Terence Crawford Granted 10-Day Extension for Fundora Fight Negotiations

The WBO has granted a 10-day extension in the negotiations to Terence Crawford, who wanted more time to discuss this with unified junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora. Starting today, both fighters have until October 10th to finalize their negotiations. However, if no agreement is reached by the due date, a purse bid will be held.

Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), who holds the WBA 154-lb title and the WBO interim title, faces the difficulties of fighting the younger and taller Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) is the WBC and WBO champion. According to WBO’s website, this fight is likely to open up a can furry in the junior middleweight category since both fighters are highly skilled and ranked.

Terence Crawford’s Toughest Test Yet

Terence Crawford’s future fight may be the most difficult to date for him. Sebastian Fundora is a natural junior middleweight and towers at 6’6 tall, which gives him a big reach and size displacement over his opponents. At 26, Fundora is younger, more active, and well-recognized for applying constant pressure. On his part, Terence Crawford has been a 147-pound fighter for most of his professional career and is up against the odds in terms of weight class change and the challenge of facing much harder competition than what he is used to.

Due to his performance in his previous fight at 154 lbs, questions emerged about how well he will do at this weight class. Last year, in a very tough match, he was lucky to avoid defeat at the hands of WBA junior middleweight title holder Israil Madrimov. That fight revealed some weaknesses and also pointed out that he may not be as effective at this higher weight class due to his age, activity level, and competition level.

A Shot at History

However, these challenges are significant and could greatly impact Terence Crawford. And in case he can knock out Fundora, he will have possession of three of the sanctioning organizations’ belts in the 154-lb segment of the weight class, which means then the IBF title is all that he needs to grab to be able to proclaim that he is the 154-lb division champion. Terence Crawford would be the first fighter to achieve undisputed champion status in three weight classes.The IBF title is held by Bakhram Murtazalie. But if Tim Tszyu wins it, his challenge will be tougher.

Still, Fundora is a nightmare for anyone in the ring due to his style and size. The Cuban tough has always been praised for his high work rate and the high-tempo pressure style of work that he brings to the ring for opponents and thus should prove a very tough test for him, who, at 37, will now be facing a much bigger man in the weight division, and in his physical prime at that. If he loses, he will be in danger of seeing the mega-fight against Unified Super Middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, the fight he has been chasing, slip away.

Closing Remarks at 160 Pounds

The choice of Terence Crawford to carry on competing at the junior middleweight means a clearer shot at big-money contests than only against Fundora. Other potential opponents are the division’s young talents, including Tim Tszyu, Vergil Ortiz Jr., and Serhii Bohachuk. But if Terence Crawford wants this success repeated with such young, strong, and physically larger opponents as Oboduluwa, he will have to fight more often. His current fighting rate only once a year will not pressure him well against such stiff competition.