Keith Thurman stood on a chair Wednesday when it was time for him and Sebastian Fundora to pose face to face at the end of their press conference in Los Angeles.

Thurman’s prop emphasized the hilarious height difference between the 6-foot-6 Fundora and a former unified welterweight champion who stands 5-8. Thurman took a more serious tone when he thanked Fundora for the opportunity to fight for the towering southpaw’s WBC super welterweight title October 25 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Thurman, 36, especially appreciates Fundora’s willingness to fight him because he felt frozen out by other junior middleweights. The Clearwater, Florida, native also feels Fundora (23-1-1, 15 KOs) somewhat owes him because it was Thurman’s biceps injury that created this. Fundora got to fight Tim Tszyu on short notice in March 2024.

Fundora, 27, defeated Tszyu (25-3, 18 KOs) by split decision in that bloody battle in Las Vegas. He won the WBC interim 154-pound title that night and was later elevated to full champion.

“He did my job,” Thurman said of Fundora defeating Tszyu. “He’s in this position because of me. I always heard he’s a good kid, but he is because it’s the right thing to fight Keith Thurman. Not only does it feel right, not only is it gonna be a great fight, but this man got options.

“Let’s be real. You wanna know why I had to go to Australia? [Because] everybody’s too busy fighting everybody else, leaving your man Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman on the [expletive] shelf. That’s all they was doing. Playing games, picking up this check, that check.”

Thurman (31-1, 23 KOs, 1 NC) stopped Australia’s Brock Jarvis (23-2, 21 KOs) in his last fight. That third-round TKO on March 12 in Sydney was supposed to lead to rescheduling Thurman’s fight with Tszyu.

Tszyu instead fought Fundora again. Sydney’s Tszyu, a former WBO junior middleweight champ, surprisingly refused to answer the bell for the eighth round July 19 at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Tszyu’s TKO defeat to Fundora eliminated a profitable option for Thurman, who happily accepted Al Haymon’s offer to fight the champion in a Premier Boxing Champions pay-per-view main event.

Thurman applauded the ascending Fundora’s willingness to face such an accomplished opponent. Fundora has won three straight fights since Brian Mendoza violently knocked him out in the seventh round of their April 2023 bout in Carson, California.

“Ever since I was in the amateurs, there’s been no such thing as an easy Thurman fight,” Thurman said. “[It’s never], ‘Oh, I’m just gonna beat Thurman. I’m just gonna roll through Thurman.’ You gotta really want this. You gotta want it in your legacy. And Fundora’s at that stage of his career where he’s getting some names, but he never got a name like this.

“He saw it. He heard the proposal. It sounded sweet. I’m a make sure it tastes bitter. But it sounds sweet. I’m just gonna thank you, man. Thank you for taking this fight, Fundora. I salute you.”