CARSON, Calif. – Sebastian Fundora displayed heart and power in his last bout. Saturday night, he demonstrated he can box and make adjustments in the middle of a fight.
Fundora defeated Carlos Ocampo by unanimous decision at Dignity Health Sports Park. Scores were 117-111, 118-110, and 119-109 for Fundora, who improves to 20-0-1, 13 knockouts.
Saturday night was a clash of junior middleweight contenders ranked in the top 10 by The Ring. Fundora and Ocampo were ranked No. 2 and 10, respectively.
Fundora, who utilized about a seven-inch reach advantage over Ocampo, worked behind a jab from the southpaw stance. The repeated amount of punches produced blood from Ocampo’s nose, beginning in the second round. Undaunted, Ocampo feinted enough to get Fundora to open up, allowing him to land a straight counter right hand to the head later in the round. Ocampo would also get close enough to attack the body of Fundora in an attempt to wear him down.
During the third round, Ocampo was able to remain in the pocket, where he attacked the body of Fundora. Ocampo would get tagged with a left or right uppercut, but he was willing to trade off receiving one or two punches to land his share of hooks or crosses to Fundora’s head and body.
As the bout progressed into the middle rounds, Fundora began landing punches with more regulararity, particularly straight and counter left hands to the head. Ocampo did his best to connect, but paid for it by getting countered flush to the chin by more uppercuts and left hands.
.@SebastianFundo1 is heating up 🔥#FundoraOcampo pic.twitter.com/KqrhQxHIWP
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After the end of the eighth round, referee Jack Reiss summoned ringside physician Dr. Paul Wallace into the ring to check on Ocampo. Reiss warned Ocampo he would stop the fight if he looked hurt and was not fighting back.
Ocampo found success during the 10th round, putting together a series of combinations that snapped Fundora’s head back.
With less than a minute left in the 11th round, a straight left hand to the head momentarily stunned Ocampo, who smiled at Fundora as if to say the punch did not hurt him.
“(Ocampo) was tough,” said Fundora after the fight. “He was a tough Mexican fighter. My hats off to him. Towards the middle of the fight, I wanted to attack him to the body. Then I saw that my uppercut to the body and head was landing. I stuck with that.
“I’m pleased with my performance because this is what I trained for.”
Saturday night was a solid performance by Fundora. In his last bout on April 9, Fundora overcame a knockdown to stop Erickson Lubin after the ninth round.
Fundora should be an interested spectator for the clash between Ring Magazine junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo and Tim Tszyu. Fundora is the mandatory challenger for the WBC world title, which Charlo owns.
“I have my spot. It should be a good fight between Charlo and Tsyzu. I hope I have next.”
Ocampo, who resides in Ensenada, Mexico, falls to 34-2, 2 KOs. He had won his previous 12 fights since his knockout loss to Errol Spence in June 2018.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
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