The WBO has refused to sanction Joey Spencer as a potential challenger to WBC/WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora to defend against in his next fight in March.
Spencer rejected
It is no shock that Spencer (19-1, 11 KO) is not sanctioned by the World Boxing Organization as an opponent of Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KO) as he is not ranked in the top 15 by any of the four sanctioning bodies is at 154. This forces Fundora management to choose one of the highest ranked contenders in the WBO rankings.
Possibilities
1. Alex Zayas
2.Charles Conwell
3. Josh Kelly
4. Jorge Garcia Pérez
Fundora has not fought since he upset WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu on March 30, 2024. It would not be ideal for Fundora “The Towering Inferno” to face Zayas or Conwell, who comes from a long layoff of one year.
A better choice would be Josh Kelly. He’s a light puncher and a pretty basic fighter, more of a British domestic level fighter than a real contender. It would be easy for the 6’6″ Fundora to dominate him, beat him and have fun whipping him.
I can’t believe Kelly made the top 10. How the hell did this guy make the top three? He’s more of a top 50 guy, but he’d be perfect for Fundora right now.
Fundora, 27, had negotiated a defense against Errol Spence in March, but the World Boxing Organization refused to approve the fight this week. Their reasoning was that Spence was coming off a year and a half off, a knockout loss to Terence Crawford, unranked in the WBO top 15 and having never fought in the weight class. These were very good reasons.
Fundora at a standstill
Fundora needs to fight soon because he’s been out of the ring too long and he’s wasting his career. Yes, he’s young enough that this kind of firing doesn’t hurt him like it would an older fighter, but his popularity suffers. He failed to capitalize on his victory over Tszyu by returning to the ring shortly after.
“They tell me 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 pit Fundora against Errol Spence officially broke down. #espnknockout,” Salvador Rodriguez said on X.
