It is time once again to scour the week’s boxing results and find anything interesting that I had not already covered. This week we have a couple big names in get well fights, two prominent fighters from other combat sports, a couple big time prospects, and more including yet another tragedy in this brutal sport.
On the Radar Fight Results
Spence forces Brook to quit in a great fight
Under the Radar Fight Results
Tim Tszyu (5-0, 4 KOs) RTD3 Adam Fitzsimmons (2-2), middleweights – Australia
Son of legendary former star Kostya Tszyu, Tim Tszyu picked up his fifth win and fourth straight stoppage Saturday in Australia. At only 22, it still remains to be seen if Tim is a prospect in his own right or if he is just a famous last name. The name definitely counts for something, however, because as far as I can tell he main evented this small Australian card. Like I say every time he fights, he will probably compete as a junior middleweight when the competition eventually becomes real.
Brandon Brewer (21-0-1, 11 KOs) UD10 King Davidson (18-3, 10 KOs), junior middleweights – Canada
I don’t know if at 32 he can still be considered a prospect, but New Brunswick’s Brandon Brewer is slowly making a name for himself in Canada. Here his team brought in a well traveled, high level journeyman in King Davidson who has fought in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the UK, Germany, and now Canada. I don’t expect Brewer to ever beat or even really be competitive with a true top junior middleweight, but at the rate his career is progressing he will probably get a chance to prove me in wrong in the next couple years.
Gary Kopas (8-11-2, 4 KOs) TKO10 David Whittom (12-24-1, 8 KOs), Canadian cruiserweight title – Canada
Tragedy here. David Whittom was stopped in the tenth round of what is reported to have been a crude slugfest between two low level cruiserweights. Immediately after the finish, he was not okay and took about ten minutes to regain his faculties. Then, everything seemed fine. He sat a ringside and watched local hero Brandon Brewer in the main event. He went home on his own as well. There, however, he began complaining of headaches, nausea, and overheating. Whittom was taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with brain hemorrhaging. The doctors put him under and removed part of his skull to give his swollen brain more room. Reportedly he is in stable condition, but as we have seen too many times before, only time will tell what level of damage his brain suffered. A simple look at Whittom’s boxrec will reveal a who’s who of high level fighters who have used him as an opponent, but I am not going to get into that here.
Jose Argumendo (20-3-1, 12 KOs) Gabriel Mendoza TKO8 (28-5-2, 23 KOs), IBF minimumweight title – Mexico
28 year old IBF minimumweight titlist Jose Argumendo made his third successful defense of his title in his native Mexico. He originally won the belt on Japan’s traditional New Year’s Eve show on the final day of 2015 against Katsunari Takayama. Colombian Gabriel Mendoza was an obscenely weak challenger here, however, even for the almost always empty 105 lb division. He came into the title fight on a six fight win streak against opponents with a combined record of 10-48-1. I have no idea why the IBF would sanction this fight except that apparently, like basically everyone else, they do not pay attention to the minimumweight division.
Orlando Salido (44-13-4, 31 KOs) RTD8 Aristides Perez (30-10-2, 16 KOs), super featherweights – Mexico
Orlando Salido won a fight! This feels like a thing that should be happening somewhat consistently in the sport since Orlando Salido is a really good fighter, but it actually hadn’t happened in almost three years since his 2014 fight of the year contender with Terdsak Kokietgym. Since then Salido is 0-1-2, but he could very easily be 2-1 with another swing round scored his way in each of those fights. Yet again, Salido was hurt and dropped in this fight. He rallied to win big, but the veteran warrior’s punch resistance has notably faded over time. He will likely rematch Vasyl Lomachenko next. I don’t like his chances of finding another win there despite his success the first go around.
Tyrone Spong (9-0, 9 KOs) TKO1 Juan Carlos Salas (6-12, 4 KOs), heavyweights – Mexico
Tyrone Spong is a really, really great fighter. His pedigree has been in kickboxing, but Spong is an elite level athlete who has had stand up fights with some of the best fighters in the world and reigned as king. Why in his boxing career he is fighting guys like Salas is confusing. Salas is a step up for the Dutch fighter too given that his last two opponents, both Dominicans, are a combined 0-29-1 in their careers. I am not saying that Spong is going to win a heavyweight title in boxing. That would be a miracle. But if you put the 31 year old former kickboxing champion in with say someone like Mariusz Wach, I am not going to count him out. He certainly needs to stop being matched with punching bags for hire.
Roamer Angulo (22-0, 19 KOs) TKO2 Rolando Masillo (13-4-1, 5 KOs), super middleweights – Mexico
Roamer Alexis Angulo is a prospect to put on your radar. He is a little crude, but he hits hard and has a pretty legitimate resume. As a Colombian with a good knockout record, you might worry that he has built it on terrible competition as so many fighters fitting that description have before. Angulo, however, is well traveled. He is 3-0 in the States and 4-0 in Germany. He has fought as far away as Argentina and Turkey. Here he was making his debut in Mexico. Angulo has been beating real pro fighters with mostly winning records and step up is in order soon.
