LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sebastian Fundora kept his pursuit of an undisputed championship on track with a second to spare.
asserted
Fundora → keep → second
Fundora stopped Ermal Hadribeaj with a left hand at 2:59 of the 12th round Saturday night at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas to retain his WBC super welterweight title.
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Fundora → stop → title
Fundora (25-1-1, 17 KOs) had his fourth successful title defense and handed Hadribeaj (23-1-1) his first professional loss.
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Fundora → have → loss
“It was an interesting fight,” Fundora said.
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Fundora → say → ?
“I had to go back and fight on the inside and show everyone again that I can still do that.
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I → have → that
It was dramatic to knock him out at the last second.
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It → knock → second
But we’ll go back to the gym and fix some things.”
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we → go → things
Fundora entered the bout looking toward a chance to unify the 154-pound division, but first had to get past a stubborn mandatory challenger.
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Fundora → enter → challenger
Hadribeaj attacked the body early, crouching beneath Fundora’s punches and landing looping shots over the top.
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Hadribeaj → attack → top
Fundora caught him in the second round, and Hadribeaj increasingly turned to holding to disrupt the champion’s offense.
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Hadribeaj → catch → offense
Hadribeaj lost points for holding in the third and 11th rounds.
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Hadribeaj → lose → rounds
Fundora found room for uppercuts inside and applied pressure through the middle rounds before delivering the decisive left in the final second.
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Fundora → find → second
“I told the ref in the fourth round that I was hurting him,” Fundora said.
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Fundora → tell → him
“I kept landing body shots and was looking for that special shot to get him out of there.
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I → keep → him
“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.
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he → hit → that
So I just kept touching that and knew it would break him.”
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it → keep → him
Fundora, 28, has won five straight since Brian Mendoza knocked him out in April 2023.
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Mendoza → win → April
The 6-foot-5 southpaw from Coachella, California, captured the WBC and WBO titles against Tim Tszyu in March 2024, then stopped Chordale Booker, Tszyu and Keith Thurman in successive defenses.
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southpaw → capture → defenses
“I want to go for undisputed in this division,” Fundora said.
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Fundora → want → division
“We’ll break either Jaron Ennis or Josh Kelly down.
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We → break → Ennis
We’ll keep breaking them down.”
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We → keep → them
Hadribeaj, an Albanian fighter based in Miami, earned his title opportunity with a victory over previously unbeaten Bakary Samake earlier this year.
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Hadribeaj → base → Samake
In the co-main event, Armando Resendiz (17-3) outlasted Australia’s Koen Mazoudier (16-5-1) by unanimous decision in a 10-round super middleweight bout.
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Resendiz → outlast → bout
The judges scored it 98-92, 97-93 and 97-93.
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judges → score → it
Resendiz landed punishing left hands through the middle rounds, but Mazoudier kept trading inside and rallied late.
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Mazoudier → land → rounds
Resendiz finished strongly, sending Mazoudier stumbling backward in the final minute.
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Resendiz → finish → minute
“We pulled this off because we had great preparation,” Resendiz said.
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Resendiz → pull → preparation
“This was the kind of fight that I expected.
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I → expect → that
I had to change my game plan and box and move a little bit because this was a very tough fight.”
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this → have → plan
Marco Romero (16-0, 14 KOs) stopped Matias Ferreira (8-4) with a crushing right hand at 1:54 of the first round in their scheduled eight-round super middleweight bout.
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Romero → stop → bout
“He was too slow,” Romero said.
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Romero → say → ?
“His speed and experience didn’t matter.”
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speed → matter → ?
Jaime Osuna (12-0) remained unbeaten with a majority decision over Cristian Cangelosi (13-1-1) in an eight-round middleweight bout.
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Osuna → remain → bout
“It was a fight that took everything I had from beginning to end,” Osuna said.
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Osuna → take → end
The Aporia
