WBC and WBO junior-middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora will not participate in Friday’s scheduled purse bid for his mandatory WBO title defense against Xander Zayas, sources have told BoxingScene. Fundora will instead fight old rival Tim Tszyu at the Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena with just the WBC belt up for grabs. July 19 is a possible date for the rematch but Fundora's promoter Sampson Lewkowicz told BoxingScene that nothing has yet been finalized, with three dates in July and August under consideration.

"This is the fight that everyone wants to see," Lewkowicz said of Fundora-Tszyu II. "It will be raining blood."

Fundora outpointed Tszyu in a March 2024 upset over 12 bloody rounds.

Fundora’s decision to take on his former foe, the WBC No. 6 who is unranked by the WBO, means that he will be stripped of the WBO title, leaving No. 1 contender Zayas to face No. 2 Jorge Garcia Perez for the vacant strap.

Purse bids for that vacant championship bout will go ahead on Friday in place of Fundora-Zayas, with any promoter free to stake their claim to the contest. 

Sampson Boxing and Zayas’ promoters Top Rank had previously failed to agree terms for the WBO-ordered bout.