Speaker 1: All right, fight fans welcome in. It is the Fight
Freak Cheu Night recap podcast. However, because of travel nightmares
on Sunday, we've had to adjust things a little bit.
I am the somewhat capable host TJ Reeves. Our insider
is Dan Rayphield. We're on able to get the podcast
accomplished right now tonight. We're on Monday because of a
travel nightmare on the east part of the country, the
eastern part of the country, trying to get out of
Philadelphia for me and get back to my home base
in Tampa Bay. So we've not been able to coordinate
the pod as the recap pod. However, however, we've got
something for you here coming up in a couple of
moments that you're going to want to hear. Reminder, thank
you for finding us on the feed. We typically recap
coming off the weekend. If you want the recaps of
the nick Ball featherweight title win for the WBA Championship
over TJ. Dohaney, my namesake, you got a TKO win
on Saturday. Read Dan Substacking newsletter. You should be subscribing anyway,
but go check it out there. And also Austin m.
O William was victorious by decision in the middleweight main
event for Matchroom Boxing. So you can read Dan's complete
description about that bout as well off his fight preach unit, substack,
and newsletter. So again, I'm in travel fun Sunday, Sunday
night and into Monday morning. But now you're gonna get
the chance to hear more from Big Dan with Sebastian Fondora.
Fundora will headline the PBC on Prime card coming for
Las Vegas this Saturday, Fondora defending the WBCWBO Unified Junior
Middleweight crown against Cordel Booker. Booker is a late replacement,
but Fondora is ready for his first fight in twelve
months since he upset Tim Zu in a controversial wild
split decision where Fondora overcame a broken nose and zoo
bled badly from a gash on the top of his
head for the last ten rounds of the fight. Fondora
got the decision. This is his first defense. He'll talk
to Dan about all of that here ahead. So again
a reminder will come back with a preview podcast of
the Fundora fight itself. All the news of the week,
some great nostalgia on Julio Cesar Chavez and Meldrick Taylor's
epic first fight turning thirty five years old. This week,
we'll do all that on the preview podcast leading the week.
For now, I'm signing off because I'm still trying to
get back home folks. And Big Dan is here with
Sebastian Fundora. That is right now here on the pod.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm very happy to have on the podcast this week,
not only than the WBC WBO Junior Middleweight world champion,
Sebastian Fundora. Sebastian, I'll tell our listeners what's going on
with you. You have your first title defense coming up
March twenty second. It is the main event on the
PBC on Prime Video at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
I'm looking forward to seeing you back in action, so welcome.
It's been a while since we've seen you in the ring,
So tell me just in general thoughts about finally getting
back in there.
Speaker 3: I'm excited.
Speaker 4: I'm excited this last year King helping my father with
my sister become an undisputed champion.
Speaker 3: So that's been it's been an excited year last year,
especially me.
Speaker 4: Winning my bills as well. But I'm just happy to
be back in the ring and show off my skills.
Speaker 2: Well, it is going to be, like you mentioned, it's
going to be your first fight in almost one year
to the day. It'd be like fifty one weeks since
you had the very memorable split decision victory against Tim
Zu to win the vacant WBC title, to take away
his WBO one hundred and fifty four pound title, and
so just to look back on that that. Of course,
everybody knows at this point you were the late replacement.
You were on the undercard, but when Keith Thurman suffered
the injury, the card was rearranging. You got to move
into the main event just two weeks before the fight.
So that fight, though, was so memorable for a lot
of people, and you were in it. So I want
to ask you a little bit about it. You suffered
the broken nose in the second round. Later in the
second round, you know, you guys had that accidental clash
with your elbow in his head and he definitely got
the worst of it, cut open his scalp very badly. Uh.
First of all, in terms of your situation in that fight,
how badly uh did you think that your nose was broken.
How much did it sort of impact you the rest
of the way because it was so early in the
fight and you guys had a long way to go.
Speaker 4: All right, now it's time to cliarch some things up right, good,
let's do it.
Speaker 3: There was no broken nose. There was no broken nose.
Speaker 4: And then because nothing, I didn't have to go to
no hospital or anything to fixed on.
Speaker 3: Nothing up it. I went home.
Speaker 4: I rested maybe a week, and my nose was back
to normal. No, the swelling was just from the fight itself.
Speaker 2: But were you swallowing blood though, or no swallowing blood
from you know, from your nose.
Speaker 3: Have you ever bleft from your nose before? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Sure, and you know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you your nose and your throat, all these things
are connected, so you will swallow some blood if I
was in if that's in the fight, my fat My
father told me, you blef for your nose before. If
you've seen a cover of my fights, then I have
that from my nose a couple of times.
Speaker 3: So it's just nothing new to me, just another nose belief.
Speaker 4: And then he ran into my he ran into my farm.
I have I'm a skinny guy, so I guess the
phone stick a little bit more. But uh yeah, he
did run into my forearm, the elbow or anything.
