Fundora retains interim 154 title in rout of Ocampo in all-action fight

Adames stops Montiel for interim middleweight belt; Martinez outpoints Ancajas in rematch to keep jr. bantamweight crown

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Sebastian Fundora threw and landed more punches than he ever had in a fight but Carlos Ocampo stood up to every one of them.

In the end, however, Fundora won a lopsided unanimous decision in an entertaining fight to retain the WBC interim junior middleweight title in his first defense in the main event of Showtime’s Premier Boxing Champions tripleheader on Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

Fundora won 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111 in a fight that appeared more competitive than the scores would indicate. Fight Freaks Unite also had Fundora winning, 116-112.

At 6-foot-6 — huge for the 154-pound weight class — “The Towering Inferno” indeed towered over the 5-foot-10 Ocampo but for much of the fight Fundora elected to slug with him on the inside in the center of the ring rather than use his overwhelming height and reach advantage.

Fundora (20-0-1, 13 KOs), 24, of Coachella, California, did use his physical advantages early on, jabbing from the outside and landing long overhand lefts.

“I am pleased with this performance because I did what we trained for,” Fundora said. “I trained for boxing and I trained to stay at a distance and I think we did that in the fight.”

In the fourth round, however, Fundora switched up and moved to the inside, dispensed with boxing and was welcomed by Ocampo, who was fine with banging it out toe to toe.

Fundora landed several heavy blows but Ocampo absorbed them well, although did get a bloody nose and mouth for his trouble in the second half of the fight.

“I wanted to display a little boxing. I thought I would show a little boxing and put that on display but you know I still had to bang for the fans,” Fundora said. “That’s what they came here for so I had to give it to them. I felt my jab was solid and the difference and had him backing up.”

While Ocampo (34-2, 22 KOs), 26, landed many shots, Ocampo returned fire, but in the view of referee Jack Reiss the shots had nothing on them and after the eighth round he went to Ocampo’s corner and told him that he had nothing on his punches, he did not like his body language and that he would consider stopping the fight if he didn’t see something.

It was surprising considering Ocampo had not been knocked down or badly rocked and had also landed many punches on Fundora. Nonetheless, Ocampo had one of his best rounds of the fight in the ninth.

But it was not enough to blunt the southpaw Fundora’s attack, including the many right hooks he landed on the inside.

At the start of the 11th round, Reiss admonished Ocampo’s corner for what he termed purposely spilling water in the corner to give Ocampo a little extra rest time while it was cleaned up before the round could begin. Reiss did not dock a point from Ocampo but went to the commission members at ringside and told them he wanted Ocampo fined for it.

While action slowed down in the final few rounds as Fundora once again turned more toward boxing and using his reach, he was clearly in control and cruised the final two rounds.

“I like to break my opponent down and he was very tough and his face swelled up too,” Fundora said. “But he banged. He’s a tough Mexican. My hat's off to him.”

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Fundora, who claimed the interim belt by ninth-round knockout of Erickson Lubin in their fight of the year contender in April, landed 259 of 871 punches (30 percent) — both career-high totals — and Ocampo landed 192 of 869 (22 percent). Fundora outlanded Ocampo 57-27 to the body but Ocampo’s 27 power connects in the fifth round and the 192 punches landed overall were the most by any of Fundora’s opponents.

“I never felt like he hurt me. It was a tough fight, and Fundora was a quality opponent,” Ocampo said through an interpreter. “I definitely want a rematch as soon as I can. I’m gonna train even harder to knock him out next time.”

Ocampo, who is highly unlikely to get a rematch, saw his 12-fight winning streak come to an end. It was his first loss since moving up to the junior middleweight division and although he lost, he performed far better than he had in his only other defeat — a first-round knockout as the mandatory challenger for welterweight world titlist Errol Spence Jr. in June 2018.

As for Fundora’s future, he wants a shot at undisputed champion Jermell Charlo, who has WBO and IBF mandatory defenses to deal with ahead of a possible Fundora bout.

“Of course, I want to face the winner of Charlo and (WBO mandatory Tim) Tszyu,” Fundora said of a fight that is slated to take place in January. “I’m the WBC mandatory. I’ve earned my spot and we’ll see what happens. But I hope I’m next. Fingers crossed.”

