LAS VEGAS — Ermal Hadribeaj was back on his feet and wobbling when referee Thomas Taylor waved the fight off on Saturday night, and by Bleacher Report’s account the final bell had already rung. Sebastian Fundora was given the TKO anyway, officially at 2:59 of Round 12.
The result kept the WBC 154-pound title with Fundora, who moved to 25-1-1 with his 17th knockout in the fourth defense of the belt at the Cosmopolitan resort. It also left a question the official time does not settle: whether the stoppage was needed at all.
Bleacher Report’s Lyle Fitzsimmons wrote that a long left hand dumped an exhausted Hadribeaj in the final seconds, that he fell flat on his back and spent the first few seconds of the count there before reaching his left side and standing. The bell rang while he was down, Fitzsimmons wrote, meaning the fight would have been over anyway, but Taylor intervened and awarded the TKO.
On the live blog’s own scoring, it was not close. Bleacher Report’s live blog kept an unofficial card that had Fundora ahead 108-99 through 11 rounds, and Fitzsimmons wrote that a decision would have been wide for the champion had Hadribeaj reached the final bell without falling. Hadribeaj lost a point for excessive grappling in the first three rounds and another for holding in the 11th, when Taylor docked him.
Fundora called it “an interesting fight,” saying he “had to show everybody again that I can fight on the inside” and would “go back to the gym and fix some things.” The blog’s punch figures, which it did not attribute to a counter, had him landing 202 of 779 to Hadribeaj’s 144 of 446.
Hadribeaj, 32, had been 23-0-1 as a professional and ranked ninth at 154 pounds by Ring Magazine, six places below Fundora, Fitzsimmons wrote. Fundora’s previous outing was a six-round stoppage of former welterweight champion Keith Thurman in March; his only defeat is a seventh-round stoppage by Brian Mendoza in April 2023.
Fundora has said what he wants next. Sports Illustrated reported on Sept. 1 that he wants to fight Jaron “Boots” Ennis and, speaking to ProBox TV, reaffirmed wanting every major belt at 154 pounds. Nothing in the Bleacher Report live blog says whether Saturday brings that fight closer.
Taylor’s reason for stepping in after the bell is missing from the report too. Bleacher Report carried no comment from him, and its live blog gave only its own scoring, not the judges’ cards.
