From one busy week to another, there was a lot going for this edition of Under the Radar Fight Results to cover. This is my Tuesday column in which I go over all the results of the week not otherwise covered by separate articles. This time we have a title fight in the Phillippines, a Viktor Postol sighting, lots of prospects, the son of a legend, and more. Get comfortable, this is a long one.
On the Radar Fight Results
Rojas stops Marrero on GGG/Canelo Eve
Callum Smith narrowly edges Erik Skoglund thanks to late knockdown
Saunders retains over Monroe in a poor fight
Diaz, De La Hoya, and Martin win on GGG/Canelo undercard
Golovkin and Canelo fight to disputable draw on PPV
Under the Radar Fight Results
Sunday, September 17th
Dominic Boesel (25-1, 10 KOs) RTD2 Robert Blazo (15-30-2, 5 KOs), light heavyweights – Germany
Top German domestic light heavyweight Dominic Boesel lost a step up fight against long time fringe contender Karo Murat in July. It was a pretty even fight until Boesel was stopped in the eleventh round. Murat is a decent fighter holding wins over the likes of Tommy Karpency and Gabriel Campillo, but other than being able to draw a verging on 50 Bernard Hopkins into a bit of a war, he hasn’t been able to accomplish anything when fighting at world level. Losing to him probably marked Boesel’s ceiling. Here the German returned at home for an easy get well win over a low level journeyman.
Saturday, September 16th
Luke Jackson (15-0, 6 KOs) UD10 Humberto de Santiago (14-4-1, 10 KOs), featherweights – Australia
While his age, lack of power, and middling athleticism probably make Jackson the weakest among them, the 32 year old Aussie is very much a part of a much needed new wave of Australian fighters. These guys may just be about to send the country into a boxing golden age relative to its comparatively less successful history. Jeff Horn headlines the class, of course, but look out for other names such as Damien Hooper, the Moloney twins, David Toussaint, and Jai Opetaia in the near future. This isn’t a particularly notable win, but Jackson is holding minor WBO and WBA belts that will likely help him considerably in their rankings.
Johann Duhaupas (36-4, 23 KOs) TKO4 Evgeny Orlov (17-16-1, 13 KOs), heavyweights
Ever since he stopped local hero Robert Helenius last April, Finland has become a bit of a fight home for French fringe heavyweight contender Johann Duhaupas. This was his third fight there in a year and a half. While Duhaupas will struggle to win at the B level of the division and has proven himself almost completely lost at its top, this level of journeyman is still easy for him to bash out. Perhaps he could try to reclaim his old European belt soon.
Milan Melindo (37-2, 13 KOs) SD12 Hekkie Budler (31-3, 10 KOs), IBF light flyweight title – Philippines
The Philippine’s Milan Melindo lifted his IBF light flyweight title off from Akira Yaegashi in a surprise first round knockout in May. He did not take an easy first defense. South African former minimumweight titleholder Hekkie Budler proved to be a very stiff test in his bid to become a two division titlist. Early on Melindo controlled the bout, but by the midpoint Budler was doing really well. Not just with his fists, either, as a headbutt in round 6 opened a cut that obscured the champion’s vision the rest of the way.
From there Budler was able to get rounds back, giving the fight an even feel heading into the tenth round. In what seemed like a disaster for the Filipino light flyweight belt holder, another headclash opened another cut in the tenth round over his other eye, rendering him seemingly blind as blood poured into both eyes. Miraculously, however, Melindo managed to come out aggressive and win the eleventh round when all hope seemed lost. Not only that, but he did it again in the twelfth, even dropping Budler for the only knockdown in the fight. It was a pretty epic rally to steal the fight back for Melindo. The cards came back a split decision which seemed fair to me.
