By Keith Idec

Sebastian Fundora didn’t get the type of knockout he wanted Friday night, but he still stopped Hector Zepeda.

The 6-feet-5½ Fundora, who’s unusually tall for the 154-pound division, completely controlled their fight for four rounds. That was enough for Zepeda’s trainer to tell referee Mark Nelson to stop their scheduled 10-round bout before the fifth round began at Winnavegas Casino Resort in Sloan Iowa.

The 21-year-old Fundora, of Coachella, California, won by technical knockout and improved to 13-0 (9 KOs). The 22-year-old Zepeda, of Tijuana, Mexico, lost for the first time as a pro (17-1, 4 KOs).

Showtime televised the Fundora-Zepeda bout as the main event of a “ShoBox: The New Generation” tripleheader.

A straight left by Fundora knocked Zepeda off balance with just under two minutes to go in the fourth round. Fundora didn’t hurt Zepeda badly in the fourth round, or any of the first three rounds, but Zepeda’s trainer didn’t like the way his fighter looked and stopped the bout.

Fundora drilled Zepeda with a straight left hand early in the third round. Zepeda landed a combination that made Fundora smile at 1:52 of the third round.

Zepeda wasn’t taking a lot of punishment, but his trainer told him following the third round that if he didn’t start boxing better that he’d stop the fight after the fourth round.

A short right hook by Fundora wobbled Zepeda about 20 seconds into the second round. Zepeda continued to have trouble landing punches on his taller, rangy opponent.

Fundora snapped back Zepeda’s head when he landed a straight left hand with 1:15 to go in the first round.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.