Just one day after unified WBC and WBO junior middleweight titleholder Sebastian Fundora beat his last opponent, he learned who his next challenger might be. 

On Sunday, the WBO confirmed the expected news, ordering Fundora to begin negotiations with mandatory contender Xander Zayas. If the camps do not reach an agreement after 20 days, the fight will go to a purse bid.

Last week, the WBO revealed that Terence Crawford – who has the WBA title and the interim WBO belt at 154lbs – will not stand in the way of Fundora-Zayas. Crawford is in pursuit of a superfight with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for the undisputed super middleweight championship if  Alvarez, who has the WBA, WBC and WBO belts, defeats IBF titleholder William Scull in May.

The WBO spoke with Crawford’s team and confirmed that he will not fight at junior middleweight again, and once his bout with Alvarez is officially announced, Crawford will surrender his claim to the interim WBO title at 154lbs.

Fundora, 22-1-1 (14 KOs), won his titles about a year ago, defeating Tim Tszyu by bloody split decision to simultaneously secure the vacant WBC strap and Tszyu’s WBO title. On Saturday, he stopped Chordale Booker in the fourth round, flooring him with a heavy left hand before inviting the referee’s intervention with a follow-up flurry. Two fights ago, Brian Mendoza put Fundora down for the count with three clean haymakers, which is Fundora’s lone loss. 

Zayas, 21-0 (13 KOs), most recently scored a technical knockout of Slawa Spomer on February 14. He is yet to touch the canvas in his professional career, or even lose more than a handful of rounds, but he is also relatively untested and yet to take part in a bout scheduled beyond 10 rounds. In addition to being rated No. 1 by the WBO, Zayas is ranked No. 2 by the WBC and No. 5 by the IBF.