Gabriela Fundora destroys Viviana Ruiz in 6th round to retain undisputed flyweight title

Undisputed flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora retained her belts with a punch-perfect and fan-friendly performance over Viviana Ruiz on the undercard of Saturday’s Golden Boy card inside Anaheim’s Honda Center in California.

“Right away, I think she felt my punches,” said Fundora, 23.

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It’s hard to argue otherwise.

Fundora (18-0, 10 KOs), after all, has numerous advantages as a 5-foot-9 fighter with a 69-inch reach competing as a flyweight (112 pounds). And her fight-by-fight development under WBC Boxing Coach of the Year Freddy Fundora remains evident, as she put her physical prowess to use with a wide stance and an understanding of range, thudding jabs at Ruiz’s head from a southpaw position early on.

Fundora, Uncrowned’s No. 3 pound-for-pound boxer, won each and every round, fighting in a style that combined David Benavidez’s habit of making things worse for an opponent the longer they last, and Wladimir Klitschko’s upright one-two combination work when punching down on smaller opponents.

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Fundora stayed side-on, remained out of range of her opponent’s attacks and popped Ruiz’s head back with sharp counters. Smiling, she overcame a fire-fight in the third round while reminding Ruiz (10-3, 5 KOs) it was perhaps an unwise strategy to engage, as Fundora thumped the challenger with a right hook at the end of a particularly brutal sequence.

And so it was only a matter of time before Fundora scored her first knockdown of the bout — a left uppercut she rehearsed earlier in the fight, which dropped Ruiz in the fourth and served as a reminder that the fighter’s fourth knockout in a row was a foregone conclusion.