It is once again the time of the week where I scour boxing results and look for anything interesting that I hadn’t already covered in separate articles. This week featuring a former undisputed heavyweight champion’s son, 2016 British Olympians, a comeback story, and more!
The On the Radar Fights
Here are the fights I recapped in separate articles.
Sullivan Barrera stops Paul Parker in 5 with some controversy
Top prospect Dimitry Bivol destroys Samuel Clarkson in 4
Julius Indongo dominates Ricky Burns and unifies two belts
Under the Radar Fight Results (Week Ending 4/16/17)
Tony Luis (23-3, 8 KOs) RTD6 Noe Nunez (17-5-1, 13 KOs), Canada
Canadian Luis is best known for his spirited 2015 shot at a minor WBA title in against Derry Mathews in the UK. He took that fight on a few days notice and nearly did enough to win before losing close, but fair cards. He is now 4-0 since and may pop back up in a meaningful fight at some point.
Zakaria Attou (25-6-2, 7 KOs) SD 12 Maxime Beaussire (23-1-1, 7 KOs), France
Attou successfully defended his European super welterweight title in an all French fight in France against the previously undefeated Beaussire. Both fighters’ records are void of meaningful opposition, but it should be noted that Attou is 21-2-1 after starting 4-4-1. A Michel Soro fight would make a lot of sense in France if Soro has nothing bigger going on. Attou and his belt could also be the target of the loser of a presumed Liam Smith/Liam Williams rematch, or maybe a returning Jack Culcay.
Robbie Barrett (15-2-1, 1 KO) MD12 Scott Cardle (21-1-1, 7 KOs), Scotland
In an upset on the Indongo/Burns card, Robbie Barrett survived two knockdowns to win the British lightweight belt from previously unbeaten Scott Cardle. After starting 4-2-1, Barrett has won 11 straight and he is now a known name on the British scene. Neither fighter shows much for world level potential, however.
Charlie Edwards (10-1, 4 KOs) UD12 Iain Butcher (16-3, 5 KOs), Scotland
In a pretty bizarre decision, Eddie Hearns threw then 23 year old and 8-0 Charlie Edwards into a 2016 flyweight world title shot with against John Casimero. Predictably the young prospect was battered and stopped in ten. This was Edwards second fight back and first against a somewhat live opponent. At 24, the British fighter is still a prospect and should take a few years to develop before trying anything crazy like that again. A lack of power will probably always hold him back, but he can certainly develop more overall skill as time progresses. This fight was also on the Indongo/Burns card.
Lawrence Okolie (2-0, 2 KOs) KO1 Lukasz Rusiewicz (22-30, 13 KOs) & Josh Kelly (1-0) UD6 Jay Byrne (4-2, 1 KO), Scotland
A pair of 2016 British Olympians and Eddie Hearn prospects in Okolie and Kelly round out the Indongo/Burns card. Okolie is a 6’5″ cruiserweight who will be a heavyweight before his career is done. Kelly is probably a junior middleweight, though he debuted two pounds over that limit. Both lost in the round of eight to elite amateurs in their division during the Brazilian games. Okolie especially is being groomed to be a star and looks like he might be a big puncher.
Bobby Gunn (22-7-1, 19 KOs) KO2 James Morrow (12-22-3, 5 KOs), West Virginia
Bobby Gunn is known for trying to bring back bare knuckle boxing in the United States, but what I know him for is having fought and lost to Enzo Maccarinelli, Tomasz Adamek, James Toney, Glen Johnson, and most recently in a sad, sad fight with Roy Jones Jr. Like the Roy fight, the Toney and Johnson fights were the old, faded versions of themselves looking for and finding a win. Someone will use Gunn for that again, I imagine. This, for some reason, was a rematch of a fight Gunn won in 5 a few years back.
Vaughn Alexander (8-0, 5 KOs) UD10 Andres Rey (7-6, 5 KOs), Connecticut
Vaughn Alexander, older brother to Devon, was an elite level welterweight prospect promoted by Don King when he turned pro in 2004 at 18 years old. After a 5-0 start, Alexander was convicted of armed robbery and sentence to six years in prison. Partly through that sentence, Alexander attacked a guard in a flight attempt. The sentence was extended to 18 years. He served 11 and returned to the ring last year, 12 years after his last fight. He is 3-0 in his return and now will campaign at middleweight. He is still only 31 and does have some time left if he can stay in the sport, but it is difficult to imagine him reaching his former potential after 12 years away. Imagine the story if he did. This fight was televised by HBO Latino as chief support to Barrera/Parker after the scheduled co-feature fell through last minute.
Malik Hawkins (11-0, 8 KOs) RTD2 Carlos Soto (13-1-2, 7 KOs), Maryland
Hawkins is an intriguing welterweight prospect with great size for the weight at six foot tall and obvious athletic talent. He is very raw and has been very, very light, but at 21 has a potentially bright future if he is progressed at the right rate. Here he was on the ShoBox Bivol card co-feature against a late replacement in Carlos Soto. Soto looked like a step up in terms of W/L record, but he didn’t look like one in the ring. Hawkins battered him over two, closing his eye in the very first round. After the second the fight was stopped because the of eye, assuredly saving Soto from a further beating. This was maybe the quickest closed eye I have ever seen in the sport.
Hasim Rahman Jr (1-0, 1 KO) TKO1 Ralph Alexander (0-1), Maryland
Son of former unified heavyweight titlist Hasim Rahman, also a heavyweight, made his pro debut off TV on ShoBox with a 40 second TKO win. At 25 Rahman Jr is getting a late start to the professional ranks after having to serve some time for his role in a fatal car accident in 2012. You might remember Rahman Jr from some of the Mayweather gym sparring session drama from Showtime’s All-Access series leading up to Mayweather’s rematch with Maidana. There was a lawsuit stemming from that, but I never saw an outcome. Regardless of whether the son of Hasim “The Rock” Rahman is a great prospect or not, he will get plenty of opportunities due to his name.
Charles Huerta (19-5, 12 KOs) KO3 Ivan Delgado (11-1-1, 4 KOs)
In the main event of a Golden Boy LA Fight Club show on Estrella TV that totally slipped by me, unbeaten Golden Boy super featherweight prospect Ivan Delgago was upset by Huerta on a clean third round stoppage. Charles Huerta was once a minor Golden Boy prospect himself, but after dropping four of six and not fighting for three years between 2013 and 2016, he fell completely off the radar. Three of those for losses were majority or split decisions, however, so he hasn’t been getting ran over by any means. He probably put himself back in the discussion for a fight on a Golden Boy on ESPN card at some point with this win.
