It is the time of the week where I scour the week’s boxing results for anything interesting that I hadn’t already covered in separate articles. This week we have Alvarez/Chavez a week ahead of schedule, a new three division titlist, former heavyweight title challengers, and much more. Though it would have been easy not to notice, more happened than Joshua/Klitschko this week.
Major Fight Result Links
Ugas, Ghvamichava, and Martin win on FS1
Crown Him: Joshua gets off the deck to stop Klitschko in 11
Merrero stops Zambrano in one, sets up title fight
Under the Radar Fight Results
Omar Chavez (36-3-1, 24 KOs) TKO2 Ramon Alvarez (24-6-2, 16 KOs), Mexico
In the battle of the brothers, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr’s brother destroyed Canelo Alvarez’s brother in two Saturday in Chihuahua, Mexico. This was a rematch of a 2014 fight in which Alvarez won with some controversy, I guess. If I saw that fight, I don’t remember it. But I will remember this one, as the son of the Mexican legend laid a savage beating on Alvarez that probably should been stopped a little sooner. Long dismissed as a prospect, Omar Chavez is still only 27 despite 11 years as a professional. There is still time for him to develop into something after this career best performance, but he is likely too limited athletically to ever approach real contender status.
Donnie Nietes (40-1-4, 22 KOs) UD12 Komgrich Nantapech (22-4, 15 KOs) – Phillipines
Donnie Nietes became a true three division titlist Saturday by winning the vacant IBF flyweight title in a clear decision over Komrich Natapech of Thailand. Undefeated since 2004, the 34 year old Filipino is one of the truly underrated fighters in boxing. Nietes moves to 15-0-1 in world title fights alone between minimumweight, light flyweight, and now flyweight in a run that has largely gone unnoticed by all but the most dedicated fight fans. With that said, Donnie did get a generously soft touch for his third title. It remains to be seen if he is big enough to deal with the top fighters in the division, few that there currently are at 112.
Mark Magsayo (16-0, 12 KOs) TKO1 Issa Nampepeche (24-8-4, 11 KOS) – Phillipines
21 year old Filipino featherweight prospect Mark Magsayo was featured as the co-main event to Nietes/Nantapech. His Tanzanian opponent had previously been losing to much worse competition while Magsayo has already triumphed over significantly better opposition such as former title challenger Chris Avalos, so the TKO1 result here was hardly surprising. Magsayo is probably only three or four fights away from being able to land a world title fight, but at 21 it remains to be seen how much of a hurry his handlers will be to actually move him in that direction. He is likely years before his physical prime still. Given his fan friendly style, Magsayo is one to watch. Even if he doesn’t pan out, the ride will be entertaining.
Joe Cordina (2-0, 2 KOs) TKO1 Sergej Vib (7-8, 4 KOs) – England
2016 British Olympian Joe Cordina fought for the second time in a week, again bashing out a club level fighter, this time in the very first round on the Joshua/Klitschko undercard. The Welsh lightweight will have a built in fanbase from the minute he steps up, but he is old for a prospect at 25. Given his age, it make sense to give him rapid fire bouts like this. Hopefully he stays active and moves up quickly.
Lawrence Okolie (2-0, 2 KOs) CANCELED Russ Henshaw (7-4, 2 KOs) – England
Part of the drama that was making the complicated US television deal for Joshua/Klitschko was the demand to establish a firm ring walk time for the two networks only showing the main event. To make this happen, Eddie Hearn put on very few prelim bouts, but even still he found himself out of time for one of his top young prospects in cruiserweight Lawrence Okolie. The fight was canceled last minute in the dressing room at the fault of neither fighter. This is truly one of the worst moves I have seen a promoter make. Whether the solution was to start earlier or put it on after the main event, neither happened. To deny two fighters that had trained their opportunity to not only fight, but to do so in a stadium atmosphere on the biggest card of the year due to your own time mismanagement is downright cruel. Okolie was reportedly gutted.
Tevin Farmer (25-4-1, 5 KOs) UD10 Arturo Reyes (19-8, 5 KOs) – Pennsylvania
Emerging lightweight contender and Lou DiBella backed Philly fighter Tevin Farmer won his eighteenth straight Saturday night in his home city. After starting his career 7-4-1, it really has been a remarkable turn around. His biggest win to date was last July on the Frampon/Santa Cruz I undercard where he easily outpointed former prospect Ivan Redkach. Farmer is still only 26 years old and is staying very active. This was his fifth fight in thirteen months. Tevin likely to find himself in against bigger names sooner rather than later at this point.
Kubrat Pulev (25-1, 13 KOs) UD12 Kevin Johnson (30-8-1, 14 KOs) – Bulgaria
Kubrat Pulev unsurprisingly outpointed former title challenger Kevin Johnson in an equally unsurprisingly ugly bout in Pulev’s native Bulgaria. Johnson has been one of the most frustrating fighters of the last decade, a coordinated heavyweight with obvious talent who largely just refuses to engage in the ring. Here he leaned on the ropes for the bulk of twelve rounds. Johnson was able to land clean shots basically at will in the first half of the fight before he tired, but he threw so few that Pulev’s wild, smothering activity was clearly winning him each and every round. Even though Kubrat won the fight on what could have been fairly scored a shutout, it wasn’t a good look for the Bulgarian. He was sloppy, inaccurate, and scored with a ton of hold and hitting that went on without warning. To be fair, however, only Anthony Joshua has ever looked good against Johnson. With the win, Kubrat Pulev is now Joshua’s IBF mandatory.
Moruti Mthalane (33-2, 22 KOs) KO4 Genisis Libranza (11-1, 8 KOs) – South Africa
Mthalane won the IBF flyweight title in 2009, defending it four times in three countries including quality stoppage wins over Zolani Tete and John Riel Casimero that look even better now than they did then. When the IBF mandated that he fight Amnat Ruenroeng in Thailand, however, he vacated the belt with his team claiming he was going to make less than $6,000 for the bout. He returned after a fifteen month layoff in 2014 and this fight, only his third since then, followed a sixteen month layoff. Once and maybe still a true top flyweight, it remains to be seen what the 34 year old Mthalane is still both interested in and capable of accomplishing in the sport.
Ilunga Makabu (20-2, 19 KOs) KO5 Amour Mzungu (7-6, 4 KOs) – South Africa
Congo born “Junior” Makabu, who was somewhat surprisingly smashed out in three by Tony Bellew in their vacant cruiserweight title fight last May, returned in his adopted home of South Africa with a get well bout over Tanzanian club level fighter Amour Mzungu. This was a difficult result to find, but after some intensive googling I stumbled across Makabu’s official facebook page and there it was. I am glad to see the power punching African back in the super deep, exciting cruiserweight division and I hope to see him back in bigger fights soon.
Casey Ramos (24-1, 6 KOs) UD10 Miguel Beltran Jr (31-6, 21 KOs) – California
Former title challenger Beltran of Los Mochis, Mexico came very close to winning a belt in 2012 when he lost a dramatic, exciting split decision to Roman Martinez on the Sergio Martinez/Julio Cesar Chavez Jr undercard. That night will have marked Beltran’s career high mark, it seems, as he is 4-4 since then. Coming into this UniMas Solo Boxeo main event, he had most recently lost an eight round decision to a 12-15-5 opponent in Mexico City. It was no surprise then when Casey Ramos, himself coming off his first defeat, easily outpointed Beltran. With Top Rank backing and a 24-1 record, Ramos will probably find himself in a bigger fight at some point if he keeps winning. I don’t think Ramos does well at higher levels of the sport, but it is up to Top Rank to match him, not me.
