“We Welcome Him”: Fundora Responds to Talk of Crawford Campaigning at 160 Pounds

Sebastian Fundora says he welcomes a fight against Terence Crawford if he’s open to facing him. WBC junior middleweight champion Fundora (23-1-1, 15 KOs) doesn’t say whether he’d want the fight against Crawford at 154 or 160. But if he’s offered a big enough purse, it’s possible that he’d move up to middleweight to try and slay Crawford.

Fundora’s Relentless Punch Output

“I think he’s thinking about going back to 160. We welcome him. Why not?” said Sebastian Fundora to Fighthype about his interest in fighting Terence Crawford. “It didn’t look like Canelo wanted that rematch.”

A Bad Stylistic Matchup

There’s no chance Crawford would return to 154 to fight the 6’5 1/2″ punching machine Fundora, and have to deal with his output. That’s a bad style for an aging fighter who likely would fall apart under the strain of a war against Fundora.

Crawford would be forced to run, and that would make him look bad. If there was going to be a fight between them, it would have to be at 160. Even then, I have doubts that Terence would agree to it. He couldn’t count on Fundora gassing out like Canelo did, so he could pull out the decision in the championship rounds.

Crawford Looked His Age

If anything, Sebastian’s output would increase in rounds nine through twelve, and Crawford would take a beating in suffering his first career defeat. Against Canelo, Crawford had the ideal situation, fighting a slow, flat-footed fighter that faded after eight rounds.

Without that happening, Terence would have lost because he did not look “domineering” as his fans have repeatedly said in the aftermath of his victory. He looked slightly better than Canelo, and just as old. Crawford looked 38 to me.

The two 115-113 scores turned in by the judges were accurate for the fight. You could even call it a draw, and a few non-biased fans would agree. It looked like a draw to me, and I couldn’t care less which of them won.

So, if you throw Crawford in the ring with Fundora, I believe it would end badly for Terence. He needs a particular type of fighter for him to have a chance of winning, someone on the older side, like 42-year-old Erislandy Lara, the WBA middleweight champion.

Crawford: The Sport’s Top Star

“Crawford can do whatever he wants. I hear there’s talk of him and Benavidez. Crawford is the #1 in the sport right now. He’s a smart fighter. He’s pound-for-pound for a reason,” said Sebastian.

Crawford’s Other High-Profile Options

Bud can do whatever he wants within reason. Sure, can fight whoever he pleases, but if he wants to keep his pay in the tens of millions, there are only a small number of fighters that he can face. Assuming Canelo isn’t going to indulge Crawford for a rematch, these are the options for the Omaha, Nebraska native to fight to get the big money:

• David Benavidez: He’s the guy that Turki Alalshikh mentioned last Saturday when he asked his followers on X if they think Benavidez can drop down to 168.
• Dmitry Bivol: It’s possible that Bivol can be lured to 168 to fight Crawford for his undisputed championship. When Canelo held the four belts, Bivol was interested in a rematch for his undisputed crown.
• Artur Beterbiev: It’s a fight that would need to occur soon because Beterbiev turns 41 on January 21, 2026, and he’s already showing signs of age. However, his punching power remains lethal, and he wouldn’t hesitate to walk through Crawford’s shots to land his powerful blows. It would come down to whether Crawford was willing to take on a puncher like Beterbiev.

If Turki Alalshikh is going to spoil Crawford by giving him absurd money to defend his four super middleweight titles against Hamzah Sheeraz, you can bet he’ll take that fight in a second. That would be Turki gifting Terence by not insisting he work for his money by risking his hide against one of the three fighters above.

“He [Canelo] doesn’t need to [retire],” said Fundora about Canelo Alvarez not needing to retire yet.

If Canelo doesn’t retire, he’s going to have to be careful in the type of opposition he faces if he doesn’t want to suffer a never-ending string of defeats like one sees when a fighter is physically shot.

He had the perfect situation in recent years, fighting Edgar Berlanga, Jaime Munguia, John Ryder, and William Scull. He’s already beaten those guys, and there’s not a lot of other fighters with inflated plastic records like them.