Pick it: Sebastian Fundora vs. Keith Thurman
When to Watch: The main broadcast is on Saturday, March 28 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (midnight GMT). A free three-fight preliminary stream will start at 5:30 p.m ET (9:30 p.m. GMT).
How to watch: This is a pay-per-view available for purchase via Amazon’s Prime Video, PPV.com, and traditional cable and satellite providers.
The free preliminary stream is on Prime Video for both subscribers and non-subscribers.
Why to Watch: With ongoing interest in the junior middleweight division, Sebastian Fundora will be defending his world title against Keith Thurman, who has a name due to past accomplishments but whose current abilities are a mystery.
Fundora, 23-1-1 (15 KOs), is a 28-year-old from Coachella, California who has been a junior middleweight titleholder ever since a bloody split decision over Tim Tszyu in March 2024. Fundora captured plenty of attention in the years before, both because of his remarkable stature – standing nearly 6-foot-6 and somehow comfortably making 154lbs – and also because of a volume-punching style that can overwhelm and break his opponents down.
After a draw with Jamontay Clark in 2019, Fundora continued to move forward with his development. He stopped Jorge Cota in four rounds in 2021 and outpointed the previously unbeaten Sergio Garcia later that year. In a brutal war with Erickson Lubin in April 2022, Fundora took fire but returned plenty, forcing a battered Lubin to remain in his corner after the ninth round. Fundora captured an interim WBC belt that night.
Next came a wide decision over Carlos Ocampo. And then Fundora suffered an upset loss to Brian Mendoza. Fundora was far ahead on the scorecards after six rounds but was caught with a great shot in the seventh and was unable to beat the count.
Amazingly, Fundora’s title shot against Tszyu came next, though it wasn’t the original plan. Initially, Tszyu was supposed to defend his WBO title against Keith Thurman in the headliner while Fundora was supposed to face Serhii Bohachuk for the vacant WBC belt on the undercard. When Thurman pulled out with an injury, Fundora subbed into the main event, now with both titles on the line.
Fundora’s only fought twice since then. He remained on the sideline for nearly a year while pursuing a potential bout with former unified welterweight titleholder Errol Spence. Fundora’s first title defense came in March 2025 with a four-round TKO of Chordale Booker. Fundora soon was stripped of his WBO belt for declining to face mandatory challenger Xander Zayas. Instead, Fundora and Tszyu had a rematch this past July, with “The Towering Inferno” dominating en route to a seventh-round stoppage.
Fundora then hurt his hand ahead of a planned October 2025 pay-per-view with Thurman. He says the injury and the extra months that followed were a blessing that gave him more time to prepare.
Thurman, 31-1 (23 KOs), is a 37-year-old former unified welterweight titleholder who has been incredibly inactive in recent years. He has only fought twice since losing to Manny Pacquiao in July 2019.
But before then, Thurman was a mainstay at 147lbs and one of the building blocks for Premier Boxing Champions. The fighter who was tested in a technical knockout win over Jesus Soto-Karass in late 2013 showed to be better than initially believed. Thurman went from the WBA’s secondary titleholder to the organization’s primary guy at the start of 2016 and then impressed with a close decision win over Shawn Porter in June of that year. Thurman added the WBC belt with a split decision victory against Danny Garcia in March 2017.
He didn’t fight for another 22 months. Recovery from elbow surgery took longer than anticipated. Thurman was also dealing with a hand injury. He had to vacate the WBC title. Thurman returned in January 2019 and made the final successful defense of his WBA belt, beating Josesito Lopez via majority decision. Six months later, he lost to the 40-year-old Pacquiao by split decision.
The next time Thurman was seen was in February 2022, when he outpointed Mario Barrios. Thurman was supposed to challenge Tim Tszyu for a junior middleweight world title in March 2024 but pulled out with an injury. Thurman’s next bout was a year later, when he traveled to Australia and made short work of Brock Jarvis. That was expected to set up a clash with Tszyu, but Tszyu’s defeats apparently scuttled that.
It’s now been another year since the Jarvis fight, though that is partially because Fundora suffered an injury of his own, pushing back the original October 2025 date with Thurman. Still, Thurman could have chosen to take a keep-busy bout and shake off some rust. Instead, he opted either to rest or to keep the rust-shaking to the gym.
It’s hard to know what to expect of Thurman in this fight with Fundora. We’ve seen so little of the Floridian in recent years, and haven’t seen him take on anyone even remotely notable since Barrios in 2022. That hasn’t prevented the WBC from ranking Thurman third at 154lbs.
The undercard at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, includes a junior middleweight bout between former secondary titleholder Yoenis Tellez, 11-1 (8 KOs), and Brian Mendoza, 23-4 (17 KOs); a middleweight match between Yoenli Hernandez, 9-0 (8 KOs), and Terrell Gausha, 24-5-1 (12 KOs); and heavyweight prospect Gurgen Hovhannisyan, 9-0 (8 KOs), taking on Cesar Navarro, 15-3 (13 KOs).
The free three-fight preliminary stream will be headlined by middleweight Elijah Garcia, 17-1 (13 KOs), against Kevin Newman II, 18-3-1 (11 KOs).
More Fights to Watch
Friday, March 27: Joel Mafauad vs. Mariano Farias (ESPN Deportes/ESPN+)
The broadcast begins at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time (1:30 a.m. GMT).
Mafauad, 13-2 (5 KOs), is a 29-year-old welterweight from Argentina. He is coming off a second-round TKO loss to contender Karen Chukhadzhian last October.
Farias, 11-2 (10 KOs), is a 27-year-old also from Argentina. He too was stopped in two rounds in his last appearance, which was in May 2024 against 14-1 junior welterweight Franco David Rodriguez.
