News: Fundora vs Hadribeaj, Jai Opetaia next fight date, RIP Jose Legra

I hate boxing. **** Fundora for making this fight.

 

Hadribeaj is Fundora's mandatory, so Fundora is clearly not at fault. Hadribeaj won a final eliminator against Bakary Samake, although I honestly thought he narrowly lost that fight. He's decent, though, and he is not a bad defense.

 

He wasted time fight Thurman. Now its a mandatory against a journeyman. With all the talent at 154, this is the WBC mandatory. The WBC makes all sorts of exceptions and concessions. If Fundora wanted someone else they would have oblige. So long as they get their sanction fee.

 

Champions, like Fundora, holding that belt hostage has a long and sordid history with the WBC allowing it. This should surprise no one, especially after fighting "Part-Time"

 

The WBC has always been biased toward certain fighters, especially stars like Canelo who generate a lot of money. Fundora, from what I can tell, isn't that level of superstar. That said, I'm not a spokesperson for the WBC, and I don't agree with many of the things they do.

Also, Hadribeaj isn't a low-level fighter. Most people rank him somewhere in the top 15 at 154. On top of that, many of the top contenders and champions are either already scheduled for fights, like Josh Kelly, or have just fought recently, like Boots. Ortiz is in limbo, Adams is nowhere to be seen, Murtazaliev, Baraou, Perez, and Lubin are all coming off losses, and Nikita Tszyu is still too unproven. Sure, Tellez or Madrimov would probably be more better opponents, but Hadribeaj is still a solid title defense.

 

Fundora should dump the wbc and not waste all our time. He needs to fight Ortiz or Ennis. No one cares about this fight

 

I’m confused, since when do boxers get crucified for fighting mandatories

 

They're trying to protect that glass mandible for as long as they can.

 

Who knows? They enforced their BS mandatory at 160 when Canelo held that belt and Golovkin had the Interim title.
They do whatever the **** they want, there is no consistency.

 

It's good that Fundora defends against the mandatory challenger. Barring any surprises, after this fight I'd like to see him face Ennis (or the winner of a possible Ennis-Ortiz fight, which I think will be Ennis), in what would be a truly great matchup.

Regarding Opetaia, I've already written before, I have great respect for CBS, who deserves a shot at the world title, but the fight to be had is Opetaia-Benavidez, and it's a shame for all of us fans that he's not there. Despite this, it must be said that CBS is superior to Thompson, Zorro, Massey, Nyika, Squeo, Cinkara and Glanton, the fighters Jai faced when he became world champion in 2022 by defeating Briedis (who he also lost in the rematch two years later). The missed big fights aren't Opetaia's fault, he actually wants to face the best (and he challenged Benavidez after David's victory over Zurdo), but they undoubtedly weigh on his legacy, and that's a real shame.

RIP Jose Legra

 

You’re not insinuating that Opetaia lost his rematch with Briedis, are you?

 

He did