Speaker 2: No, no, it was I'm not making that acquisition. It
was you can watch the video clear as day. This
was an accidental thing where he just like you said,
he basically ran into your elbow as an accident, I
think on both ends.
Speaker 3: But it was not an elbow. It was not an elbow.
Speaker 4: I have active pictures of my farm being bruised the
next day. But uh yeah, it was a it was
a good experience though. It was a great night, you know,
a great night for me, for the family. Uh we
made history, me and my sister being brother sister champions
at the same time, so I was happy.
Speaker 2: Well, I've been watching boxing most of my life, but
I'm in my fifties and I've never seen that. I
can think of a fight that bloody, and you were
in it. So when you see, now, some of it
was your blood, some of it was his blood, Like
what were you thinking? Like there was just so much bloodshed,
mostly from him, But it was sort of shocking, like
I'm ringside experience. I kind of had to turn away
for a couple of seconds, and I'm not the one
in there, you know, with it flying all over my body.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that that just tells you boxing not for the
faint of heart, you know.
Speaker 3: And again it there's blood. Boxing's blood boxing. So to
me it's nothing crazy.
Speaker 4: Maybe maybe if I was a spectator, I would play
thing that's a lot of blood. Well, while you're in it,
you don't really.
Speaker 2: Care for her, Okay. So now we were all led
to believe after the fact, you know, and talking to
your promoter Samson Linquwitz, that the nose was a significant
reason why you were going to lay off for a
while and not have a fight maybe the rest of
last year. After that fight in March, and then go
through the rest of the year, maybe you'd be available
after November December. But it didn't happen. So what was
the reason then? If you said you just went back
home and you know, let your nose, he'll love for
a week or two and it wasn't broken, why the
layoff then?
Speaker 4: Sas as a promoter, Simpson's job is to talk.
Speaker 3: He's good at it.
Speaker 4: He does his thing, just I mean, that's boxing, you know.
Would they tell you when they fight, I'm not the
one who gets the fights. If it was up to me,
and if I paid myself, I wouldn't be the fighter.
I'd probably be the promoter or the manager. But you
know these things, uh, I think things are always changing
in boxing, the business side of boxing. I can say
I want to fight this guy, fight this guy. I
can tweet it, I can put on social media, I
can call him out. I go through the space and
call him out. But when the contract's not signed, that
things aren't going to get done.
Speaker 2: So well, I totally get that, but it just seemed
to me that it was just baked in that Sebastian
Vandor is healing from an injury. You know, his promoter
and father are going to like want him to take
the rest of the year off to make sure everything
is okay and then we'll get back at action. You're
saying there was no issue and you could have fought whenever.
Speaker 4: I could have fought whenever, but it didn't happen.
Speaker 2: Are you then at all frustrated that it's going to
be one year since your last fight because you only
had one fight in the previous year. Also, you know
after them, you know, with them Mendoza fight.
Speaker 3: Nah, I don't get frustrate you with that.
Speaker 4: It's just again, as the business of boxing, I feel
like on learning and I'm maturing with the sport, so
those things.
Speaker 3: Don't bother me.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, after you had that big win against Tim Zoo,
you know, you become not just one world champion belt,
but you get you know, a unified title because of
the fact that both of them were available and in
the ring after the fight. In your interview on the broadcast,
there was Errol Spence standing next to you. You guys were
going back and forth, and you know, PBC sent out
the photos and you know, it was pretty clear that
the intent from everybody involved was to make the match
between Sebastian Medor and Errol who was going to be
moving up having lost a walterweight title in his big
fight against Terrence Crawford. So that fight seemed like it
was going to get made. I heard a bunch of
different dates, a bunch of different scenarios. He got reinjured,
Like what, what from your side of it? Can you
tell us why it didn't actually come to pass? And
now you're here taking this fight with Cordnel Booker.
Speaker 4: There's nothing from my side that made the.
Speaker 3: Fight not happen.
Speaker 2: Understood what was your nothing.
Speaker 4: From my side, I can't speak for him. The fight
didn't happen. Again the bits of boxing, he came into
the ring, he called me out whatever.
Speaker 3: But besides that.
Speaker 4: He showed me his earnings he won from winning the bet.
I'm betting on me, and that's as much as what happened.
You know, they told me, hey, you're gonna fight Spence next.
It didn't happen, and now we're fighting Booker.
Speaker 2: Was that the fight you wanted though? Because no offense
to Cordy Deel Booker at all, but obviously Errol Spence
is a much bigger name, a much bigger profile. Fight
for you.
Speaker 3: I'll fight anybody. I'll fight anybody.
Speaker 4: If they tell you fight Spence next, I'll fight Spence next.
If they say fight whoever next, I'll fight whoever next.
Speaker 2: But I fight's a fight, okay, So let's talk about
the fight, which is Cordel Booker a little bit. He
is twenty three and one, He's got eleven knockouts, he
has won six fights in a row, and the only
loss he suffered was a first on knockout. Fair enough,
but he was also fighting out of his weight class.
