Keith Thurman has reportedly withdrawn from his scheduled March 30th against Tim Tszyu due to an injury, but a better match-up will now fill in for the main event as Tszyu is set to face Sebastian Fundora for the vacant WBC 154 lbs title. Tszyu’s WBO title, which had been unavailable to be defended against Thurman, will also be on the line again due to Fundora’s status as a top contender as opposed to Thurman―who had been unranked and inactive prior to the announcement of the Tszyu-Thurman fight.
Serhii Bohachuk (23-1, 23 KO’s), who was slated to face Sebastian Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KO’s) for the vacant WBC super welterweight/junior middleweight title will still be competing on the card but will be facing former WBC interim champion Brian Mendoza (22-3, 16 KO’s)―who defeated Fundora and lost to Tim Tszyu (24-0, 17 KO’s) last year. They will be fighting over the WBC interim title that has mysteriously been made available since Mendoza presumably vacated/relinquished the title prior to facing Tszyu for his WBO world title.
The rest of the matches, including the co-main event between WBA super lightweight/junior welterweight champion Rolando “Rolly” Romero (15-1, 13 KO’s) and Isaac Cruz (25-2-1, 17 KO’s)―and the title bout between WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (29-3-3, 17 KO’s) and Michael Zerafa (31-4, 19 KO’s)―will also continue to take place.
The news of Keith Thurman’s (30-1, 22 KO’s) injury ironically comes as welcome news with the former unified welterweight champion having simply not deserved the opportunity to face WBO champion Tim Tszyu in light of his inactivity and unranked status. The WBO itself had reacted instantly upon learning Tszyu would be fighting Thurman and ensured that the WBO title would not be made available for their match.
With Fundora now stepping in to face Tszyu, the order of boxing has been restored as he is regarded as a legitimate contender, and has held the WBC interim title before to accredit his position as a highly-suitable contender for Tszyu to face. Additionally, the availability of the WBO title―which is currently still held by Tszyu―and the vacant WBC makes for an ideal match-up to present rather than Tszyu facing a quasi-retired Thurman.
The previous inclusion of Keith Thurman in PBC’s kickoff event for this year had already been a fiasco in the making, not merely due to his quasi-retirement but due to Thurman’s inability to recognize how much his inactivity had hampered the fight. As the WBO title had not been made available for either fighter, there was nothing to truly gain for either fighter, barring the fact that Tszyu would be stripped of his WBO belt if he had lost.
With the winner of Tszyu-Fundora now set to become a unified champion, an actual intriguing match has replaced the lackluster Tszyu-Thurman bout and will finally make the coming March 30th event worthy of being considered pay-per-view with four world title fights set to take place in little more than a week’s time at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
