The WBO has refused to sanction Joey Spencer as a potential challenger for WBC/WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora to defend in his next fight in March.
Spencer refused
It’s no shock that Spencer (19-1, 11 KOs) has not been 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 any. the four sanctioning bodies at 154. That leaves the management of Fundora who needs to choose one of the highly ranked contenders in the WBO. classification.
Options
1. Xander Zayas
2. Charles Conwell
3. Josh Kelly
4. Jorge Garcia Perez
Fundora has not fought since WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu on March 30, 2024. It would not be ideal for “The Towering Inferno” Fundora to take on Zayas or Conwell, who is coming off a long layoff of a year.
A better choice would be Josh Kelly. He is a lightweight boxer and a fairly basic fighter – more of a British domestic level fighter than a real contender. It would be an easy task for the 6’6″ Fundora to dominate, beat and have fun beating on 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 material, but it would be perfect for Fundora right now.
Fundora, 27, had been negotiating to defend against Errol Spence for March, but the World Boxing Organization refused to sanction the fight this week. His reasoning was that Spence had come out of a 1.5 year, a knockout loss to Terence Crawford, not ranked in the top 15 of the WBO, and had never fought in the weight class. Those were pretty good reasons.
Foundry installed
Fundora needs to fight soon because he has been out of the ring for too long, and has messed up his career. Yes, he’s young enough that that kind of dismissal won’t hurt him like an older fighter, but his popularity suffers. He failed to capitalize on his win over Tszyu to return to the ring shortly after.
“I am told that the WBO has refused to approve Joey Spencer as a potential challenger to the current Super Welterweight champion, Sebastián Fundora, for next March. This week, negotiations to see Fundora against Errol Spence officially fell through . #espnknockout,” said Salvador Rodriguez X.
