It is once again that time of the week for Under the Radar Fight Results. This is where I collect all the prominent results of the week that I had not already discussed separately and break them down. While this week as notably slow internationally, we still have a three time Olympian, a ShoBox fight, the brother of a prominent fighter, and more.
On the Radar Fight Results
Herrera and Shabranskyy win on ESPN2
Lomachenko dismisses Marriaga predictably on ESPN
Under the Radar Fight Results
Friday, August 4th
Jesse Angel Hernandez (9-1, 7 KOs) TKO5 Vladimir Tikhonov (16-1, 9 KOs), super bantamweights – Michigan
This was the televised undercard fight for Claressa Shield’s predictably one sided unified title win in her fourth pro fight. That fight was pretty emblematic of why I don’t usually cover women’s boxing. While there are a handful of talented fighters, certainly more than there used to be, the sport lacks intrigue because consistently there are no other top females around for them to fight.
Anyway, as for Hernandez/Tikhonov, the Russian fighter was making his US debut here and it did not go well. He looked pretty good in the first, controlling a fight that was being contested on the outside. When Hernandez decided to pressure, however, things fell apart quickly. Tikhonov never really stopped landing his own shots to his credit, but he could not deal with the pressure or inside game of Hernandez and was really getting beat up when the fight was called. There was some talk about the stoppage because Vladimir was not super hurt in the moment, but I was starting to really feel nervous for him so I was happy to see it.
Domonique Dolton (18-1-1, 9 KOs) UD6 Antonio Chaves Fernandez (9-33-4, 3 KOs), junior middleweights – Michigan
Until September of 2015, Domonique Dolton was a known prospect with at least a small measure of hype. Then he met fellow unbeaten prospect Carlos Molina, a former Mexican Olympian, and fought to a somewhat disappointing draw. It was his next fight however, a clear loss to fellow prospect Justin DeLoach, that really set him back. After just shy of a year off from his 0-1-1 stretch, Dolton returned here against a club fighter deep on the Shields ShoBox undercard well off television.
Jonathan Navarro (11-0, 6 KOs) UD8 Angel Sarinana (7-7-2, 3 KOs), junior welterweights – California
Nephew to former US Olympian and four time failed title challenger Jose Navarro, Jonathan Navarro is a somewhat minor Golden Boy prospect slowly working his way up the ranks. There isn’t a ton to say about him yet except that he is a good candidate to start filling slots on Golden Boy’s minor Estrella TV fight series. Golden Boy’s ranks are largely filled with fighters like Navarro already, however, so it will be up to him to stand out from the crowd.
Saturday, August 5th
Brian Damian Chaves (11-0, 3 KOs) UD8 Carlos Andres Chaparro (7-14, 3 KOs), junior welterweights – Argentina
Brother to Diego Chaves, Brian Chaves is being booked more as if the local Argentinian promoters are trying to cash in on the family name than as if he were considered a real prospect. All his fights have been either against opponents with three or less pro fights, or guys with bad, losing records. If he was blowing these guys out that would be one thing, but he is pretty consistently being taken the distance by some pretty poor South American fighters.
Vijender Singh (9-0, 7 KOs) UD10 Zulipikaer Maimaitiali (8-1-1, 6 KOs), super middleweights – India
Long a staple of the world amateur scene, Vijender Singh qualified for and participated in three Olympics and five World Championships. While he never medaled in any of them, he also only was only bounced in his first fight twice in those eight major events. He turned pro in October of 2015 and has spent his last couple fights collecting minor WBO belts, putting himself just inside their top ten in the process. As a pro, Singh is already pretty clearly India’s top pound for pound fighter. That is a potential absolutely lucrative market that boxing has left largely untouched in its history too. He had a promotional relationship with Frank Warren, but Singh terminated it prior to this bout and is now going at it with a local outfit. At 31, there does need to be some career movement sooner rather than later.
Ryo Akaho (32-2-2, 20 KOs) TKO9 Yuta Saito (10-8-3, 7 KOs), bantamweights – Japan
Former two time failed title challenger Ryo Akaho was back this weekend on the domestic Japanese level on which he more belongs. He lost shots in 2012 and 2015, but did have a decent OBPF reign prior to the first one. Akaho is not a world level fighter, quite clearly, but the Japanese have a really, really good domestic fight scene right now and they love to keep their world title fights in clean Japanese bloodlines whenever possible, so to speak. With several world title holders from Japan around his weight, I would not be the least bit surprised to see Akaho add one more failed title bid to his resume before he eventually stops.