Jonas Sultan (14-3, 9 KOs) UD12 John Riel Casimero (24-4, 15 KOs), super flyweights – Philippines
I am not sure if there is watchable video for this fight out there, but what a result if there are no robbery concerns or anything of the sort. From reading local news, there doesn’t seem to be. 25 year old Jonas Sultan turned pro at 21 with no fanfare and promptly lost two of his first five against fellow novices. He kept at it, however, and his only set back since then was five fights ago in Japan against the vastly more experienced Go Onaga. In May he upset longtime contender Sonny Boy Jaro to earn his place in this IBF super flyweight eliminator for the right to face Jerwin Ancajas.
John Riel Casimero, still only 27, is a former two division titleholder with major wins over the likes of Pedro Guevara and Amnat Ruenroeng. He moved up to super flyweight looking for a third title and any one of the number of money fights that could be made for him in the stacked division. Instead he found rapidly rising Jonas Sultan who will now go on to face Ancajas in an all Filipino super flyweight title bout. This was not the script as it was supposed to be written.
Viktor Postol (29-1, 12 KOs) UD10 Jamshidbek Najmiddinov (14-1, 9 KOs), junior welterweights – Ukraine
I guess all the milk carton faces paid off, guys. We found Viktor Postol. Missing since his one sided loss to Terence Crawford last July, the former titleholder and Lucas Matthysse conqueror returned very quietly in his native Ukraine. Despite a big size and experience advantage here, Postol really struggled along the way to get this win.
Twice in the first round Najmiddinov landed left hands that caused Postol to stagger back and touch his glove to the canvas. The first landed on the chest and their feet may have been tangled, but the second time looked like a clear knockdown to me that wasn’t called. Postol struggled in the next few rounds to find his evasive Uzbekistani foe, but he was probably winning them narrowly anyway. In the fifth, however, Najmiddinov caught Postol with a big left hand and sent him down hard. When the former champion rose, he was all sorts of wobbly and had to initiate an ugly clinchfest to survive.
From there, Postol regained his legs and went back to narrowly winning pretty boring rounds where he struggled to lead the action en route to clearly deserving the decision. If I were his handlers, I’d give him another fight even below this level before letting him back in with a top contender. This wasn’t a good look for the 33 year old.
Denys Berinchyk (7-0, 4 KOs) TKO6 Ismael Garcia (8-2, 3 KOs), lightweights – Ukraine
Berinchyk won silver both at the 2011 World Championships and 2012 Olympics for Ukraine, scoring wins over Anthony Yigit and Jeff Horn and losing close gold medal matches along the way. Top Ukrainian prospects have been moving quickly in the past few years, but without major promotional backing it appears that the 29 year old is taking a more traditional route up the paid ranks. He has actually come down in weight since his amateur days. This was a cuts stoppage.
Anthony Yarde (13-0, 12 KOs) RTD3 Norbert Nemesapati (25-7, 18 KOs), light heavyweights – England
As a bit of a measuring stick, Yarde got his Hungarian opponent out faster here than either Anthony Dirrell or Callum Smith did. As a prospect, Yarde is among the most interesting in the sport. He has obvious and tremendous power, reasonably quick hands, and he throws creative combinations that are hard to predict. Yet he also chases rather than cutting off the ring and is a man carrying a ton of heavy upper body muscle. I have a real hard time seeing him deal with slick boxers that are still there in the second half of the fight. They will be able to slip and rip unless he learns to cut off the ring. How long will he be able to chase them before he succumbs to the natural exhaustion that stems from the oxygen demand of big muscles? Finding out is going to be pretty entertaining when it happens, I suspect.
Daniel Dubois (5-0, 5 KOs) TKO1 Anthony Carter (8-4, 6 KOs), heavyweights & Zak Chelli (3-0, 1 KO) PTS6 Adam Jones (6-24-5, 1 KO), super middleweights – England
As far as early stage prospects go, 20 year old Daniel Dubois got the hype here and delivered with a clean knockout in 40 or so seconds. Carter was out for longer than you’d like and things got a bit tense, but he seemed fine in the end. It will be a long time before we learn much about Dubois though. They will match him like this for his paydays and hype while quietly trying to improve him in the gym behind close doors for years, most likely. Trying to get an early read like this will probably prove pointless long term, but he is obviously a puncher. He does seem a bit rigid and slow as of now, but again it is so early. 19 year old recent prominent British amateur Zak Chelli also had his third fight here. Jones has never been finished in 25 losses and Chelli, who would have been a favorite to make the 2020 British Olympic team had he remained an amateur, didn’t change that.
