Marlon Tapales (30-2, 13 KOs) TKO11 Shohei Omori (18-2, 13 KOs)
This was a rematch of a 2015 bout in which Filipino Marlon Tapales upset then unbeaten Japanese prospect Shohei Omori in two rounds. The WBO bantamweight title was supposed to be on the line here as well, but titlist Tapales missed weight and with his win the belt is vacated. Omori fought well here and the fight was close going into the tenth, but he was hurt badly at the end of the round and finished in the eleventh. I imagine the WBO will give Tapales a chance to redeem himself, but first they had other plans and crowned a new champion in Zolani Tete which we will get to later.
Kazuto Ioka (22-1, 13 KOs) UD 12 Noknoi Sitthiprasert (62-5, 38 KOs) – Japan
WBA Flyweight titlist Kazuko Ioka ended a 61 fight winning streak in this fight, something I doubt I will ever type again. Seriously. Ioka’s unknown Thai opponent started 1-4 and then won 61 straight. I know it is cliche, but you really can’t make this stuff up. What I can say confidently is that Sithhiprasert’s run was as empty as any winning streak can be. He had never fought a top fighter prior to his title shot. With all of the fights this weekend I haven’t gotten around to watching this one yet, but reports are that it wasn’t competitive.
Sam Soliman (45-14, 19 KOs) TKO3 Balazs Horvath (29-22, 6 KOs) – Australia
43 year old former middleweight titlist Sam Soliman broke his three fight losing streak at home in his native Australia against Hungarian journeyman Balazs Horvath. Soliman won his belt in a 2014 upset of Felix Sturm in Germany before losing it to Jermain Taylor one fight later in a fight that was soured by a bad knee injury suffered by Soliman. Coming off a devastating TKO2 loss to top prospect Sergiy Derevyanchenko, Soliman has been talking about retiring but I imagine he will try to make one more run before he unlaces his boots for the final time. This fight marked 20 years as a pro fighter for Sam Soliman and he appropriately celebrated it by handing Horvath his 20th stoppage loss.
Johann Duhaupas (35-4, 22 KOs) KO3 David Gogishvili (17-5, 9 KOs) – Finland
French heavyweight fringe contender Duhaupus returned with an easy fight in Finland where he has a bit of a name due to his stoppage of then unbeaten and Finland based Robert Helenius last year. Duhaupus will pop back up against a big name sooner rather than later. He also holds a win over another fringe contender Manuel Charr, but he was not particularly competitive in stoppage losses to Povetkin and Wilder. Gogishvili has an entirely empty record and was a very soft touch accordingly.
Michel Soro (30-1-1, 20 KOs) TKO3 Javier Maciel (30-6, 21 KOs) – France
Junior middleweight contender Michel Soro returned in his native France for a light touch against Argentian Javier Maciel who came in on a two fight losing streak. Soro is a good fighter who hasn’t traveled much out of historically weak for boxing homeland. In the three times he has stepped outside of his native land he lost a 2012 title shot against the since vanished Zaurbek Baysangurov in Ukraine, drew with top prospect Antoine Douglas on ShoBox, and stopped Glen Tapia most recently in 2015. I hope he finds his way back in with top competition soon as it feels like he is being wasted in these one sided matchups in France.
Tom Schwarz (19-0, 12 KOs) KO2 Adnan Redzovic (18-2, 6 KOs) – Germany
German heavyweight prospect Schwarz picked up a second round stoppage over his Bosnian opponent as the chief support to the Abraham/Krasniqi card. Schwarz is only 22 and is being moved slowly, but he looks like there might be something there. He at the very least has the size and athleticism to be a European level heavyweight, but as a German born fighter hopes are much bigger. Germany is a great market and it has been a while since they have had a true German heavyweight to rally behind, not since Axel Schultz.
Krzysztof Zimnoch (22-1-1, 15 KOs) KO2 Michael Grant (48-7, 36 KOs) – Poland
Once beaten Polish heavyweight stopped the now 44 year old Michael Grant in Poland. Grant fought Lennox Lewis for the heavyweight title seventeen years ago now. The last time he was in a somewhat relevant fight was seven years ago in a a semi-competitive loss to the way out sized former cruiserweight Tomasz Adamek. This was Grant’s first fight in two and a half years and he has now been stopped three consecutive times. 33 year old Zimnoch has one loss, a first round KO loss to journeyman Mike Mollo that was was avenged with a stoppage at the beginning of this year. He is probably too old to really become a contender at this point, but the always passionate Polish fanbase will be behind him as he tries.
Zolani Tete (25-3, 20 KOs) UD12 Arthur Villanueva (30-2, 16 KOs) – England
South African Zolani Tete became an unlikely two division titlist Saturday. First, Tete tragically lost his trainer and Nick Durandt to a motorcycle accident just the day before the fight which was supposed to be a WBO title eliminator. Then WBO titlist Marlon Tapales missed weight for his defense and the title was to be vacated should Tapales win. This fight was promoted to an interim title bout in the wake of the missed weight and Tete won. Then Tapales won in Japan, rendering the full WBO title vacant, and Tete was upgraded to WBO world bantamweight titlist. What a whirlwind series of events, from tragedy to triumph, but I doubt even a world title belt can ease the pain that Tete and his team must be experiencing right now.
