Once again, it is time for Tuesday’s UTR column. This is where I gather all the prominent results in the fight game not otherwise covered by the site. This week that is everything as there were no major fight cards. Nevertheless, we still have plenty of action from a tier down including the returns of Denis Lebedev and Sakio Bika, a major prospects fight in the UK, a pretty big upset, and much more.
Sunday, June 9th
Denis Lebedev (30-2, 22 KOs) UD12 Mark Flanagan (22-5, 15 KOs), WBA cruiserweight title – Russia
In his first fight back from his loss to Murat Gassiev, Lebedev defended the belt he should not have against Australian Mark Flanagan. Flanagan had never fought on anywhere near this level. He was easily dominated, going down on a ninth round body shot along the way. It also should be noted that Lebedev’s is the legitimate WBA belt, not the strap Yunier Dorticos has. Yet, Lebedev not putting the WBA title on the line against Gassiev was absurd, and Gassiev should now have it. Lebedev is one of the only top cruiserweights not in the World Boxing Super Series and he has the only belt not in it, but given that Gassiev (who is in it) should have that belt, I do believe it is safe to consider that epic tournament to be for full unification of the division.
Qudratillo Abduqaxorov (12-0, 8 KOs) UD12 Dmitry Mikhaylenko (22-2, 10 KOs), welterweights – Russia
On Lebedev’s undercard, Kazakh welterweight prospect Quadratillo Abduqaxorov picked up his second straight big win here relative to his current place in the boxing landscape. Mikhaylenko is one of the better welterweights in Russia and for Abduqaxorov to go on the road and get a clear decision there is no small feat. At only 23, Quadratillo now has consecutive wins over welterweights just outside of my top 25 and he might just find himself in it come Wednesday’s update. He also holds the WBC Silver belt which will eventually lead him to a title shot, but I doubt his team is in a rush to get him there given the opposition that would bring to the table this early in his career. And no, I have no idea how to say that name.
Saturday, June 8th
Sakio Bika (33-7-3, 22 KOs) TKO7 Luke Sharp (14-6-3, 6 KOs), super middleweights – Australia
Take Sakio off the milk carton; We found him. Last seen over two years ago in a misguided move up in weight for a failed bid to take on Adonis Stevenson, Bika returned here back down under in Australia where he built his career originally before moving it stateside. At 38, it remains to be seen what Sakio Bika has left to give the super middleweight division. Clearly he will still be dominant on this level, but I doubt he will be particularly competitive at the top of the division any longer. He only ever really was through pure heart and determination to begin with. Also, as I say every time Bika comes up, if you haven’t seen his 2007 fight with Jaidon Codrington, do yourself a favor and type those names into youtube.
Leon Bauer (12-0, 8 KOs) UD10 Abdallah Paziwapazi (17-6, 16 KOs), super middleweights – Germany
A top German prospect and still only 18, Leon Bauer continued his slow rise through the European scene this weekend. It will be a few years before Bauer really takes on top contenders, but he has been fighting and beating grown men with positive pro boxing records for the past two years, starting when he was 16. While still expectedly raw, the young German has the powerful backing of Kalle Sauerland and there is great thirst for a true home grown star in Germany.
Francesco Pianeta (34-2-1, 20 KOs) TKO2 Oezcan Cetinkaya (26-12-2, 19 KOs), heavyweights – Germany
Italian heavyweight fringe contender Francesco Pianeta, a former Wladimir Klitschko title challenger, continues to rebuild his career from his embarrassing 2015 first round stoppage loss to Ruslan Chagaev with his third consecutive win here. Pianeta was not a deserving challenger when he met Wlad back in 2013, but with the division so cleaned out at that point there were few fresh challengers for the dominant Ukrainian. Pianeta’s best win came way back in 2008 when he narrowly outpointed now top 25 heavyweight Johann Duhaupas. Otherwise he only has real wins over the well past shot versions of Matt Skelton, Francois Botha, and Oliver McCall. Still, he is a good test for an emerging prospect or an easy fight for a top fighter in need of a soft match against someone with a good looking record. Pianeta will stick around.
Ulises Lara (18-15-2, 10 KOs) MD10 Moises Fuentes (24-4-1, 14 KOs), super flyweights – Mexico
This is not a good result for Fuentes to say the least. As a former minimumweight titleholder and three time light flyweight title challenger, Fuentes was supposed to be in a stay busy fight here as he looked for a fight to put him back in position for a fourth crack at a belt in a second division. Instead, he proved himself incapable of fighting at a high level all the way up at super flyweight and lost to a barely .500 fighter in a fun fight. To not undersell Lara, however, he is 9-3 in his last twelve now after starting 9-12-2. Due to the lack of depth at flyweight I already had Lara ranked at #25, but Fuentes was a top ten light flyweight and this is just a massive upset.
