Mendoza scores highlight-reel KO of Fundora in enormous upset

Trailing badly on all three scorecards, he rallies to take WBC interim junior middleweight title; Lee struggles in decision vs. Campa

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The fight could not have been going any better for Sebastian Fundora. The 6-foot-6 “Towering Inferno” was having his way with heavy underdog Brian Mendoza.

Fundora had bloodied Mendoza’s nose and was hammering him with an assortment of power punches. He was toying with Mendoza. He was pitching a near shutout on the scorecards through six rounds.

Fundora was making it look easy. Until it was not.

Mendoza never stopped trying to turn things around and finally broke through with a thunderous left hook that badly rocked Fundora and led to a dramatic seventh-round upset knockout to win the WBC interim junior middleweight title in the main event of Showtime’s Premier Boxing Champions card on Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

“I never quit. I keep going,” Mendoza said in his post-fight interview, his face smeared with his own blood. “You can beat me all you want, but if you don’t kill me, I’m coming back. They didn’t kill me in my career and it’s too late now. I’m getting better each time. I want to thank Fundora for taking this fight. He didn’t need to take it. It was really risky for where he was at. Thank you for the opportunity and we did it!”