Rare Walkoff Knockout Win for Sebastian Fundora Saturday
· Yahoo Sports
What To Know
- The final fight night lineup looked a lot different than planned, but the Saturday fight card from Las Vegas delivered all the action a fight fan could ask for.
- In the main event of “The Fight” series on TNT Sports and DAZN Boxing, Sebastian Fundora scored a knockout win in the final second of his 12-round fight over Ermal
- With a win, Fundora heads for a division unification fight with the winner of the upcoming fight between Jaron Ennis and Josh Kelly.
The lineup for Saturday night’s card from Las Vegas for “The Fight” series on TNT Sports looked a lot different than originally planned. Despite the loss of one current and two former world champions off the card, fans enjoyed plenty of crowd pleasing action, including a rare walk off knockout in the main event.
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WBC World Champion Sebastian Fundora of Coachella, California (25-1-1, 17 KOs) had mandatory challenger Ermal Hadribeaj of Albania (23-1-1, 8 KOs) under his control and was well ahead on the scorecards in the kind of throwback firefight Fundora enjoys most.
The scorecards read 109-98, 108-99, and 107-100 after 11 rounds, aided by two point deductions for holding against Hadribeaj.
Fundora could have cruised to the finish line, but with Hadribeaj visibly tiring after a gallant effort against the world champion, Fundora rocked Hadribeaj back with a left hook, and floored him with a follow up left hook flat on his back. Referee Thomas Taylor scored it a knockdown at 2:59 of the final round, and counted Hadribeaj out for a knockout victory by Fundora.
“I think it just shows our strength,” said Fundora. “I figured I was ahead on the scorecards, but you can get knocked out at any second, and I just showed them.”
Throwback Performance by Sebastian Fundora
“It was an interesting fight, because I kind of had to go back to my beginning type of fight, and fight on the inside,” said Fundora, “and show everybody again that I can fight on the inside. But you know, we still got the job done. I liked that we knocked him out the last second.”
Hadribeaj came in with a game plan that was successful early, circling effectively and using the jab to score on Fundora.
Fundora decided he’d have none of it and decided to make it a close-quarters battle.
The inside fighting saw Hadribeaj trying to break Fundora’s rhythm by smothering him. Referee Thomas Taylor twice took away points from Hadribeaj for it in rounds three and 11.
Fundora’s conditioning and work rate, peppered with body shots, began to wear Hadribeaj down. Fundora outlanded Hadribeaj 202 punches to 144 and landed 56 body shots, according to CompuBox.
Sebastian Fundora said he didn’t intend to make it an inside fight, but that’s how it went down. Photo: Cris Esqueda, Premier Boxing Champions“I told the ref in the fourth round that I was hurting him,” said Fundora. “I kept landing body shots and was looking for that special shot to get him out of there. I was hitting him in the rib cage the whole time with the left hand and when I went up the middle, I heard the noise that he made. So, I just kept touching that and knew it would break him.”
“I was hitting him in the rib cage the whole time with the left hand. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then when I went up the middle, I saw the kryptonite right there, the noise he made. And then you start seeing the flinching,” said Fundora.
But Fundora also said he made mistakes and will go back to the gym to work on them.
Fundora vs Ennis or Kelly?
The discussion quickly turned to a unification fight in 2027 against the winner of the anticipated clash between champions Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Josh Kelly. What does Fundora think might happen to whoever stands in front of him?
“We’ll break him down. We’ll break him down like we broke this guy, like the last guy, like the guy before that, before four that, before that, we keep breaking these guys down,” said Fundora. He added that Hadribeaj was never a threat in the fight.
“I guess from another POV outside the ring it looks different. I never felt hurt, I never felt in danger at any moment. He didn’t do nothing to me,” adding that the same would happen against Boots Ennis should that matchup happen.
As for his critics, Fundora shrugged them off. “People can say whatever they want. We’re in America … The fans that want to watch me whether to lose or win are still going to watch me. It was a great fight. I think it was entertaining, something worth a main event for PBC.”
Without a doubt, Fundora is completely comfortable in his skin and with who he is. That’s a winning outcome no matter who you are.
