It is that time of the week again where I sift through the week’s boxing results and discuss anything of note that I had not previously covered. This week we have the 2016 Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist, twins, family drama, and more!
On the Radar Fight Results
Stevenson, Alvarez win predictable fights in Montreal
Under the Radar Fight Results
Sunday June 4th
Yves Ngabu (18-0, 13 KOs) TKO4 Tamas Lodi (18-10-2, 15 KOs), cruiserweights – Belgium
I actually know nothing about Yves Ngabu. The two reasons I am including this fight at all are first that this is a slow week and second that he won the European cruiserweight title in this fight. I can’t find any video of the contest either. Any video of Ngabu at all that I can find is now outdated by a few years and therefore not particularly useful in evaluation. So here we are with an unknown, 18-0, 28 year old cruiserweight prospect from and having fought his whole career out of Belgium. The Belgians also have Ryad Merhy, a more known 23-0, 24 year old cruiserweight prospect too. Given that I can only name one other Belgian fighter at all off the top of my head (lightweight Francesco Patera), this is unusual to say the least for Belgium to have two rising fighters in the same division.
Hiroshige Osawa (31-4-4, 19 KOs) UD10 Julio Cortez (13-1, 11 KOs), featherweights – Japan
Last November Osawa traveled to Vegas to challenge Oscar Valdez for his WBO featherweight title. Osawa was largely wiped out in the fight in finished in seven. That loss marked the end of a seven year, sixteen fight unbeaten stretch for the Japanese featherweight, but that streak was made up largely of middling club fighters and journeymen to begin with. Here he met an undefeated Ecuadorian prospect fighting outside of his native Ecuador for the first time who had only one win against a fighter with a winner record on his ledger. Predictably, Osawa won wide.
Saturday June 3rd
Andrew Moloney (13-0, 8 KOs) KO3 Aramis Solis (16-5, 9 KOs), bantamweights & Jason Moloney (13-0, 11 KOs) TKO5 Emanuel Armendariz (12-3-2, 5 KOs), super bantamweights – Australia
The Moloney twins are two of the brightest young lights in Australian boxing. At 26 years old they are just entering the point where they should be on your radar as they continue to grow down under. Andrew has the better amateur pedigree with a 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medal to show for it, but Jason has been the one to be knocking everyone out one division north at super bantamweight. So far they seem to be trying to forge identical career paths as they always fight together on the same card, fighting the same level of competent but unspectacular competition, and even both picked up the same minor WBA belt in their respective divisions at about the same time. Australia really needs good, young fighters right now with their last generation fading out with age. Hopefully Andrew and Jason Moloney can be part of the solution.
Mikael Zewski (28-1, 21 KOs) UD8 Fernando Silva (15-11-3, 6 KOs), junior middleweights – Quebec
Quebecois Mikael Zewski was a Canadian amateur fighter of note who turned pro with some minor fanfare in the Montreal region. Despite the solid fight scene in Montreal, however, he has chosen to build most of his career in the United States with Top Rank. In May of 2015 he main evented the short lived Top Rank fight series on TruTV against fellow unbeaten Top Rank welterweight prospect Konstantin Ponomarev. Though he started well early, over the course of the fight Zewski was beat up a bit and left that night a clear loser. This fight on the Stevenson/Fonfara II undercard was only his second fight back from that night, but not because of the defeat. Instead Zewski was battling Top Rank to escape his contract. He succeeded and will be reportedly looking to rebuild his career in Canada. At 28, there is time.
Hernan Marquez (42-8-2, 29 KOs) TD4 Eduardo Hernandez (15-8-7), super flyweights – Mexico
Mexico’s Marquez held a flyweight title from April 2011 to November 2012 before losing it in a unification fight with Brian Viloria. He has lost to every top fighter since, usually by stoppage including to Giovani Segura, McJoe Arroyoa, and Juan Francisco Estrada. He also lost a wide decision in 2015 to Luis Concepcion who he had knocked out twice previously. In his previous two fights, Marquez lost a decision and fought to an eight round split draw against some pretty low level Mexican opponents. Here he won on points after suffering a cut on a headbutt that stopped the fight. This seems to be the level of fighter Hernan Marquez is capable of beating in 2017. It has been a long fall for the former titlist.
Dmitry Kudryashov (21-1, 21 KOs) KO5 Olanrewaju Durodola (25-4, 23 KOs), cruiserweights – Russia
Towards the end of 2015, Kansas based Nigerian Olanrewaju Durodola was brought into Russia to face their huge punching sensation of a prospect Dmitry Kudryashov for a minor WBC belt. After barely surviving a monster left hook in the first, Durodola stormed back to batter and stop Kudryashov in the second in what was a great little fight. A year and a half later, the Russian destroyer got his rematch.