Julio Ceja (31-2, 28 KOs) KO3 Anselmo Moreno (36-6-1, 12 KOs), super bantamweights – Panama
For the better part of six years, from 2008 to 2014, Moreno was arguably the top bantamweight in the world. A slick defensive minded Panamanian fighter, Moreno by decision was one of the sure bets in boxing. Those days are now clearly done. 1-4 in his last five, Moreno is now 31 years old in a division where that might as well be 41. Julio Ceja is undoubtedly a power puncher, but Anselmo went down really on the first significant punch of the fight and chose to stay down. He is claiming eye injury and that may be true, but it was also the second fight in a row in which he had been stopped. This is a career best win for the Mexican slugger, but really the focus here is unfortunately on the fall of Moreno.
Ryan Ford (12-0, 7 KOs) TD7 Robert Berridge (29-7-1, 21 KOs), light heavyweights – Singapore
35 year old Canadian light heavyweight Ryan Ford is an ex-MMA fighter scoring a surprisingly good win here over the competent Robert Berridge. It isn’t that New Zealand’s Robert Berridge is anything more than an increasingly well traveled journeyman, but he is a career boxer who has been in the ring with good fighters. Ryan Ford was a Canadian regional MMA fighter who eventually made it into Bellator and the World Series of Fighting, but never the UFC. I would not have expected Ford to rise even to this level, but here he is.
Sirimongkhon Iamthuam (92-3, 57 KOs) SD10 Larry Siwu (20-9, 20 KOs), junior middleweights – Singapore
Sometimes the joy of writing UTR comes from unexpected discoveries. Thailand’s Sirimongkon Iamthuam is one of those. Twenty (yes, twenty) years ago, Iamthuam won the WBC bantamweight title at age 19. I was a boxing fan then, but I was also ten years old . He defended it three times, all in Thailand, before going to Japan and getting stopped. The entire reign, from winning the belt to losing the belt, took place in 1997. Iamthuam spent the next five years winning fights in Thailand before returning to Japan. This time he fought for the WBC super featherweight belt, three weight classes up from where he had previously reigned. He won the belt by second round KO.
I have never seen such a thing. Has anyone ever had a three weight class gap between their two title reigns? The two division Thai champion defended the belt once, again in Japan, before coming to the States and losing it to Jesus Chavez. He then moved to lightweight where he knocked out Michael Clark in a WBC eliminator on the 2005 Winky Wright/Tito Trinidad PPV undercard, but he never got that shot. Instead, he just kept fighting. One fight in each of the US, New Zealand, and China aside, Iamthuan won 43 straight fights after beating Michael Clark against non-competition in Thailand before losing one fight ago in Singapore. This is as confusing as a career arc as they come. Why did the world boxing scene forget him?
Jamie Cox (21-0, 12 KOs) TD9 Lewis Taylor (19-4-1, 3 KOs), super middleweights – England
I don’t think Jamie Cox is a world level fighter, but there is a remote chance that he might get a world level fight next. Here he outclassed a punchless fighter before the fight was stopped on cuts and sent to the cards. Cox is guaranteed at least a British title shot against Rocky Fielding. This is a good domestic fight, but Cox is setting his sights higher by aspiring to be George Groves’s first title challenger. He picked up a WBA regional belt here, so it isn’t far fetched that Jamie Cox could be approved as an optional first defense if Groves’s team is looking for a soft first defense.
Anthony Fowler (1-0, 1 KO) TKO1 Arturs Geikins (3-8-1, 2 KOs), middleweights & Joe Cordina (3-0, 3 KOs) RTD1 Josh Thorne (1-10-2), lightweights & Lawrence Okolie (3-0, 3 KOs) TKO1 Rudolf Helesic (2-1, 2 KOs), cruiserweights – England
Okolie, Cordina, and Fowler are all prominent Eddie Hearn prospects who represented Britain in Rio. Anthony Fowler was making his pro debut here. Quite frankly he should be grateful he is a name prospect as he could have very easily been disqualified for hitting Arturs Geikin when he was down on one knee. It wasn’t a ferocious shot, but it was clearly illegal and not in the middle of a combination. Okolie and Cordina won clean. All three will be significant names in British boxing over the next few years.
Byron Rojas (19-3-3, 9 KOs) TKO6 Juan Luis Lopez (15-6, 9 KOs), minimumweights – Nicaragua
Last year Rojas traveled to both South Africa and then Thailand to first win and then lose the WBA minimumweight belt against Hekkie Budler and Thammanoon Niyomtrong respectively. Since losing the title last June, Rojas has returned to Nicaragua to win two eight round decisions. Both of his title fights last year were very closely scored with all six cards coming in at 115-113 one way or the other.