Reséndiz and Mazoudier Give the Fans A Fun Fight
Former world champion Armando “Toro” Reséndiz of Mexico faced an unexpected co-main event opponent. First, Jermall Charlo withdrew due to injury. Koen Mazoudier of Australia stepped in. On Saturday, the original co-main event fell apart when champion Brandon Figueroa missed weight, then withdrew due to illness.
Fans were treated to a Fight of the Year candidate with a throwback slugfest in the wild super middleweight showdown.
Reséndizof Mexico(17-3, 11 KOs), who scored an upset victory over Caleb Plant in 2025 before losing in a title fight to Jaime Munguia, knew he would be in tough against durable volume puncher Mazoudier of Australia(16-5-1, 6 KOs).
The fight went down to the wire, but the judges saw it as a clear win for Reséndiz over Mazoudier. Scores were 98-92 and 97-93 twice.
Believing he might need to win the final round to win the fight, Reséndiz came close to stopping Mazoudier in the final round after a body shot combination threw him back. But he made it to the final bell. “My corner was urging me to finish strong.”
Holding his young son in his arms, Reséndiz said “I knew it was going to be a tough fight. But listen, we pulled it off because we had great preparation.
“I had to do what I had to do. But listen, I had to change my game plan and my strategy. I had to box and move a little bit because this was a very tough fight. This is a fight I wanted to give the fans, right in the middle of the ring.”
Why did Reséndiz agree to take the fight on short notice? “There’s a lot of things I want to accomplish, a lot of things I want to grow on. That’s my mindset. I want to showcase what I can do,” said Reséndiz.
Speaking of bucket lists, Reséndiz said his dream fight would be facing his countryman, Canelo Álvarez. It’s unlikely but boxing is full of surprises.
Marco Romero Takes Out Ferreira in One Round
Unbeaten prospect Marco Romero of Olathe, Kansas(16-0, 14 KOs) showed fans why he’s considered a rising star in the highly competitive super middleweight division. Romero needed less than two minutes to stop Braulio Ferreira of Uruguay(8-4, 3 KOs).
Romero showed patience early, noting Ferreira’s good jab and looking for openings. When he found one, Romero launched a three-punch combination from body to head, ending with a sizzling right hand. Ferreira went down and stayed down. The fight ended at 1:54 of the first round.
“It played out amazing. Karma came and hit him in the first round. He was too slow. Experience had nothing to do with it,” said Romero. “The 160-pound division is on notice! I’m ready to step up in competition, ducking no smoke.”
Romero spent time in Christian Mbilli’s Montreal training camp before Saturday’s fight, preparing for his upcoming title fight with Canelo Alvarez. IBF champion Osleys Iglesias was also in camp before his knockout win last week. “I held my own in there. I definitely held my own in there, and they showed me just a couple things that I need to work on. But it just shows me I’m not too far from that level.”
Osuna Gets Past Cangelosi
In the opening bout, elevated from its original place on the ‘before the bell’ lineup, middleweight Jaime Osuna and Cristian Cangelosi, a native of Italy fighting our of Brooklyn, made the most of their opportunity and put on a highly entertaining fight. It might not have been elegant but the fans didn’t mind.
After eight close rounds, Osuna (12-0, 5 KOs) pulled out a majority decision over Cangelosi (13-2-1, 5 KOs). Scores were razor thin at 77-75 twice for Osuna and one card even. Call it a moral victory for the Italian who was a significant underdog. He’ll be back.
Figueroa Loses Title On the Scale, Withdraws Due to Illness
If you’re wondering what happened to the original co-main event featuring the first title defense by WBA World Featherweight champion Brandon Figueroa against former world champion Tomoki Kameda of Japan, Figueroa lost the title without ever throwing a punch.
Figueroa missed the 126-pound championship limit by 1.4 pounds on his first attempt. He unofficially brought the weight down within a pound, but he never formally made a second weigh-in attempt within an hour as permitted in Nevada.
A deal was reportedly made to stage the fight although Figueroa would not be eligible to retain his title. But he did not appear for the ceremonial weigh-in and formally withdrew from the fight Saturday morning after falling ill. This is sadly becoming too familiar to fight fans. Recall that a similar circumstance took place between champion Richardson Hitchins and challenger Oscar Duarte.