In what was another very fun fight, Kudryashov came out again very aggressive. He dominated the first two rounds, seemingly bothering Durodola with every left hook he landed. The Nigerian stormed back in the third, however, and began a battering reminiscent of the second round in the first fight. This time, however, seconds before the final bell, Dmitry landed a monster left hook that had Durodola in all sorts of trouble. He got in a few big body shots after the bell too. Not sure what happened there.
Kudryashov came out winging in the fourth. He threw a combination of huge haymaker hooks that looked too far away and briefly had me laughing at him before one of the left hooks somehow landed and dropped Durodola. Olanrewaju survived the round, but he was dropped again in the fifth. Given one last chance, Durodola was once again staggered into the ropes before the fight was stopped. Kudryashov got his revenge. Though he remains crude, he did clearly improve his defense a bit here and that left hook is just monstrous. It really is up there with an Adonis Stevenson straight left or a Deontay Wilder right in terms of being one of the biggest punches in the sport.
Chayaphon Moonsri (47-0, 17 KOs) UD12 Omari Kimweri (16-4, 6 KOs), WBC minimumweight title – Thailand
Thailand’s Moonsri defended his WBC title for the eighth time against Australian based Tanzanian Omari Kimweri. This was an ugly fight and I don’t recommend looking for it. Honestly, I generally don’t recommend following the minimumweight division as a whole. It is always such a shallow mess and the top fighters rarely actually fight one another. Three pounds up at light flyweight is usually pretty great, but for some reason the bottom division of the sport never really has clicked. I thought this fight was a little closer than the 10 rounds to 2 scorecards that were turned in, but Moonsri clearly won either way.
Frankie Gavin (25-3, 15 KOs) TKO6 Felix Matamoros (7-12, 5 KOs), welterweights – Scotland
Well, this was a random find on a small little card in Scotland. With a quick return against an opponent with a losing record less than a month after his decision win on the undercard of Khalil Yafai’s most recent defense, Gavin does seem like he is putting in some effort here. The talent has always been there, but it is probably too late for the thirty one year old to turn it around. He just didn’t seem to prioritize his craft in his life when he really needed to. If he does stay active, however, even in low level fights as it means he will have been in the gym, he can only do better than he has been doing at least.
Matt Remillard (25-1, 14 KOs) RDT4 Fatiou Fassinou (27-6-3, 14 KOs), lightweights – Connecticut
In 2011, Matt Remillard was a decent prospect and blossoming regional draw in Connecticut when he met Mikey Garcia on HBO in a matchup of unbeaten prospects. Though the fight was competitive early, Mikey Garcia took over late and began to really beat Remillard up. After ten rounds and three knockdowns, Remillard retired on his stool. For all I knew he might have sat there for six years as he did not fight again until this April. Two months later, he was back and in against at least a fighter with a good record from… Benin. I just learned a new country! This was Fassinou’s first fight outside of either his native Benin or nearby Ghana. I have no idea how they find these guys, but Remillard beat him up and he quit on his stool after four.
The thing is, however, Remillard wasn’t just sitting on the stool. I have no memory of this for some reason, but apparently in 2011 he was convicted of assault by beating a man’s over the head repeatedly with a baseball bat over a girl. We’re talking to the point of reconstructive surgery with plates and screws to fix the skull. Suddenly it is not so easy to root for this comeback. Remillard, now 30, was lucky to get only five years in his plea deal.
Friday June 2nd
Lucas Browne (25-0, 22 KOs) TKO2 Matthew Greer (16-21, 13 KOs), heavyweights – Australia
I think anyone reading UTR will probably know this story, but in brief last year Browne scored an upset, come from behind KO of Ruslan Chagaev in Russia to claim an imaginary heavyweight belt the WBA will call a world title. It wasn’t as Tyson Fury held theirs, but whatever. Anyway, post fight Browne failed a drug test. He cried foul and there is some history of that in Russia, but the whole thing took his belt and has kept up on the shelf for thirteen months. Here he returned against career journeyman Matthew Greer and scored a second round stoppage to shake some rust off. Hopefully Browne is clean going forward and will find himself in a big fight soon. I imagine he and Joseph Parker would sell really well down under.
Tony Yoka (1-0, 1 KO) KO2 Travis Clark (12-1, 8 KOs, heavyweights – France
With the official start of his pro career, 2016 Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist Tony Yoka immediately becomes one of the top prospects in the sport. Already a clear natural athlete, Yoka is also trained by Virgil Hunter which should really help him adjust to the pro game. Signed to Richard Schaefer’s new Ringstar Promotions, Yoka made quick work here of his undefeated, but dramatically overmatched 38 year old American opponent. After a cautious opener, Yoka hurt Clark in the second with a jab and attacked from there. Two knockdowns and about thirty seconds later, the fight was over.
