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Sebastian Fundora’s Promoter Disagrees
With Ermal Hadribeaj KO Controversy
Promoter Sampson Lewkowicz says he disagrees with critics of
referee Thomas Taylor’s decision to award WBC junior
middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora a last-round
knockout over Ermal Hadribeaj on Saturday night.
After a gritty and physical war of attrition, broadcast live
on TNT and DAZN from the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Fundora,
25-1-1 (17 KOs), overcame a slow start to successfully
defend his title for the fourth time by knocking out
mandatory challenger Hadribeaj, 23-1-1 (8 KOs), with a
series of left hands capped by a “buzzer beater” punch that
dropped his foe just as the final bell sounded to end the
12-round fight.
Albania’s Hadribeaj rose at the count of nine, but Taylor
assessed his condition as spent and waved the fight over
immediately, making the official result a KO 12 at 2:59.
While many voiced post-fight they feel Hadribeaj should have
been allowed to go the distance, given he was able to get
back to his feet after the knockdown, Lewkowicz says Taylor
reacted correctly to the unusual circumstances.
“The rules say a fighter cannot be saved by the bell in any
round including the 12th. If the referee ruled the fighter
was not fit to continue, and if he would have stopped it
immediately if it happened at any other point in the fight,
he would be letting Hadribeaj be saved by the bell if he
didn’t stop it, regardless of the clock.
“That was the right thing to do for a fighter who is not in
shape to keep fighting. People are saying Hadribeaj was
robbed of going the distance. If Thomas Taylor hadn’t waved
it off, he would have been robbing Sebastian Fundora of a
knockout he earned in the ring. It goes both ways.”
The scorecards later revealed Fundora was on his way to
winning a clear unanimous decision, as he was up 107-100,
109-98 and 108-99 at the time of the KO.
“Not everyone in boxing will ever agree on everything,”
Lewkowicz added, but Hadribeaj was so badly hurt he was
taken to the hospital on a stretcher after the fight. Safety
must come before all else in boxing. Thankfully he was
released the next morning and will fight another day.”
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