Terence Crawford might have his next fight locked in soon, as the WBO junior middleweight championship between four-division world champion and current titleholder Sebastian Fundora has been ordered by the governing body. “Bud” also holds WBA 154-pound belt, while “The Towering Inferno” is also a full champion in WBC.
Omaha southpaw Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) was in action early August in Los Angeles, where he dethroned Uzbekistan’s Israil Madrimov by unanimous decision to claim his WBA title and land the vacant interim WBO strap. Coachella’s Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) claimed the WBO belt, as well as the vacant WBC title, by split decision against Australian Tim Tszyu in March in Las Vegas.
The parties have 30 days to “negotiate and reach an agreement for the above-referenced WBO Jr. Middleweight Mandatory Championship Contest,” reads the letter from World Boxing Organization. “If an accord is not reached within the timeframe stated herein, a purse bid will be ordered per the WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests.”
“The minimum acceptable bid in the WBO Jr. Middleweight Division is $200,000.00 (Two Hundred Thousand Dollars). Any of the parties involved may request a purse bid procedure at any time during the negotiation process.”
In May, it was reported that the bout between Fundora and former champion Errol Spence Jr (28-1, 22 KOs) of Long Island, New York has been “agreed” for October in Arlington. Meanwhile, Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) is expected to challenge current IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev (22-0, 16 KOs) on October 19 in Orlando.