Fundora’s unknown upcoming opponent has repeatedly predicted he’ll knock out the heavily favored Fundora on October 17 in Las Vegas. Hadribeaj has a low knockout ratio (33 percent) and the Miami-based Albanian contender hasn’t beaten anyone nearly as accomplished or as formidable as Fundora, who will defend his WBC super welterweight title.

Fundora respects his mandatory challenger’s confidence just the same.

“I actually have him on social media, so I see everything that he’s posting,” Fundora told The Ring. “They tag me, the coach tags me and everything, their game plan and everything like that. I mean, it’s boxing’s new era, where they have to show everything and show who they’re sparring, and this and that and that. But, you know, I been hearing knockout this, knockout that. I mean, look at [Keith] Thurman, the last guy. I mean, he said he was gonna knock us out, too, so what’s new?”

Fundora tore through Thurman on his way to a sixth-round stoppage in his last match March 28 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. That dominant win was Fundora’s fourth straight since Brian Mendoza upset him by seventh-round knockout in April 2023.

The 6-foot-6 southpaw’s comeback from his lone loss has elevated him to the No. 3 spot in The Ring’s 154-pound rankings. Only WBA/WBO champ Jaron Ennis (34-0, 32 KOs, 1 NC) and WBC interim champ Vergil Ortiz (24-0, 22 KOs) are ranked ahead of Fundora (24-1-1, 16 KOs) among the top 10 contenders for our vacant championship.

Philadelphia’s Ennis is the opponent Fundora expects to face in a full title unification fight one day, but the Coachella, California native declined to discuss Ennis because his full focus is on the left-handed Hadribeaj (23-0-1, 8 KOs). Their 12-round fight is the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions card DAZN will stream worldwide and TNT and truTV will televise in the United States from The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Hadribeaj beat previously undefeated French contender Bakary Samake (19-1, 11 KOs) in his last fight. He won that 12-round WBC elimination bout by unanimous decision May 23 in Oberhausen, Germany, but Fundora intends to teach him what it’s like to lose two weeks from Saturday night.

“He’s been winning,” Fundora said. “He’s a undefeated fighter. That’s all I can really say that benefits him right now, that he has no mindset of losing, right? So, it’s gonna [take] a little bit more to break him. But we’re still gonna get that job done, no matter what. Boxing-wise, IQ-wise or anything, I don’t see no threat at all.

“Punching power? No, there’s not really anything in my mindset that is realistic in that situation. But, you know, he’s undefeated, so he’s not gonna want to lose. But again, we’ve fought plenty of undefeated fighters, we’ve took lots of Os already. It’s nothing new to me.”