Sebastian Fundora is set to challenge for his old title.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that a deal was reached for the towering junior middleweight to face Serhii Bohachuk for the vacant interim WBC junior middleweight. The bout will take place March 30 in Las Vegas, as part of a four-fight Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Amazon Prime Pay-Per-View event.
Headlining the show is another junior middleweight bout, as Tim Tszyu (24-0, 17KOs) will defend his full WBO title versus former unified welterweight titlist Keith Thurman (30-1, 22KOs).
Fundora-Bohachuk was previously approved as an interim title fight per a ruling from the 61st annual WBC Convention last November. Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19KOs) still holds the full version of the belt as well as the WBA title, though he has already relinquished the IBF and WBO belts.
Fundora (20-1-1, 13KOs) has not fought since his upset loss to Mendoza on April 8, a fight in which he won every round until he was dropped hard in round seven and eventually stopped. The loss ended his interim reign which began exactly 52 weeks prior in a ninth-round stoppage of Erickson Lubin in one of the best fights of 2022.
Ukraine’s Bohachuk (23-1, 23KOs) has won five in a row since a March 2021 upset eighth-round stoppage defeat to Brandon Adams. The Tom Loeffler-promoted contender has yet to go the distance through 24 pro bouts; the loss to Adams marked the only time he was extended beyond the sixth round in his boxing lifetime.
The winner of this bout will become a mandatory challenger. However, there exists the possibility of an upgrade to full titlist or even a mandatory title defense of their own. Charles Conwell (18-0, 13KOs) is the leading WBC contender not currently in line to challenge for any title. The 2016 U.S. Olympian from Cleveland was approved to enter a final eliminator versus the next highest ranked challenger, though that has yet to materialize.
Boxing Scene has learned that the full lineup for the inaugural PBC on Amazon Prime event is expected to be revealed on Thursday.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox