After Fundora’s last-second KO: WBC chief laments weak mandatory challengers
WBC president Mauricio Sulaimán says the standard of mandatory challengers has slipped, while Fundora's promoter defends the disputed stoppage of Ermal Hadribeaj.
Archive image · Photo: Oleksandr Chemykos / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped and resized)
“The standard of challengers has been diluted,” WBC president Mauricio Sulaimán wrote in his column on 19 October, MiddleEasy reports. He blames the growing number of sanctioning bodies, titleholders and interim belts. He does not want to scrap mandatory defences, but says they should be weighed division by division. MiddleEasy links the column to Sebastian Fundora's title defence against mandatory challenger Ermal Hadribeaj.
Fundora dropped Hadribeaj in the closing seconds of the 12th round in Las Vegas on 17 October. Hadribeaj beat the count, but referee Thomas Taylor waved the fight off. Critics argued he should have been allowed to see out the round. Fundora's promoter Sampson Lewkowicz disagrees, according to Fightnews: “The rules say a fighter cannot be saved by the bell in any round including the 12th.”
“If Thomas Taylor hadn't waved it off, he would have been robbing Sebastian Fundora of a knockout he earned in the ring,” Lewkowicz said. “Safety must come before all else in boxing.” Fundora was well ahead on all three scorecards at the time.