution was great,” said Perrella. “I boxed smart. I broke him down. I’m not going to run from him. He was just winging big shots any time I would step in just trying to knock me out with one punch. I kept the jab in his face. Jabs to the body. Left hands. I hurt him. Everything was going great and it looked like I was sweeping all the rounds.”
“I was shocked by the decision,” said Perrella, who fought to a draw against Tony Harrison in his last outing prior to Saturday night. “Two draws in a row. I put my all into this and I get robbed at the end of the day. It’s a tough pill to swallow. I easily out boxed him. He barely landed any punches. I don’t know what more I can do. I did my best. It is what it is.”
“I felt like I won,” said Salgado. “All Perrella did was run around and away from me. Maybe if I had pressured a bit more, that last judge would have leaned more in my favor. Perrella kept throwing his jab but almost never connected. I think that tonight was definitely a positive step in the right direction towards becoming the next Mexican star in the United States, and I look forward to pleasing the fans with more Mexican-style fights in the future”
