Sebastian Fundora next title defence announced

Derren Austin
27 Aug 2026

American’s next title defence made official.

Sebastian Fundora is one of the most unique fighters in all of boxing. The first thing you should know about him is that he is the tallest reigning world champion in the sport.

And the second thing? Well, the second thing you should know about him is that he only weighs 154 pounds.

Yes, despite being just a super-welterweight, Fundora stands at 6’5½”. That is taller than every current champion in the heavyweight division.

Fundora has also bounced back from defeat, one that occurred before his appearance at the world level. This came in the form of a knockout to Brian Mendoza three years ago.

But since then, the American has had the best period of his career, defeating Tim Tszyu to win the WBC and WBO world titles and successfully defending them against Chordale Booker.

Fundora would be stripped of the WBO belt after a fight against mandatory Xander Zayas ended up not coming to fruition, but he would make two further defences of the WBC belt in a rematch with Tszyu and a stoppage of Keith Thurman in March of this year.

And though he was connected to an all-American bout with former titlist Jermell Charlo, it was confirmed that Fundora would have to take care of his mandatory challenger first.

Now his bout against that mandatory challenger has officially been announced.

Fundora (24-1-1, 16 KOs) will be making the 5th defence of his WBC belt against Ermal Hadribeaj (23-0-1 (1), 8 KOs), an unbeaten Albanian based in the United States.

Also on the card will be a fight between WBA featherweight champion Brandon Figueroa (27-2-1, 20 KOs) and former bantamweight world champion Tomoki Kameda (42-5, 23 KOs), as well as a rescheduled bout between former two-weight world champion Jermall Charlo (34-0, 23 KOs) and Koen Mazoudier (16-4-1, 6 KOs).

The action will be taking place on the 17th of October at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, United States.

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