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The WBO has refused to sanction Joey Spencer as a potential challenger to WBC/WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora to defend him in his next fight in March.
Spencer rejected
It’s no surprise that Spencer (19-1, 11 KOs) is not sanctioned by the World Boxing Organization as an opponent for Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) because he is not ranked in the top 15 by either the four sanctioning bodies at 154. This makes the management of Fundora need to choose one of the highest ranked candidates in the WBO. classification
options
1. Xander Zayas
2. Charles Conwell
3. Josh Kelly
4. Jorge Garcia Perez
Fundora has not fought since upsetting 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 is coming off ‘a long layoff of a year.
A better choice would be Josh Kelly. He is a lightweight and a fairly basic fighter, more of a British national level fighter than a true contender. It would be easy work for the 6’6″ Fundora to dominate, hit and have a fun time whipping him.
I can’t believe Kelly is ranked in the top 10. How the hell is this guy ranked in the top three? It’s more top 50 stuff, but it would be perfect for Fundora right now.
Fundora, 27, had been negotiating to defend against Errol Spence in March, but the World Boxing Organization refused 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 pretty good reasons.
Fundora stopped
Fundora needs to fight soon because she has been out of the ring for too long and is hurting her career. Yes, he’s young enough that this kind of layoff won’t hurt him like it would an older fighter, but his popularity is suffering. He was unable to capitalize on his win over Tszyu returning to the ring soon after.
“I’m told that the WBO refused to support Joey Spencer as a potential challenger to current super welterweight champion Sebastián Fundora for next March. This week, negotiations to see Fundora vs. Errol Spence officially they broke. #espnknockout,” Salvador Rodríguez said X.
