LAS VEGAS – It was like a horror movie. Sickening. Yet, it kept drawing all the eyes in attendance back to watch.
Sebastian Fundora’s split-decision triumph over Tim Tszyu to capture the WBO and WBC junior-middleweight titles at T-Mobile Arena capped a remarkable card of boxing in the debut Amazon Prime Video show by smearing the ring in a continual flow of red.
The carnage began late in the second round when defending-champion Tszyu ducked toward the chest of the 6-feet-5 ½ late-replacement challenger from California and smacked the hardened top of his head right onto the sharpened bone pointing from Fundora’s bent left elbow.
A geyser-like opening erupted.
“It was like a fountain … ,” Tszyu said as he leaned his down before retreating to his corner. “All this blood coming … .”
A head cut is the most violent because of all the vessels gathered around the brain.
Tszyu’s wound streamed so heavily, straight down into his eyes, and if he wouldn’t have been so stubborn, the referee or ringside doctor would have stopped the fight before the fourth round ended – making the bout a no-contest that would’ve allowed him to retain his belt and fight another day as an unbeaten.
“I am who I am: a warrior,” Tszyu (24-1) explained afterward. “A little bit of blood? It’s just that.”
But Tszyu’s added toughness led him to deceive referee Harvey Dock and the doctor who asked him if he could see. In the ring, he promised he could. So the fight continued.
Afterward, he admitted, “My eyesight was gone. I literally couldn’t see out of my eyes, nonstop. Physically, I felt all right. You’re fighting with blurred vision … it’s not ideal. Especially against Fundora.”
The judges scored the fight 116-112 for Tszyu (Tim Cheatham), 115-113 for Fundora (David Sutherland) and 116-112 for Fundora (Steve Weisfeld).
“I lost by a round,” Tszyu lamented.
Almost lost in the fixation on Tszyu’s ghastly blood spill was the fact Fundora’s nose was broken by a first-round Tszyu punch. His bleeding was also unsightly, creating a scene they wouldn’t even dare to duplicate in a Hollywood boxing film.
”I thought to myself, ‘Hey, it’s kinda sticky in here … ,’” Fundora cracked. “I’ve been through stuff like that. Since I’ve been eight years old, I used to bleed from my nose all the time. Blood’s nothing crazy for me until they draw it from my arm. We fight on the stage. We’re gladiators.”
First-time fight watchers logging onto Prime Video were likely horrified by the grisly competition, and the blood’s non-stop nature from Tszyu led to some post-fight angst that may lead Tszyu to fire his cut man.
Asked afterward if he agreed with American commentators wondering why Tszyu’s corner didn’t use a stronger clotting agent, Tsyzu said, “No comment.”
Fundora, a 4/1 betting underdog at the first bell, said he didn’t mind
“Have you seen my fights before?” Fundora asked. “My fights are always bloody. I think maybe this was a Fight of the Year candidate. It was a tough fight, a tough opponent for us in Tim Tszyu.
“With this fight, we really showed our Mexican blood, inside and out, but we’re really grateful for all the fans that came out and all the Mexican crowd that came to support us,” Fundora said. “We were very lucky to have it – it was two weeks’ notice – but they came and supported us like they supported the co-main-event winner and new 140-pound champion Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz and I’m just happy that all the Mexicans won today. Let’s continue to do it.”
The way it may play out from here is for Fundora to square off with former three-belt welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr., who appeared in the ring afterward to position for a 154-pound title shot.
Fundora’s promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, emphasized at the post-fight news conference that the business of boxing will likely lead Fundora to balk at an immediate Tszyu rematch and bypass an ordered date for the WBO belt versus recent undisputed welterweight champion Terence Crawford.
The preferred date is with Spence, who has headlined multiple major cards.
“We need to maximize the most money for the fighter (by pursuing Spence first). I think (Fundora) deserves it,” Lewkowicz said.
