Fundora Wins by TKO at 2:59 in Round 12 as Courageous Hadribeaj Doesn’t Win a Round
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Las Vegas, NV (October 18th, 2026)– Late-round stoppages in world title bouts and high-stakes bouts are exceedingly rare. A repeat of Julio Cesar Chavez versus Meldrick Taylor I (1990), David Rodriguez versus Darnell Wilson in 2015, or Sugar Shane Mosley versus Ricardo Mayorga I (2008) and II (2015) just doesn’t happen.
On Premier Boxing Champions’ ‘The Fight’ card broadcast on DAZN and TNT, in the main event of a five-bout televised card at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, promoted by Sampson Boxing, on Saturday night, October 17, 2026, Sebastian Fundora retained the World Boxing Council World Super Welterweight title, stopping challenger Ermal Hadribeaj, officially at 2:59 of round 12 in a lopsided mismatch contest. In reality, Hadribeaj went down around the final bell, got up at the count of eight, but referee Thomas Taylor inexplicably administered a standing eight count, then waved the bout over, preventing the bout from going to the scorecards. Hadribeaj was also deducted points for holding in rounds three and eleven. Scorecards of 109-98, 108-99, and 107-100 were already decisive for Fundora before the final bell.
The southpaw Fundora, 25-1-1 with 17 knockouts, Coachella, California, 6’5 ½” with 80 inches of reach, had an eight-inch reach advantage to relentlessly land body shots and power shots, jabs, and head shots. Hadribeaj, 23-01-1 with eight knockouts, Miami Beach, Florida, by way of Tirana, Albania, was seeking to become Albania’s first boxing world champion. It was not to be. Hadribeaj landed some power shots early, and had a good round one, two, a decent fourth round. Fundora’s size, and punch volume, dominated the action overall.
Fundora landed 202 of 779 punches thrown, and landed 56 body shots. Over the final six rounds, Fundora outlanded Hadribeaj 126 to 70. Hadribeaj landed 144 of 446 punches thrown, but was getting outpunched 17 to 12 in terms of punches landed over the final six rounds, and in the end, the damage done by Fundora took its toll.
After the bout, Fundora stated “It was an interesting fight. I had to go back and fight on the inside, and show everyone again I can still do that. It was dramatic, to knock him out at the last second. But…..we’ll go back to the gym (analyze my performance versus Hadribeaj comprehensively), and fix some things (make boxing technique and style adjustments).”
Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas DAZN and TNT Undercard Results
In the opening bout on the card, which was untelevised, 8-0 featherweight prospect King David Garcia, age 17, Las Vegas, Nevada, knocked out Angel Carrillo in the second round.
Rising 16-0 super middleweight prospect Marco Romero of Olathe, Kansas, stopped Braulio Matias Ferreira at 1:54 of the first round.
Rising 12-0 middleweight prospect Jaime Enrique Osuna Diaz of Guerrero Negro, Baja California, Mexico, won a majority decision over eight rounds against Cristian Cangelosi.
Super middleweight contender 17-3 Armando ‘Toro’ Resendiz, of South Gate, California, by way of Guayabitos, Mexico, coming off a title decision loss to Jaime Munguia, outpointed 16-4-1 Koen Mazoudier of Umina, Australia, in the preliminary bout to the main event. Resendiz is bidding for a shot at Fundora’s title. Mozoudier, the Australian Super Welterweight champion, took this bout two weight classes above his natural fight weight in his first appearance outside Australia, got outclassed and outworked, and won only two or three rounds on the cards.
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