Sebastian Fundora and Keith Thurman previewed their championship showdown and faced off at the final press conference. The two fighters square off on Saturday, March 28, headlining PBC PPV on Prime Video. The event takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Fundora (23-1-1, 15 KOs) of West Palm Beach, Florida, makes the third defense of his WBC super welterweight title. The Coachella-based 28-year-old southpaw appeared confident heading into his bout against the former unified welterweight champion.
“I definitely don’t see this going 12 rounds, but no matter how long it goes, it ends with me having my hand raised,” Fundora said.
“Thurman is a good talker. He likes to talk – that’s how he is. He’s a great champion as well, but Saturday night I’m planning to crash his party.”
“I think I’ve just been growing up and becoming more mature with every fight. I’m getting a harder task every fight, so I’ve been learning on the job.”
“Thurman is one of my best opponents for sure. But I have to look at it like just another fight. I have to look at it as my job. This is work for me, and I just have to clock in on Saturday.”
‘Blood, sweat, tears, sacrifice’
Thurman (31-1, 23 KOs) said he is there to “hurt” his opponent. The 37-year-old native of Clearwater, Florida, makes an attempt to become a two-division world champion and solidify his Hall of Fame status.
“I’m here to hurt this boy,” Thurman said. “I’m trying to send him home beltless. Fundora gets hit – he’s used to trading and going at it. But I’m here to put that fire out.”
“I’ve been doing this for a long time. Come March 28, you’re going to see why I’ve been able to do this as long as I have.”
“I’ve been favored in the majority of my fights, but at the end of the day, being the hunter is a lot of fun. I’m on the prowl. There’s nothing like becoming world champion by taking it from the previous world champion – especially a highly qualified world champion like Fundora.
“You’re going to see 30 years of greatness on Saturday. Blood, sweat, tears, sacrifice. It’s going to be poetry in motion.”
Fundora vs Thurman undercard
The Fundora vs Thurman press conference also featured the undercard fighters.
The co-feature is a super welterweight bout between Cuba’s Yoenis Tellez (11-1, 8 KOs) and Brian Mendoza (23-4, 17 KOs) of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
A middleweight bout pits Yoenli Hernandez (9-0, 8 KOs) of Cuba against Cleveland’s Terrell Gausha (24-5-1, 12 KOs).
The PPV opener is a matchup between Gurgen Hovhannisyan (9-0, 8 KOs) of Armenia and Mexico’s Cesar Navarro (15-3, 13 KOs).
Headlining the “First on Prime” prelims, Elijah Garcia (17-1, 13 KOs) of Glendale, Arizona, takes on Kevin Newman II (18-3-1, 11 KOs) of Los Angeles at super middleweight.
Las Vegas southpaw Kaipo Gallegos (11-0-1, 9 KOs) battles Julian Gonzalez (16-1-1, 12 KOs) of Reading, Pennsylvania, at lightweight.
Kicking off the action, Brayan Gonzalez (4-0, 3 KOs) of Phoenix, Arizona, meets Mexico’s Brandon Medina Guerrero (7-4) at featherweight.
The non-televised lineup includes:
- Cristian Cangelosi (12-0, 5 KOs) vs. Miguel Angel Hernandez (9-1, 7 KOs), super welterweight
- Robert Guerrero (7-0, 3 KOs) vs. Rigoberto Rivera (3-2, 1 KO), super lightweight
- Aldo Blancas vs. Jamal Johnson (2-1, 1 KO), super lightweight