That was against Amma Williams. He moved up for that
fight in the middleweight though, and he just got caught
in the first round. And he was a good amateur,
a bit older than you, your twenty seventies.
Speaker 3: Thirty three.
Speaker 2: Uh so what is your when you when you've been
studying and preparing for this fight, what sort of the
Sebastian Frondora scouting report on what to expect from Cordell Booker.
Speaker 3: I don't really study. I don't know.
Speaker 4: The only thing I know is that he's a soutball.
He's fought a couple of times on TVC. But uh,
I'm just gonna go out there and do what I
can do best.
Speaker 2: And what do you what do you hope to do
in the fight then, obviously besides win the fight, obviously
you want to do that. But I mean, you know, yes,
Door always brings a good fight to the ring. That's
what I've seen and watching your career.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just plan on winning.
Speaker 4: I just plan winning Everything you guys will see on
the fight because I like to kind of surprise that
the fans.
Speaker 3: Uh, well, whatever I'm.
Speaker 4: Going to do, it's just it's just me. I'm just
gonna do me. I'm gonna make sure I win.
Speaker 2: Are there any concerns about the rust at all? Because
it has been a year since you've had a fight.
Speaker 4: There's no There's no rest on me. There's I've been
training this whole time. I haven't been on break or
anything like that. So I've been training, I've been working hard.
Speaker 3: I don't think there's any rest okay.
Speaker 2: Now, Look, I mean a lot of people when they
watch Sebastian frondor fight, the towering and your height is
obviously a big part of your persona in boxing. You
know that at six foot six, very tall for anybody,
much less a guy making one hundred and fifty four pounds.
So I wonder as you still make one fifty four though,
do you think eventually, in you know, the next couple
of fights, let's say that you will seek to go
to the middleweight division where there could be some activity
there as well.
Speaker 4: No, I don't have no interest in it right now.
You can make the way right now.
Speaker 3: So I'm fifty fours. I'm a champion right here. I'm comfortable.
Speaker 2: You mentioned your sister Gabriella earlier, you know, when you
were having your layoff, and she was doing great things
in the ring. Look, she became as you know, she
well she's undefeated, she's just twenty two years old. Pretty
much the consensus twenty twenty four Female Boxer of the Year,
unified the titles, became the undisputed champion at flyweight. Since
you had the time off and you got a chance.
I know you're you know, in the gym with her,
and you obviously both trained with your dad. What was
it like though, as big brother to sort of sit
back and watched the great success that she accomplished because
so much of it has always been about you while
she was coming up, but she pretty much had the
spotlight to herself really in the Fundor family last year
because of your being on the sidelines for a bit.
Speaker 4: Every win she gets is a win for all of us.
Every win I get is a win for all of us.
There's never no negativity or anything like that. I'm there
in the corner of working with her with my father,
when she's sparring, when she's training. We're always there together
and it goes both sides. So everything she do, everything
she does, everything she wins, everything she can achieve. I'm
proud of her.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that was a hell of a year.
And that's very unusual, of course, not only further to
be siblings champions at the same time, but unified champions
at the same time. Have you ever just sort of
sat back and thought to yourself, like, what the family
between yourself, your sister, and obviously your father as the
trainer of both of you guys, have accomplished in such
a short period of time.
Speaker 3: Of course, of course I always think about it.
Speaker 4: It's a big achievement, but we still have more work
to do, so we can just continue to grow and
to do greater things.
Speaker 2: When you say more work to do, I want to
know if that includes thoughts about perhaps becoming undisputed. You've
got two of the belts. I know there's still two
other ones out there. I don't know how much longer.
Terrence Crawford's going to hold that belt of the WBA
since he's moving up, so maybe Taez will be elevated
to the full champion. You got Bakra martez A Leev
who's the IBF champion. Both of those guys I just
mentioned they are within PBC and fight on on those
cards with Al Hayman and TGB, and then there's other
big names we just saw Keith Thurman score a big knockout.
Tim Zuo's got a fight coming up, and they're gonna
probably fight this summer. There's the winner maybe for you,
a rematch with Tim Zuo. So when you sort of
look at what seems to be a very deep group
of opponents as well as fights that are very makeable
given all the associations with PBC, what's sort of your
thoughts about about what it could be available to you
since you've said you don't want to go up to
the middlewake division.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like I said, there's a lot of interesting fights
to see if they can make I'm not promoting myself,
but I love all this. Thanks.
Speaker 2: Do you have a preference?
Speaker 3: Nope, everybody and anybody.
Speaker 2: All right, everybody can get it.
Speaker 3: Not bad, but exactly what I said. All right.
Speaker 2: Well, I wish you best of luck in your first
assignment of your title defense against Courtnell Booker Marks twenty
second Sebastian. Always a pleasure to talk to you. Thank
you very much, and I wish you the best of luck.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Dan