Rene Alvarado (25-8, 17 KOs) KO2 Moises Olivas (8-8, 4 KOs), lightweights – Nicaragua & Felix Alvarado (29-2, 25 KOs) KO1 Jose Antonio Jiminez (18-7-1, 8 KOs), light flyweights – Nicaragua
Rene Alvarado is a good fighter with wins over Robinson Castellanos and Jayson Velez. Most of his losses were to top fighters too such as Yuriorkis Gamboa, Jezreel Corrales, Rocky Juarez, JoJo Diaz, and Manuel Avila. Here he returned to his native Nicaragua for the first time in two years for a much needed easy win. Felix, Rene’s twin brother, is a two time failed title challenger who has been fighting on this level in Nicaragua for a while now.
Andrew Selby (9-0, 5 KOs) UD12 Cristofer Rosales (23-3, 15 KOs), flyweights – Wales
25 year old Welsh flyweight prospect Andrew Selby represented Britain in the 2012 London games and is also Lee Selby’s younger brother. Here he won a WBC eliminator by a wide unanimous decision over his Nicaraguan opponent, but he did have to get off he deck in round one along the way. This win puts Selby in position to fight Daigo Higa for the WBC belt and that is an extremely tall order. I’d favor Higa very heavily there, especially when Selby openly talks about not liking the sport. Higa is a tremendous talent who would take real dedication to overcome. Selby says he is just here for the money.
Kanat Islam (24-0, 19 KOs) UD12 Norberto Gonzalez (23-9, 13 KOs), junior middleweights – Florida
Kanat Islam is a junior middleweight contender who is a former two time Olympian for China even though his ancestry is Kazakh. He won bronze in 2008 and turned pro in 2012. Currently ranked in the WBO top ten, Islam is angling for a title shot against the Cotto/Kamegai winner. He won’t get a fight with Miguel Cotto, but with Al Haymon in his corner the multi-ethnic contender should get an opportunity eventually.
Zhilei Zhang (16-0, 12 KOs) TKO1 Curtis Harper (12-5, 8 KOs), heavyweights, Florida
2008 Olympic super heavyweight silver medalist Zhilei Zhang, not to be confused with the Jun Long Zhang, is a real Chinese heavyweight now based in Las Vegas. I note his realness because his Chinese counterpart Jun Long Zhang has been openly accused of the WBA of not actually being a real fighter. Zhilei has fought all but three of his fights in the United States and all of them against journeyman level competition. He also fought in London 2012, but there he lost to Anthony Joshua. I can only imagine that one of the sanctioning bodies will give the 6’6″ Chinese heavyweight a real opportunity at some point due to the potential ridiculous profitability of a Chinese heavyweight champion, but he is 34 so time is already ticking.
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Mike Alvarado (37-4, 25 KOs) TKO2 Matthew Strode (24-5, 9 KOs), welterweights – Illinois
While it has to feel good for Mike Alvarado to go in and get a quick win, I worry about his future. Matthew Strode is about as low level of a fighter that you can find with a really good record having built it in the soft Carolina commissions. Alvarado has not looked good since his 2013 rematch win over Brandon Rios. I guess he looked okay here, but there isn’t much fluidity to his game any longer. This is the third low level fight he has taken since his horrendous showing in the 2015 trilogy capper with Rios. In all three fights he has been pretty easy for his journeyman competition to hit. I don’t look forward to the day that Top Rank decides to give up on rebuilding him and instead feeds Alvarado to one of their young welterweights like a Jessie Vargas. Worse yet, they could use his name is Pacquiao struggles to find a profitable, easy opponent after Horn.
Alex Saucedo (25-0, 15 KOs) UD8 Wilberth Lopez (18-8, 13 KOs), welterweights & Egidijus Kavaliauskas (17-0, 14 KOs) KO6 Daniel Echeverria (19-5, 17 KOs), welterweights – Illinois
Saucedo and Kavaliauskas are unbeaten Top Rank welterweight prospects who are being brought up the traditional, slow Bob Arum prospect route. Neither are absolute blue chippers, but they are potential good pros who Top Rank will eventually move into a prominent fight. Of the two the Lithuanian Egidijus Kavaliauskas is the puncher, but I’d say Saucedo of Mexico has faced marginally better competition. They are both still eight round fighters.
Michael Conlan (2-0, 2 KOs) TKO3 Alfredo Chanez (4-5, 2 KOs), super bantamweights – Illinois
Belfast bantamweight prospect Michael Conlan is quickly becoming one of the golden children of Bob Arum’s stable. Though Conlan’s controversial opening round decision loss disappointed in Rio, he won bronze in London and already comes with a big Irish fan base. Conlan is already a draw for Top Rank and eventually Arum wants to position Conlan into a superstar. His next fight will be on the Pacquiao/Horn undercard in July. The jury is still out on what kind of prospect Conlan truly is, but he looks good early.
