Sebastian Fundora says he will break unbeaten Ermal Hadribeaj when they clash this Saturday, October 17, at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. The contest headlines the latest edition of “The Fight,” live on DAZN and TNT.
Fundora (24-1-1, 16 KOs) of West Palm Beach, Florida, puts his WBC super welterweight title on the line, making the fourth defense of his belt. In his previous bout in March, the Coachella-based southpaw stopped Keith Thurman in the sixth round. The outing also marked the 28-year-old’s fourth win in a row since he was knocked out by Brian Mendoza two and a half years ago.
‘Losing to Brian Mendoza made me realize some things’
“This Saturday we have everything on this card. Make sure to tune in, because we’re gonna make it a knockout of a weekend,” Fundora said during the final press conference on Thursday.
“He’s an undefeated fighter. He’s hungry, but we’ve seen that before. We’ve fought champions. This is the major leagues of boxing and we’re here to prove again why we’ll remain the champion.”
“I’ve been in this sport for a while. I’ve been fighting for 22 years. It’s been a lot of learning and now we’re showing you guys.”
“This is gonna be a great fight. He’s undefeated and he only knows how to win. But we’re here to break him.”
“Losing to Brian Mendoza made me realize some things. Obviously if you make mistakes, you’re gonna get hurt. It’s not just about realizing the mistake, but learning from it.”
“Future fights only get in my mind because of everyone asking us about them. We have Ermal in front of us and we’re not overlooking him at all. You can’t overlook anyone. After Saturday, you can ask me all the questions.”
“I’m very comfortable making weight. I ate breakfast today. This is Fundora fight week and we’re ready to go.”
‘I’ve proven that I belong here’
Miami-based Albanian Hadribeaj (23-0-1, 8 KOs) stated he can outbox Fundora and also has the power to hurt him. The 32-year-old southpaw last fought in March, when he scored a unanimous decision over Bakary Samake to win the WBC “Silver” title at 154 lbs.
“I want to show that I’m an exciting fighter that people are going to want to watch and tell the fans around the world that ‘The Albanian Sniper’ is coming for Sebastian Fundora.”
“I met Fundora three years ago and I want to shake his hand and let him know that the respect is there. We knew that we’d want to fight him, but I wasn’t ready at that moment. Now I’ve proven that I belong here.”
“We worked a lot in training camp and I think we have the key. If that key doesn’t work, I have another key in my pocket. I have everything I need. I’m fast, I’m strong, I work hard and I have punch resistance. Everyone thinks he has the advantage, but his only advantage is that he’s tall.”
“I’m able to outbox him and I have the power to hurt him as well. I’m very unpredictable so I can’t say now how it will happen.”
In the co-feature to Fundora vs Hadribeaj, two-division champion Brandon Figueroa (27-2-1, 20 KOs) of Weslaco, Texas, defends his WBA featherweight title against former champion Tomoki Kameda (42-5, 23 KOs) of Japan.