Saturday, March 28: Moses Itauma vs. Jermaine Franklin Jnr (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (5 p.m. GMT).
Moses Itauma, 13-0 (11 KOs), has been lauded as the heavyweight heir apparent since early in his career. And it is still rather early for the 21-year-old, who was born in Slovakia and now lives in Kent, England.
Itauma turned pro at the start of 2023 and had already impressed enough to be named BoxingScene’s Prospect of the Year at the end of 2024. His speed, power and poise are apparent. He’s not as tall as some of his fellow heavyweights, but he’s got a good stature for the modern competition, listed on BoxRec at 6-foot-4½ and typically weighing between 235 and 250lbs.
In Itauma’s most recent appearance, he scored his biggest win yet by beating Dillian Whyte. That was a welcome step up after Itauma’s successes against a long-past-his-prime Mariusz Wach (TKO2) and a pair of heavyweights with one loss each who never were going to be considered future contenders: Demsey McKean (TKO1) and Mike Balogun (TKO2).
Whyte’s only defeats had come against name heavyweights Anthony Joshua, Alexander Povetkin and Tyson Fury. Whyte had bested Povetkin in their 2021 rematch, outpointed Joseph Parker back in 2018, given Oscar Rivas his first loss in 2019 and did the same to Jermaine Franklin Jnr in 2022. Itauma got rid of Whyte as promptly as he did his previous opposition, taking him out in just about two minutes. Whether that was because Whyte has significantly declined or because of Itauma’s significant talent can’t yet be decisively determined.
But here’s what is true: Itauma’s team is looking to build him both into a superstar and a world titleholder. Those goals don’t involve identical strategies, though they may occasionally intersect.
Itauma is ranked No. 1 by the WBA, whose primary titleholder is Usyk and whose secondary “regular” belt is held by Murat Gassiev. Itauma is also ranked No. 1 by the WBO, whose title belongs to Fabio Wardley. Itauma is No. 3 with the WBC, which has Usyk with its main title and Agit Kabayel with its interim belt. And Itauma is rated No. 11 by the IBF, where Usyk again owns the top prize.
Franklin could be considered a step back, given that he lost to the guy that Itauma just blitzed. Yet if Itauma remains busy and continues to score highlight-reel victories, he will grow his fan base as a headliner in the United Kingdom.
At some point, it would also be good for Itauma to get more rounds under his belt. The last time Itauma was taken beyond the second round was in his third and fourth pro bouts, each won via six-round decisions. In total, Itauma’s seen 26 rounds in his 13 victories. Franklin has never been stopped in either of his two defeats. Does he have what it takes to last against Itauma, never mind score the upset?
Franklin, 24-2 (15 KOs), is a 32-year-old heavyweight from Saginaw, Michigan. He is listed at 6-foot-3 and has weighed in the mid-250s for his two most recent boxing matches.
Franklin turned pro in 2015 and won his first 21 fights before meeting with Dillian Whyte in 2022. Whyte won a majority decision, and Franklin was then selected for a comebacking Anthony Joshua after Joshua’s back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk. Joshua’s losing streak concluded, while Franklin joined the “consecutive defeats club” himself by being on the short end of a wide unanimous decision.
Three wins have followed for Franklin since then. He only fought once each in 2024 and 2025, stopping the 24-10 Devin Vargas and then, 16 months later, upsetting two-time Olympic bronze medalist Ivan Dychko on the scorecards last September. Franklin is rated No. 10 by both the WBA and WBO.
The undercard at Co-op Live in Manchester, England, includes a featherweight bout between Liam Davies, 17-1 (8 KOs), and late replacement Francesco Grandelli, 21-4-2 (6 KOs); a light heavyweight match between Ezra Taylor, 13-0 (9 KOs), and Willy Hutchinson, 19-2 (14 KOs); a clash of middleweights Shakiel Thompson, 15-0 (11 KOs), and Brad Pauls, 20-2-1 (11 KOs); and a pairing of middleweights Nathan Heaney, 19-1-1 (6 KOs), and Gerome Warburton, 16-2-2 (2 KOs).
Saturday, March 28: Bryan Acosta vs. Ronny Rios (ProBox TV)
The broadcast begins at 7 p.m. Eastern Time (11 p.m. GMT).
Acosta, a 27-year-old from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, is 20-2 (8 KOs). Both of those losses came in 2025. In February, he lost a close unanimous decision to Ramon Cardenas, who went on to give undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue a tough battle. And in September, Acosta was stopped in the seventh round by fringe featherweight contender Sulaiman Segawa. He now has a chance to end his losing streak in this main event at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California.
Rios, 34-5 (17 KOs), is a 36-year-old from Santa Ana, California. Rios is a former contender who has lost all three of his world title shots. The first two came at junior featherweight: He was outpointed by Rey Vargas in 2017 and stopped in the final round by Murodjon Akhmadaliev in 2022. Rios’ record also includes a fifth-round TKO loss to Robinson Castellanos at featherweight/junior lightweight in 2014, and a sixth-round loss to Azat Hovhannisyan at junior featherweight in 2018.
After the loss to Akhmadaliev, Rios took 22 months off before returning in April 2024, beating the 21-5-1 Nicolas Polanco via fifth-round knockout. He moved on to his third title shot, getting knocked down three times by then-featherweight beholder Nick Ball and losing via 10th-round stoppage. That fight was in early October 2024, which means Rios will be coming off a nearly 18-month layoff.
In the co-feature, lightweight Rene Tellez Giron, 22-5 (13 KOs), will take on Maliek Montgomery, 20-2 (18 KOs). As with Acosta, both of Montgomery’s losses came last year in his two most recent fights.
(Note: ProBox and BoxingScene are both owned by Garry Jonas.)
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
