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Xander Zayas: Sebastian Fundora Shouldn’t Have Vacated WBO Belt In First Place
Article
Keith Idec
Keith Idec
RingMagazine.com
Xander Zayas: Sebastian Fundora Shouldn’t Have Vacated WBO Belt In First Place
NEW YORK — Sebastian Fundora shouldn’t expect Xander Zayas’ handlers to contact his representatives now that he owns the WBO junior middleweight title.

Zayas is still disappointed that negotiations between their representatives ceased, which led to Fundora vacating the belt and fighting Tim Tszyu again. The unbeaten Puerto Rican also realizes he has leverage if Fundora wants an opportunity to win back that WBO belt.

Zayas (22-0, 13 KOs) addressed potentially fighting Fundora next after his wide decision win against Mexico’s Jorge Garcia (33-5, 26 KOs) on Saturday night in The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

“He shouldn’t have lost it in the first place,” Zayas told a group of reporters. “That’s all I have to say. And he knows where to contact us.”

Fundora (23-1-1, 15 KOs), of Coachella, California, retained his WBC 154-pound crown when he defeated Australia’s Tszyu by technical knockout July 19 on the Manny Pacquiao-Mario Barrios undercard at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Tszyu (25-3, 18 KOs) was knocked down in the first round and behind on the scorecards when the former WBO junior middleweight champ declined to continue after the seventh round ended.

Garcia gave Zayas more trouble than Tszyu offered Fundora. Zayas won by big margins on the cards of judges Robin Taylor (119-109), Tom Schreck (118-110) and Tony Paolillo (116-112).


The 6-foot-6 Fundora stated during his post-fight press conference after defeating Tszyu that he would welcome a title unification fight with the Zayas-Garcia winner. The WBO ordered the 12-round bout between the No. 1-ranked Zayas, who was the mandatory challenger, and the second-ranked Garcia once Fundora accepted a rematch with Tszyu and consequently surrendered his WBO belt.

Zayas blamed Fundora’s handlers for walking away from negotiations for a mandated match that could’ve taken place this past Saturday night.

“It didn’t happen because [Fundora’s] team didn’t want it to happen,” Zayas told The Ring before he fought Garcia. “They decided to go another route. We said yes to everything they wanted, except one thing. They wanted a rehydration clause, so we said no to that. But everything else we said yes. It didn’t happen because they didn’t want it to happen at that time. Once I win a world title, it’s a whole other topic.”


Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing


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