Mark Magsayo (17-0, 13 KOs) TKO1 Daniel Diaz (23-8-2, 15 KOs), featherweights – Philippines
22 year old featherweight Mark Magsayo is pretty clearly the top prospect in all of Filipino boxing. Having stopped Chris Avalos in six, Magasayo has already won on a much higher level than this and is probably ready to step up to the world stage. Here he just blew out an overmatched opponent. That step up should be soon at least as Magsayo is ranked #2 in the WBO rankings and close to a title shot. In truth he hasn’t earned a real top ten ranking, or even come close to one in a pretty good division, but sanctioning bodies being what they are his minor WBO belt that he has been defending boosts him up. A title shot versus WBO titlist Oscar Valdez would be guaranteed action, but I’d still heavily favor Valdez due to Magsayo’s open style.
Albert Pagara (28-1, 19 KOs) KO4 Aekkawee Kaewmanee (16-10, 6 KOs), featherweights – Philippines
23 year old Albert Pagara was a fairly highly touted Filipino super bantamweight prospect until he came to the States and fought the always super gritty Cesar Juarez. After dropping Juarez in the first, Pagara slowly succumbed to the Mexican’s pressure before being blasted out in the eighth. This was his second fight back since the stoppage loss, both against much lower levels of competition and both up at featherweight. Pagara is too young not to fight his way to another contest against higher level competition.
Jayson Velez (25-4-1, 17 KOs) KO5 Giovanni Caro (27-22-4, 21 KOs) junior lightweights – Puerto Rico
In 2014, Jayson Velez was a rising Puerto Rican prospect of note when he got an IBF featherweight title shot against Evgeny Gradovich on an HBO Terence Crawford card. He left that night with a draw and without the knowledge that that night would probably be his career highlight. He followed that draw by losing to two talented fighters in Ronny Rios and JoJo Diaz, and then to not quite as talented Rene Alvarado, and then absolutely disastrously to an unknown 6-0 fighter. Velez did rebound in March by dethroning an unbeaten prospect, however, and here he returned a couple months later with a gimme fight. Velez was never a star or even considered a super blue chip prospect, but it still is incredible how fast he fell. A few more easy fights are probably in order to build his confidence back up.
Josh Taylor (10-0, 9 KOs) TKO7 Ohara Davies (15-1, 12 KOs), junior welterweights – Scotland
In the biggest fight of a weekend with no big fights, 2012 Olympian Josh Taylor put in what was a star making performance in the UK. To the trained eye he was a slight favorite going in against powerful Ohara Davies, but few expected this level of outclassing. While Davies was still able to land somewhat regularly through sheer volume, Taylor picked his shots beautiful, especially to the body. He was the strong fighter mentally, the much better man technically, and by far the better athlete in the ring. He beat Davies down to a knee in the third and then into a submission in the seventh when Ohara turned his back to intentionally end the proceedings. I would think that after that performance, Josh Taylor could probably fight for a world title in his next two or three fights if his handlers so choose to go in that direction.
Bradley Skeete (27-1, 12 KOs) UD12 Dale Evans (13-4-2, 4 KOs), welterweights – England
Bradley Skeete accomplished something here that was for him personally meaningful, but I am glad it is over. For those non-Brits like myself who have to learn this along the way, the Lonsdale belt is the belt a fighter gets when winning the British title. If he loses it, he physically gives it up. However, if a fighter can defend his British title three times successfully, he gets to keep the physical belt for life and a new one is made for the division going forward. Doing so is what Skeete accomplished here in his third consecutive defense of his British belt. I am happy for him, but he has been treading water against pointless opposition in doing so. Skeete somewhat comfortably outpointed Sam Eggington last March. Improbably since then, Eggington’s career has taken off while Skeete has not capitalized at all while pursuing this goal. Time to move up to world level, Bradley.
Anthony Yarde (12-0, 11 KOs) TKO1 Richard Baranyi (18-2, 12 KOs), light heavyweights – England
Anthony Yarde is a physically imposing light heavyweight prospect with power for days. I don’t know if he is dynamic enough of an athlete to pull this stuff off at world level, but at this level he is just able to bash guys out. On paper Baranyi’s solid record represented a significant step up for the 25 year old prospect, but he built that record in Hungary which is one of those nations with an active enough low level fight scene that builds empty records. I’d like to see Yarde in against a pair of fighters who built winning records in the UK and then a British title fight in his fifteenth bout against Buglioni if he still has it. I am confident that Yarde can rise well past that level, but it shouldn’t be his next fight as that is a pretty big leap overnight.