Emmanuel Rodriguez (17-0, 12 KOs) RTD6 Giovanni Delgado (16-6, 9 KOs), bantamweights – Puerto Rico
For the first time in my life, Puerto Rican boxing isn’t really competing on the world level. Miguel Cotto is a part time fighter on the verge of retirement and otherwise we are left with contenders like Jose Pedraza and the Arroyo brothers. Good fighters, but they are far from stars and they can’t consistently win at the highest levels. For my money, there are three prospects close to contending that could change that. 24 year old Manny Rodriguez is one of them, along with Felix Verdejo and Alberto Machado. These are not super prospects, however, but it does feel more likely that one will emerge than all three flame out. When PBC was in its earlier, hyper active stage, Rodriguez was getting consistent fights, but he has taken his last two away from that spotlight at home in Puerto Rico. Ranked by all four sanctioning bodies, I’d expect to see Manny in a title fight in the next two years.
Luca Giacon (30-1, 26 KOs) TKO6 Sam O’Maison (14-2, 6 KOs), junior welterweights – Spain
29 year old Luca Giacon, already a ten year pro, is a somewhat intriguing fighter out Spain. He has had multiple European title reigns and has won minor belts from three of the four sanctioning bodies. His second round, 2015 TKO loss to longtime Euro-level fighter Emiliano Marsili is a bit of a red flag, but Marsili at 40 still has neither lost or stepped up to world level, so it is hard to get a real read on that result. Giacon’s wins have come at low Euro-level at best, but he is basically smashing everyone out he fights in the way you’d expect a good fighter to handle this level of competition. I don’t know what his future holds, but he is worth keeping in your boxing periphery.
Arnold Barboza Jr (17-0, 6 KOs) UD8 Jonathan Chicas (15-3, 7 KOs), junior welterweights – California
For those of us who found the online stream of the Lomachenko/Marriaga card at the time ESPN broadcast was supposed to start, we were treated with this fun little fight. Barboza dominated early, but Chicas rallied to nearly steal it in the second half of the bout. Both fighters went down along the way. Neither of these guys are future contenders in my eyes, but I was glad to have caught the fight.
Esquiva Falcao (18-0, 12 KOs) UD8 Norberto Gonzalez (23-10, 13 KOs), middleweights – California
Esquiva Falcao is brother to Yamaguchi Falcao, both significant Brazilian prospects with Olympic experience who oddly decided to sign with Top Rank and Golden Boy respectively. Esquiva won silver, beating Anthony Ogogo and then losing to Ryota Murata by one point in the final, but he probably should have won gold. He received a vague two point penalty that confused about everyone and lost him the match. As a pro, Falcao has been either knocking out or scoring shut out decisions over everyone Top Rank puts in with him. At 27, he is more than ready for a step up, but Top Rank moves most of their guys very, very slowly. I don’t expect him to really get one for a while.
Andy Vences (19-0, 11 KOs) KO3 Eliseo Cruz Sesma (11-4-1, 7 KOs), junior lightweights & Erick De Leon (17-0, 10 KOs) UD6 Adones Aguelo (28-16-2, 19 KOs), lightweights – California
Vences and De Leon are part of a sizable group of midlevel prospects that Top Rank were using to fill their UniMás cards. When they dropped out of that show, there were rumors Top Rank would be announcing a streaming service to hold their smaller shows while their bigger cards would air on ESPN. The second part of that happened, but we are still waiting on a potential OTT service. I did manage to ask Dan Rafael in his chat about this and he told me to be patient for a while, so I am guessing something is in the works. For now, these guys are stuck deep on the ESPN undercards. Arnold Barboza belongs in this group too, but he snuck on the main card this weekend due to the NFL HOF delays.
Zhilei Zhang (17-0, 13 KOs) TKO1 Nick Guivas (13-8-2, 9 KOs), heavyweights – New Jersey
2008 Olympic silver medalist Zhilei Zhang is one of two reasonably prominent, still active Chinese heavyweights, both with the family name of Zhang. Zhilei is the one basing his career stateside while Jun Long is the one that fights out of China, the one that the WBA demanded proof of his fights actually taking place. Zhilei’s fights are definitely real and he does keep winning dominantly against the usual heavyweight trial horses. Comparatively, Guivas had survived longer against Chazz Witherspoon, BJ Flores, and Jarrell Miller, but of course he also carried the damage from those fights into this one. As a prospect, Zhang actually looks okay. He is a full sized, 6’6″ heavyweight who shows up every fight in shape. Zhilei shows coordinated hands and decent foot coordination as well, though it is difficult to read his defense against this level of opposition. Zhang is also far from a soft puncher. The one glaring problem with him as a prospect is that he is 34 already. If a move can be made, the time is now.
