It is the time of the week where I scour the boxing results and look for anything interesting that I hadn’t already covered in separate articles. This week featuring an upset in Japan, Kostya Tszyu’s son, a former two division titlist, an ex-UFC fighter, some pro debuts, and more!
Shun Kubo (12-0, 9 KOs) RTD11 Nehomar Ceremo (26-6-1, 15 KOs) – Minor WBA Belt – Japan
An upset took place in Japan when little tested Shun Kubo upset longtime contender Nehomar Cermeno of Venezuela. Cermeno had won six straight with a no contest since his struggles during 2010-2012 and even dropped Kubo in this fight, but he chose not to come out for the 11th round. Watching the Japanese broadcast, it was difficult to tell exactly why Cermeno retired when he did. The fight was still very much in the balance. This puts Kubo, now a holder of a lesser version of Rigondeaux’s title, in position to fight the Rigondeaux/Moise Flores winner. I am curious to see if there is any interest from Kubo’s camp in actually doing so.
Misrael Rodriguez (1-0, 0 KOs) UD4 Brian True (1-7, 1 KO) & Eimantas Stanionis (1-0, 1 KO) v Rasheed Lawal (1-5, 0 KOs) – California
Mexican middleweight Rodriguez and Lithuanian welterweight Stanionis are a pair of 2016 Olympians that, along with Carlos Balderas, Richard Schaefer has hopes of eventually becoming in house built Ringstar Promotions stars. Rodriguez, who reportedly got stiffer competition than expected while clearly still winning, won bronze while Stanionis didn’t medal. However, even without the medal, Stanionis is seen as a bright enough prospect to be trained by Freddy Roach. With wins on the Lopez/Corral off-tv undercard Sunday night they are off to a good start.
Tim Tszyu (3-0, 2KOs) TKO3 Ben Nelson (2-3, 0 KOs) – Middleweights – Australia
Tim is the 22 year old son of the legendary Kostya Tszyu. He is fighing at middleweight for now, but he is a little short for the weight. Like his father, he is based out of Australia. They seem to be keeping him very active as he has two fights scheduled for May. It will be a long time before he fights anyone legitimate, but even if he is only an average fighter at his peak he will be able to sell some tickets on name alone.
Cristian Mijares (56-8-2, 28 KOs) UD10 Tomas Rojas (48-15-1, 32 KOs) – Junior Lightweights – Mexico
Former titlists met in Cancun this weekend when former two division belt holder Cristian Mijares and Tomas Rojas met in a 130 lb clash well above their glory weights. They both held legit belts at 115 with Mijares picking one up at 118 as well, so to be fighting at 130 is a significant leap. Rojas’ last truly significant fight was a failed bid at a bantamweight title of his own in 2012 against Japan’s Shinsuke Yamaka while Mijares’ lost a 2014 bid to become a three division champion against Leo Santa Cruz. This is undoubtedly a significant win for Mijares, but he is going to accomplish nothing at junior lightweight. I suspect he will drop back to featherweight. Even there is too big for him, but at 35 it may be the best he can do.
Roberto Ortiz (35-1-1, 26 KOs) UD8 Guadalupe Rosales (33-12, 18 KOs) – Welterweight – Mexico
2014 title challenger Roberto Ortiz returned for his fourth bout since being stopped by Lucas Matthyse in two on Showtime with an easy eight round decision over his journeyman opponent on the Mijares/Rojas undercard. Despite his poor showing three years ago, Ortiz has some Mexican TV exposure, a flashy record, and has fought for/defended minor WBC titles many times. He will reappear as a mandatory opponent to a significant fighter at junior or full welterweight at some point.
Jack Catterall (18-0, 10 KOs) KO3 Martin Gethin (28-9-1, 12) – Junior Welterweight – UK
Lost a bit in Liambowl drama and Flanagan’s defense, at least here stateside, was junior welterweight prospect Jack Catterall’s KO3 over long time British trial horse Martin Gethin. Catterall is a decent enough prospect and he holds one of the minor WBO title belts that is entirely insignificant as a title but helps position a fighter up high in a sanctioning bodies rankings. His team will probably want to wait a bit, but you’ll see Catterall in at least one significant fight in the next few years.
Daniel Dubois (1-0, 1 KO) TKO 1 Marcus Kelly (1-1, 0 KOs) – Heavyweights – UK
Also on the Flanagan/Petrov undercard, moderately hyped heavweight prospect Daniel Dubois made his pro debut. A lot has been made of the appearance of his opponent, clearly an overweight, overmatched man, but it is a pro debut and served its purpose. I didn’t have a big problem with it.
Lolenga Mock (39-14-1, 13 KOs) SD10 Derek Edwards (27-7-1, 14 KOs) – Super Middleweight – Denmark
Congo born 44 year old super middleweight Lolenga Mock is probably best known for having little power at lower weights and yet still dropping David Haye as a barely over the weight minimum cruiserweight. He picked up his eighth straight win in his adoptive home of Denmark with a split decision over American journeyman Derek Edwards. Since 2004 he is 17-4 and may very well end up in a fight against a higher level fighter despite his age if he wants it. Edwards, once a 25-0 prospect before losing his 0 in a Shobox main event, is now 2-7-1 in his last nine.
Fabio Maldonado (25-0, 24 KOs) KO2 Clayton Soriano de Lyra (6-5, 5 KOs) – Heavyweight – Brazil
Maldonado is an ex UFC light heavyweight whose entire boxing career has been spent fighting absolutely atrocious competition in Brazil. He was a midlevel UFC fighter who relied on his traditional boxing probably more than anyone else in MMA, but as a pure boxer his skills left a lot to be desired. He got hit really easily, mainly. In boxing he has been on and off since 2002. In his 25 wins, just four have come against fighters with winning records, or even more than one pro win at all. If my ability to read Portuguese is okay, he announced after this fight that he wants to come to the States and taking his boxing career to the next level. He won’t fair well.
Jovanie Santiago (10-0-1, 7 KOs) UD10 DeMarcus Corley (48-28-1, 28 KOs) – Junior Welterweight – Puerto Rico
Good old Chop Chop Corley, former top welterweight contender, took his 28th loss in a narrow decision in Puerto Rico against unknown prospect Jovanie Santiago. Even in his world traveling journeyman state, Corley represented a big step up in competition for Santiago whose previous competition totaled a combined record of 41-82-4. Corley, 14-24 since and including a 2006 loss in a title shot to Junior Witter, had a four fight win streak broken.