Nordine Oubaali (12-0, 9 KOs) TKO10 Alejandro Hernandez (31-13-2, 16 KOs), bantamweights – France
30 year old, two time French Olympian Nordine Oubali picked up a minor WBC belt that will put him in position to fight Shinsuke Yamanaka for their full title. Oubaali is yet to be really tested as a pro, but the two times he bowed out of the Olympics were against Zou Shiming and Michael Conlan so no shame there. Plus, before losing to Conlan in 2012, he beat Rau’she Warren. The Shiming fight was a draw by the amateur scoring system of the time as well, but he lost out in the tiebreaker. Yamanaka is probably too big of an ask at this juncture in his career, but Oubaali is no joke and I would really look forward to that fight.
Souleymane Cissokho (2-0, 2 KOs) TKO3 Giorgi Kerdikoshvili (7-14-5, 2 KOs), junior middleweights & Money Powell IV (2-0, 2 KOs) TKO1 Krisztian Kovacs (5-5, 3 KOs), junior middleweights – France
Two of Ringstar promotions young top prospects were also in action on the Yoka card in France. Money Powell IV would have been a favorite to represent the US in the 2020 Olympics, but the nineteen year old decided not to wait and turn pro. Being in Europe is not unusual for him, either, as he was born in Germany to an American military family. He bounced back and forth between the two countries growing up. Souleymane Cissokho is also of two countries having been born in Senegal before immigrating to France. He won bronze for France in Rio and should be very handy for Richard Schaefer to build side by side with Tony Yoka as two major French prospects in the sport. Both junior middleweight prospects made unsurprisingly quick work of their designed to fall, record building opponents here.
Bradley Skeete (26-1, 12 KOs) TKO5 Shayne Singleton (23-2-1, 8 KOs), welterweights – England
It is strange how sixteen or so months ago Bradley Skeete pretty comfortably outpointed Sam Eggington. There were stretches in that fight in which Skeete was straight up schooling his younger opponent. Yet, less than a year and a half later, Eggington is a rising star in British boxing while Skeete has stayed on exactly the same level. Here Skeete defended his British welterweight strap against an opponent with a pretty empty record. In fact, Singleton was coming off a four round draw in which he was dropped by a fighter with a losing record. Skeete wants the Lonsdale belt so he will have to defend his British crown one more time before having the required defense count. Hopefully after that he moves up from domestic level to the world stage.
Harley Benn (2-0, 1 KO) UD4 Paul Cummings (0-8), middleweights – England
Want some juicy tabloid style drama in boxing? Well, here it is! Harley Benn is the son of Nigel Benn and half brother to emerging prospect Connor Benn. The thing is, however, that Harley has a terrible relationship with his father and seems to downright hate Connor. As a figher, Harley Benn is not a big time prospect. Really, he is not a prospect of note at all. He had no amateur career whatsoever and is entirely learning on the job here as a 20 year old pro. If he didn’t have the Benn name, we would never be talking about him. He does though and that alone was enough to get Frank Warren to sign him. In this fight, Benn’s second round knockdown is the only reason he won even against an 0-7 fighter as the ref judging the bout scored it two rounds a piece otherwise. If Warren can build him a record, and I don’t necessarily think that is guaranteed to be easy to do, perhaps he can book some ridiculous brother feud match to get one big event out of Harley before he is exposed.
Hank Lundy (28-6-1, 14 KOs) TKO5 Daniel Evangelista Jr (20-8-2, 16 KOs), lightweights – Pennsylvania
Henry “Hank” Lundy has had an interesting career. Of his six losses, only true top fighters in Terence Crawford, Viktor Postol, and John Molina 100% beat him clearly. Lundy was up on Molina when he was stopped in the eleventh as well. Hank’s other three defeats were majority, split, and technical decisions to Ray Beltran, Thomas Dulorme, and Mauricio Herrera respectively. Yet, despite the quality of losses, Lundy’s best two wins were against Richar Abril and David Diaz six years ago. Lundy has largely made his name on almost beating good fighters, but the actual wins have eluded him. Here he fought for the first time in his home city of Philadelphia since 2009, scoring a stoppage over the level of fighter we have long known Hank Lundy will beat.
Michael Farenas (42-5-4, 34 KOs) KO3 Martin Angel Martinez (17-12-1, 11 KOs), junior welterweights – California
A former opponent to Jose Pedraza, Yuriorkis Gamboa, and Takashi Uchiyama, Filipino Michael Farenas picked up an easy third round stoppage over a California journeyman. Farenas has some wins over guys that people interested in this column might know like Fernando Beltran and Daniel Attah, but he has proven repeatedly he is well below the top level. He he broke a year and a half lay off and fought at the highest weight of his career. If he stays at junior welterweight, some eager name fighter in need of a win will use him to get one at some point.