Darryll Williams (16-0, 6 KOs) MD10 Jahmaine Smyle (14-6-2, 6 KOs), super middleweights – England
Despite Williams’s 16-0 record, neither of these guys are prospects. What they are, however, are two men who put on an absolute war in April for the British super middleweight belt. If the fight had a more prominent stage, it would be actively in the discussion for fight of the year. Williams narrowly edged that fight and he did so again here in the rematch. As pretty much always, the sequel fight did not quite live up to the original war, but this was still a very entertaining contest.
Daniel Dubois (4-0, 4 KOs) KO2 Mauricio Barragan (15-2, 8 KOs), heavyweights – England
19 year old Dubois is 4-0 now in just three months time. He is a rapidly emerging prospect gaining hype by the fight, but I suggest some caution here. Dubois has plenty of time to grow, but as of now he just sort of plods forward and throws big but somewhat inaccurate shots until his power eventually carries the day. He doesn’t seem to have a high level of athleticism in his hands or feet. What he does do well is work behind the jab with patience and his power is real, but to some he is being hailed as the second coming of Anthony Joshua. Dubois is going to need some time to grow so expect a couple years of these kind of fights. Here he smashed a Uruguayan light heavyweight who weighed in as a cruiserweight.
Friday, July 7th
David Emanuel Peralta (27-3-1, 14 KOs) UD8 Guillermo de Jesus Paz (25-32-4, 1 KO), welterweights – Argentina
If David Peralta’s name is vaguely familiar, it is because he is the taxi driver who beat Robert Guerrero last summer on Spike. Peralta followed that career altering fight by promptly losing all momentum thanks to a December split decision loss to an unknown Dominican on a non-televised card in Pennsylvania. Here Peralta returned to his native Argentina for a get well fight to try to right the ship, but really he had already taken the level of loss he took in December twice before. Robert Guerrero is just not a fighter that only can be beaten by top fighters any longer. Peralta’s win there did not mean he was suddenly better, but that Guerrero is a lot worse now.
Giovanni Santillan (22-0, 12 KOs) TKO2 Sammy Valentin (12-1, 9 KOs), welterweights – Florida
25 year old welterweight prospect Giovanni Santillan looked pretty sharp here in this Telemundo main event, though Sammy Valentin did come out hyper aggressive and had a good first two minutes. Once his initial adrenaline rush wore off, however, the class of Giovanni Santillan began to show pretty quickly. The second round was a beat down with Valentin hurt repeatedly and going down twice before the fight was stopped. To his credit, Sammy Valentin never stopped fighting back, but he should probably learn how to hold on at some point too.
Teofimo Lopez (6-0, 5 KOs) UD6 Christian Santibanez (5-7, 3 KOs), lightweights & Antonio Vargas (3-0, 2 KOs) UD6 Leonard Reyes (7-14, 3 KOs), lightweights – Florida
Lopez and Vargas are a pair of Americans who fought in Rio, though Lopez represented his parents’ native Honduras when he failed to qualify for the US team. Despite both his failures to qualify for the US and to win a fight in Rio, I firmly believe Teofimo Lopez has the most pro potential of any of the Americans in Rio, Shakur Stevenson included. His style is just much better suited to the pro game than the amateur system. Vargas is of course a prospect too, but he doesn’t look like he is putting it all together as a pro quite as fast as Lopez.
Wednesday, July 5th
Luis Concepcion (36-5, 25 KOs) KO2 Luis de la Rosa (25-9-1, 15 KOs), super flyweights – Panama
Last year Luis Concepcion realized his dream of winning a world title when he knocked off Kohei Kono to pick up a super flyweight belt. This was the culmination of three previous failed title bids with multiple interim title reigns sprinkled in between. Unfortunately, Concepcion showed up to his first defense against Khalid Yafai significantly overweight and lost the title before he even lost the fight. He did lose too, rather widely, but one does have to wonder how much weight issues may have played in here. Either way, he did make super flyweight here and easily took out a lesser fighter. Concepcion is a good fighter who makes good fights, so here is to seeing him back in against a top fighter soon.
Muhammad Waseem (6-0, 4 KOs) KO2 Eliecer Valdez (3-9-2, 2 KOs), super bantamweights, – Panama
Pakistani Muhammad Waseem was a prominent regional amateur who never really made it to the world stage. Nevertheless, his nationality creates a unique marketing opportunity in boxing as people from the region basically never exist in the sport. Based out of South Korea due to there being no infrastructure for sport at home, Waseem was given a WBC Silver flyweight title fight in only his third fight. This puts him in line to fight Daigo Higa, but I don’t know if I’d recommend that course of action. Here Waseem traveled to the Americas for the first time as a pro to take an odd nothing fight compared to his last two opponents who had a combined 41-5-2 record.