Adames blows out Montiel

After a slow start, Carlos Adames let his hands fly in the third round to notch an impressive knockout of the usually durable Juan Macias Montiel to win the vacant WBC interim middleweight title in the co-feature.

The interim 160-pound belt was available while full titleholder Jermall Charlo, whose last fight in June 2021 was a one-sided decision over Montiel, has been recovering from a back injury.

Adames (22-1, 17 KOs), 28, of the Dominican Republic, was far more impressive than Charlo was against Montiel (23-6-2, 23 KOs), 28, of Mexico.

“I think I’m No. 1 (at middleweight) and let’s hope the big names of the division have the courage to face me now,” Adames said through an interpreter.

Very little happened in the opening round, the fight picked up a bit in the second round and by the third round Adames was going right at Montiel and nailing him with clean shots.

Montiel made the critical mistake of standing in front of Adames, who switched from right-handed to a southpaw stance and displayed a very damaging right hook.

He nailed Montiel with one that badly rocked him and was the beginning of the end. With Montiel staggered from the shot, Adames forced him to the ropes and landed a few more shots, which prompted referee Ray Corona to stop the bout at 2 minutes, 37 seconds.

“I think I’m No. 1 (at middleweight) and let’s hope the big names of the division have the courage to face me now,” Adames said through an interpreter.

In less than three full rounds, Adames landed 47 of 90 power punches (52 percent) — anything other than a jab — according to CompuBox.

Adames had fought for an interim title once before, losing a close decision to Patrick Teixeira for the vacant WBO interim junior middleweight belt in 2019. Adames fought once more at junior middleweight and then moved up to middleweight, where in his previous bout he won a 10-round decision over former three-time title challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko in December for his third win in a row and set him up for the fight with Montiel.

Montiel said Adames hit him low but made no excuses in defeat.

“He was better than me and I lost,” Montiel said through an interpreter. “The low blows were what they were, low blows, and I made sure I made myself heard about that. I’m gonna recover from this and gone back better and stronger. The people in Mexico should know that.”

Martinez routs Ancajas in rematch

Fernando Martinez routed Jerwin Ancajas once again to retain the IBF junior bantamweight title in their immediate rematch in the Showtime opener.

Martinez won 119-109, 118-110 and 118-110 in a one-sided but all-action fight. Martinez swept the final six rounds on all three scorecards to run away with the victory.

In their first on Feb. 26, Martinez was the unheralded underdog but pummeled Ancajas and won a lopsided unanimous decision — 118-110, 118-110 and 117-111 — in an action fight to take the 115-pound belt.

Ancajas (33-3-2, 22 KOs), 30, a southpaw from the Philippines, had the right to an immediate rematch and opted to take it, a decision he might now regret after another clear loss.

“This was about validating the first fight,” Martinez said through an interpreter. “I trained very hard for this fight. I have a lot of people to thank and this is for my dad up in heaven.”

Like in the first fight, Martinez (15-0, 8 KOs), 31, of Argentina, was very aggressive and took it to Ancajas, who landed his share of clean shots but could do little to deter the stronger, fresher Martinez.

Martinez, with his promoter and former welterweight and junior welterweight titlist Marcos Maidana at ringside, landed a lot of left hooks, had a very big sixth round and bloodied Ancajas’ face.

In the seventh round, Martinez did more damage and Ancajas also was shaken up by an accidental head butt that opened a cut over his left eye.

A powerful right hand in the ninth round drove Ancajas into the ropes in another solid round for Martinez, who sported blue hair.

As the final seconds ticked down in the 12th round, Martinez held his fist aloft to signify the victory he expected.

“It’s definitely harder to maintain the hunger and maintain the title but now we’re going after “Chocolatito” (Gonzalez) and everyone else in the division who’s in my way,” Martinez said.

Showtime reported that Ancajas was taken to the hospital following the fight as a precaution.

According to CompuBox, Martinez landed 241 of 674 punches (36 percent) and Ancajas landed 185 of 785 (24 percent). Martinez’s landed blows included 54 body shots.

Photos: Esther Lin/Showtime

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