The WBO Orders Terence Crawford vs Sebastian Fundora

Things are getting interesting in the junior middleweight division, and although boxing tends to play chess most of the time, this move is all chess and it’s PBC’s (Premier Boxing Champions) move. Earlier today, the WBO again ordered a fight between WBA & Interim WBO junior middleweight champion Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and WBC & WBO champion Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs). This announcement comes months after a fight between Fundora and former unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. (28-1, 22 KOs) have been rumored to face each other in the fall.

Here is the statement from the WBO:

“Please be advised that the parties herein have thirty (30) days upon issuance of this notice to negotiate and reach an agreement for the above-referenced WBO Jr. Middleweight Mandatory  Championship Contest.1 If an accord is not reached within the timeframe stated herein, a purse bid  will be ordered per the WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests. The minimum  acceptable bid in the WBO Jr. Middleweight Division is $200,000.00 (Two Hundred Thousand  Dollars). Any of the parties involved may request a purse bid procedure at any time during the  negotiation process.”

This puts things in an interesting situation as if Fundora passes on the Crawford fight, he will be stripped of the title, making Crawford a unified champion at 154. That would also mean the path to undisputed for Crawford, should he want to take it, became much shorter with two of the four titles around his waist. Although Crawford is chasing a legacy fight with Canelo Alvarez, which would be worth tens of millions, becoming a three-division undisputed champion doesn’t have a bad ring to it. Ironically, if Fundora chooses Spence and he loses, we could end up seeing Crawford vs. Spence 2 at 154 after they couldn’t make it happen at welterweight. Based on the recent news, it’s on TGB Promotions, Sampson Boxing, and Fundora to figure out which route is the best.

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is the founder of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms to include online, network TV and promotional companies. He is an American Public University alumnus and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, contributed to FanSidedMMA and ProBoxTV.

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