Sebastian Fundora says he believed that Tim Tszyu was a different fighter for their rematch last Saturday night compared to how he fought him last year. The WBC junior middleweight champion Fundora (23-1-1 15 KOs) noted that Tszyu (25-3, 18 KOs) didn’t want to “get hit,” and he took advantage of that by unloading on him.
Tszyu’s Mental Defeat
Tim fought aggressively in the sixth and seventh. However, he took a lot of punishment in both of those rounds from the nonstop punches being thrown by Fundora. After the seventh, Tszyu chose not to allow him to continue. Judging by Tim’s body language in the final seconds of round seven, he looked mentally defeated. He’d fought as hard as he could in that round, and yet it wasn’t enough.
“I just saw him not wanting to get hit, and we took advantage of that. We took the lead by that, and getting the first round knockdown changed the pace of the fight,” said Sebastian Fundora at the post-fight press conference, responding to the question of whether he saw a difference in Tim Tszyu’s fighting style for the rematch.
Tszyu initially tried not to get hit, but by the sixth, he was just plodding forward, throwing haymakers with maximum power in them. He’d gotten desperate because Fundora had already knocked him down in the first and built up a wide lead. He didn’t know how to close the distance against ‘The Towering Inferno’ Fundora. The wild shots that Tszyu was throwing were often coming up short.
Tim was fighting flat-footed like in his previous clash against Fundora, not moving his head, and having problems landing his shots. He had to come in range to throw, and Sebastian took advantage of this to land his punches. When Tszyu was on the outside, the lanky 6’5″ Fundora used his jab to hit him repeatedly.
Fundora Not Surprised by Stoppage
“I wasn’t surprised because my fights are pretty brutal,” said Fundora when asked if he was surprised Tszyu’s corner stopped the fight after the seventh round. “The overhand left that I caught him with in the first round, that was a punch that I knew I was going to do damage. Getting in the first round put me in high spirits.”
Tszyu had one of his best rounds of the fight in the seventh, landing six or seven bombs that would have knocked out a lot of fighters. Fundora took them well, but eventually would have had problems if Tim had continued to fight beyond the seventh.
In the last 10 seconds of the seventh, Tszyu shelled up against the ropes, and Fundora capitalized on this to pummel him with punches. Tszyu’s trainer likely based his decision to halt the fight on the way Tszyu went to the ropes. That was not a move that Tim typically does in his fights.
Last Updated on 07/20/2025
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