Anthony Yarde (10-0, 9 KOs) KO1 Daniel Snow (5-13-1) & Daniel DuBois (2-0, 2 KOs) TKO2 Blaise Menduo (3-2) – England
Plenty of Frank Warren prospects were featured on the Langford/Khurtsidze undercard such as good looking fighters such as Leon Woodstock and Alex Hughes, but it is power punchers Anthony Yarde and Daniel DuBois that look most likely to potential become world level fighters. At 25 light heavyweight Yarde needs to start stepping up soon, but DuBois is only 19 and has all the time in the world. Both of them were in against overmatched opponents, Yarde especially so for his tenth fight.
Richardson Hitchins (2-0, 1 KO) UD4 Alexander Picolt (2-3-1) – New York
When American amateur star Richardson Hitchins failed to make the United States Olympic team he accepted a spot on his parents’ native Haitian team. He lost his first fight in Rio, but he still projects as a promising pro prospect where he has begun campaigning at junior welterweight. At only 19 he will grow still beyond that weight. He will also be moved slowly for a while due to his age, but the potential is there. Here he picked up a low level four round decision on the Porter/Berto undercard.
Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (1-0, 1 KO) TKO2 Victor Vasquez (7-3, 3 KOs) – Nevada
Lost in the hype surrounding the three title fights and the debut of Shakur Stevenson on Saturday night’s Top Rank PPV was the debut of 2016 Olympic gold medalist Fazliddin Gaibnazarov. He was part of Uzbekistan’s historic run at Rio in which they won three boxing gold medals after not doing much at all historically. Seconds into his pro debut, however, he went down on what was ruled a knockdown. It didn’t look like one to me, but still it was not a great start to a career. Gaibnazarov responded well and he took out his opponent in the second round. The Uzbekistani prospect won’t be moved like a Lomachenko or a Usyk, but at 25 look for Top Rank to move him more quickly than maybe they normally would. Gaibnazarov debuted as a junior welterweight which is basically the weight he won gold at.
Jorge Sebastian Heiland (29-4-2, 16 KOs) KO8 Mateo Veron (26-19-3, 8 KOs) – Argentina
Five fights between two fighters in boxing is so rare that we do not even have a word for it, but that is what happened here as Heiland and Veron met for the fifth time in Argentina. Heiland improved to 3-1-1 (2 KOs) in the series and is clearly the better fighter. Most known for his 2014 stoppage upset win over Matthew Macklin in Ireland, the Argentinian fighter has failed to take advantage of the brief international notoriety following the win. Since that night he has taken four fights in Argentina against subpar opposition like Veron.
Yuandale Evans (19-1, 14 KOs) UD10 Billel Dib (21-1, 10 KOs) – Oklahoma
Junior lightweight Yaundale Evans was a 16-0 prospect in 2012 when he met then 18-0 Javier Fortuna on Friday Night Fights. Fortuna blasted out Evans in one and Yuandale did not fight again for almost three and a half years. He fought twice in 2015 against fighters with losing records and then again sat out almost a year and a half before returning against Billel Dib, brother of Billy Dib. Billel Dib is not a top fighter, but he is certainly the best competition Evans has fought since Fortuna five years ago. Hopefully he stays more active now.
Charles Conwell 1-0 (1 KO) TKO1 Jeremiah Page (3-4, 2 KOs) – Oklahoma
Charles Conwell was the United States’ middleweight representative in Rio. He did not fare well there losing in the first round. He is now signed to Lou Dibella and is fighting professionally at junior middleweight. He made his debut with a 41 second KO over club fighter Jeremiah Page on the Evans/Dib undercard in Oklahoma.
Hasim Rahman Jr (2-0, 2 KOs) TKO1 Demetrius Shaw (0-1) – Michigan
Just one week after his pro debut the 25 year old son of former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman returned for a second helping. Just like in his first bout, he stopped another fighter making a pro debut in the first round. Rahman Jr is again scheduled to fight in June so it looks like the plan is to keep him very active. This makes sense as a means to make up for the tme he lost when he had to serve a sentence for his role in a fatal car accident.
Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (18-1, 15 KOs) KO2 Larry Pryor (10-16, 5 KOs) – New York
Shabranskyy returned with a get well fight on the WatchESPN preliminary portion of Thursday’s Golden Boy on ESPN card. His last fight was a great fight in December with Sullivan Barrera on HBO Latino where both guys hit the deck before Shabranskyy was stopped in the seventh. As the best fighter on the card it was strange to see the Ukrainian contender buried so deep on it, but a soft touch after a first defeat by stoppage in somewhat of a war does make some sense for his self confidence.
