Former HBO commentator Jim Lampley firmly believes that newly crowned WBC/WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) intentionally fouled Tim Tszyu by elbowing him on top of the head. This resulted in a bad cut that Fundora took advantage of by boxing his way to a 12-round split decision on Saturday night in their headliner at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) bled the entire fight after the cut, and Lampley believes it played a role in Fundora’s win. Interestingly, Lampley thinks it was intentional on Fundora’s part because he’s not known as a cheater.
The replay of the cut appeared to show the 6’5″ Fundora accidentally elbowing the shorter Tszyu. It did not look intentional.
“Not Fair Competition”
“Life is not fair. That was unfair competition because one guy fouled the other with an elbow on top of the head and cut him open in such a way that the blood flow was not going to be stopped,” said Jim Lampley to Fighthype, talking about his theory that Sebastian Fundora intentionally elbowed Tim Tszyu on the top of his head, causing his cut on Saturday night.
“If the outcome is not altered by the cut, I don’t think Fundora is every in the position to win the rounds the way he did because Tszyu would have tactical command and mastery. He’s the better boxer.
Foul Play and Tszyu’s Rematch Hesitation
“I might have an argument with the judge by giving all those rounds to him. The fight was about the cut. It presented Tszyu with what became an insurmountable problem. If the cut had been anywhere else on the body, it wouldn’t have been the same thing.
“It was right there on top of the skull where all the blood flow comes. Tim got hit by an elbow on top of the head. That is not a boxing move. Why would he want to fight a 6’5″ guy again?” said Lampley, reacting to being told that Tszyu failed to ask for a rematch after the fight.
“Envisioning all the problems that could arise from fighting a gangly 6’5″ fighter. It’s an odd physical specimen. But surely what he didn’t conjure was, ‘Oh, at a given moment, he’ll bring an elbow down on the top of my skull, and I’ll bleed so much forward that the judges wind up giving him rounds,” said Lampley.
