Sebastian Fundora Vs. Chordale Booker: Odds, Records, Prediction

After a year away from the ring, Sebastian Fundora finally gets to defend both of his junior middleweight titles. And it’ll be against an opponent in Chordale Booker who is looking to pull off the same kind of upset that Fundora did when he won those belts against Tim Tszyu. Here’s everything you need to know about Sebastian Fundora vs. Chordale Booker, including the odds, their records and a prediction on who will win.

The twists and turns of how boxing observers think about Fundora have been interesting to witness for the past few years. When he was still undefeated, he was this towering junior middleweight prospect who had boxing skills and a good power who was looked at as a future world champion. Then, he surprisingly got knocked out by Brian Mendoza in a fight Fundora was easily winning, and his stock fell significantly.

Against Tim Tszyu 11 months after the Mendoza fight – a fight Fundora only received because Keith Thurman had to pull out with an injury – he was getting outboxed early before Tszyu’s head ran into Fundora’s foreman and opened an alarming gash. Though, in retrospect, it’s clear Tszyu’s corner should have stopped the fight before it became official after four rounds, Fundora’s reputation shot up again because, despite his own bloody nose and lip, he outboxed Tszyu to win a decision and the unified 154-pound titles.

But some observers probably believe that Fundora was lucky that Tszyu got so badly cut and that his corner continued sending Tszyu off his stool every round.

So, what will we think of Fundora when he defends his belts against the relatively untested Chordale Booker?

“I definitely think I’m a better fighter now that I’ve won these belts,” Fundora said. “I was confident before, but now there’s an extra confidence that I have with being a champion. I proved to the world that I’m the best in this division.”

Booker, though, wants to test him and see if that’s really the truth. Like most of Fundora’s opponents, Booker is much shorter – in this case, Fundora has a height advantage of about eight inches. That will take some getting used to for Booker.

“I don’t think anyone can really prepare for Fundora’s size until you get in the ring and go a few rounds with him,” Booker said. “You have to get a gauge for how tall he is and how long his arms are. We brought sparring partners in that simulated him as best they could and I think I’m going to be just fine with the height.

“. . . Fundora covers a lot of distance, so it’s not easy to avoid getting into a firefight with him. I don’t care how I have to fight to get the win, though. I’ve trained to shock the world.”

Here’s more info on the Sebastian Fundora vs. Chordale Booker showdown that U.S. viewers can watch on Amazon Prime Video (free for all Prime subscribers) beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Sebastian Fundora vs. Chordale Booker odds

Fundora is the wide favorite at -1100 (bet $1,100 to win $100), while Booker is the +650 underdog (win $650 on a $100 wager). You can ignore both money lines. If you think Booker can pull off the upset, I’d take him to win by decision at -2000. But if you like Fundora, you can go with him winning by stoppage at -188 (which doesn’t provide great value), winning by stoppage in rounds 7-12 at +150 or winning by stoppage in rounds 7-9 at +300.

If you were looking for a fun parlay for this weekend’s action of boxing (and this is only for entertainment purposes), I might take Fundora to beat Booker by stoppage at -188, the George Kambosos-Jake Wylie fight to go the distance at +200 and Terrell Gausha to upset Elijah Garcia at +375. If all of those hit, you’d win $2,083 on a $100 wager.

Sebastian Fundora vs. Chordale Booker records

Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) hasn’t been the most active fighter. He beat Tszyu 12 months ago, and before that, it had been nearly a year since his last bout, a shocking KO loss to Brian Mendoza. But prior to that, Fundora was fighting two or three times per year, beating solid boxers like Erickson Lubin, Sergio Garcia and Carlos Ocampo.

After losing to Austin “Ammo” Williams in 2022, Booker (23-1, 11 KOs) is on a six-fight winning streak. But he hasn’t beaten anybody of note in the past three years. The most impressive victory of his career probably came against Wale Omotoso in 2019, but beating Fundora would certainly be his best win.

Sebastian Fundora vs. Chordale Booker prediction

This shouldn’t be a heavy lift for Fundora. He said he’s rested and relaxed and that he won’t be rusty. There was talk after the Tszyu victory that Fundora would next face Errol Spence. That obviously hasn’t happened. Assuming Fundora gets past Booker without many problems, here’s hoping Fundora’s next title defense will be with a bigger name. Say Fundora by stoppage in the seventh round.