- Sebastian Fundora defends his WBC super welterweight title against unbeaten mandatory challenger Ermal Hadribeaj at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on Saturday 17 October
- The card streams on DAZN and TNT, not pay-per-view, with Brandon Figueroa defending his WBA featherweight title in the co-main event
- My prediction is Fundora by stoppage in the second half of the fight, as the champion’s size and volume take their toll
Fundora v Hadribeaj Is This Saturday
Right then. Fight week is here for the fourth edition of “The Fight”, and Sebastian Fundora is the man in the middle of it. The WBC super welterweight champion defends against Ermal Hadribeaj at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on Saturday night. It is on DAZN and TNT, not pay-per-view, with the main event due on at 8pm Eastern, which is 1am on Sunday morning for us in the UK. Bring the coffee. Make sure you are on it, because the co-main is a belter too, with Brandon Figueroa defending his WBA featherweight title.
The Champion
Fundora is 24-1-1 with 16 knockouts, and he is a proper oddity. At six foot five, he fights at 154 pounds like a man who fell out of a heavyweight class and decided to throw punches from places you cannot reach. His one defeat is a 2023 knockout loss, and the answer since has been simple: keep working, keep the volume high, keep the long arms in your face. He beat Tim Tszyu in a bloody war in 2024 and he has never been shy of a scrap.
The Challenger
Hadribeaj deserves respect. He is 32, born in Tirana, unbeaten at 23-0-1 with eight knockouts, and he worked his way here the hard way. He had four wins and a loss as a professional MMA fighter between 2016 and 2019 before switching to boxing, and he earned his mandatory spot by outpointing his man in Oberhausen on 23 May. He holds the WBC International title and trains at the BOXR gym in Miami. He is not here to make up the numbers.
Why The Gap Is Too Big
Here is my problem with the Hadribeaj story: eight knockouts in 24 fights tells you he does not hurt people. Against a man who hits as hard as Fundora lands and as often, that matters. Fundora does not need to take risks. He keeps the jab in the face of a shorter man and lets the volume do the work. Hadribeaj will have to get inside, and that is exactly where Fundora eats you up with uppercuts.
My Prediction
Fundora by stoppage, somewhere in the second half of the fight. Hadribeaj will show some heart early and perhaps even nick a round or two. But the champion is levels above in power and size, and the pace will tell by round eight. If you know, you know: when Fundora gets going, challengers tend to fold. Expect it to be messy, expect it to be entertaining, and expect the belt to stay put.