Zach Parker (13-0, 10 KOs) TKO1 Luke Blackledge (23-5-2, 8 KOs), super middleweights – England
23 year old Zach Parker put on a good domestic showing here against a decent fellow Brit in Luke Blackledge. Granted, Rocky Fielding once did the same thing to him and last time out Blackledge lost to a 45 year old Lolenga Mock, but it is still a hell of a way to pass a first step up in class for Zach Parker. Basically all it took was one left hand with under a minute left in the round. It is too early to read into this, but Parker is now relevant on the British scene.
Martin Murray (36-4-1, 17 KOs) TKO4 Arman Torosyan (18-4-1, 15 KOs), middleweights – England
Perennial bridesmaid Martin Murray, 0-3-1 in world title fights, returned with an easy win over an Armenian foe. Murray is now 3-0 since his loss to George Groves last summer, but it is difficult to imagine him ever being competitive with a true top fighter again. At 34 he could probably still have a productive career fighting at domestic level for a while if he wanted to. Unfortunately, he almost certainly has his sights set higher than that.
David Oliver Joyce (3-0, 2 KOs) PTS6 Ivan Godor (20-46-4, 6 KOs), lightweights – Northern Ireland
2016 Irish Olympian David Oliver Joyce picked up his third career win here and his first by decision. Joyce was a longtime successful amateur at the European level, but he always faltered short of world level. At 30, he is notably long in the tooth for starting a professional career, but of course he will have that built in Irish fanbase for as long as he goes.
Steve Collins Jr (11-1-1, 4 KOs) PTS6 Edgars Sniedze (5-20, 5 KOs), light heavyweights – Northern Ireland
Steve Collins Jr is mostly irrelevant to the sport, but I include him as a curiosity. Yes, he is the son of Irish legend Steve Collins. No, he is not a prospect or a contender, nor will he ever be. I bet you could sell some tickets in the UK for Chris Eubank Jr to knock him out though sometime in the near future. The record of his opponent says it all here.
Vergil Ortiz (7-0, 7 KOs) KO2 Cesar Valenzuela (7-2, 7 KOs), junior welterweights – Nevada
19 year old top Golden Boy prospect Vergil Ortiz kept his knockout percentage perfect deep on the weekend’s big PPV undercard before the broadcast began. Ortiz is a talented kid with obvious power and athletcisim. At 19 there is of course a lot of work to be done on technique and such, but it is easy to see why Golden Boy is excited about him. I expect him to become a staple on the Golden Boy on ESPN series in the not too distant future.
Friday, September 15th
Ryan Garcia (11-0, 10 KOs) TKO1 Miguel Carrizoza (10-3, 2 KOs), junior lightweights & Damon Allen (13-0-1, 5 KOs) UD8 Jayro Duran (10-3, 9 KOs), junior welterweights – Nevada
On Golden Boy’s Friday card, two of their more prominent prospects picked up wins in dramatically different ways. 19 year old Ryan Garcia scored a flashy, dramatic first round knockout that furthered his reputation as a real kid to watch. 25 year old Damon Allen did the opposite. Though he clearly won, he did it by landing approximately one billion low blows in a weird twitch that he just couldn’t stop. He was also pretty easy for Duran to hit when he wasn’t doubled over from a nutshot. It was not a good showing for Allen.
Mike Lee (20-0, 11 KOs) TKO1 Aaron Quattrocchi (10-2-1, 5 KOs), light heavyweights – Illinois
Aaron Quattrochi ate fresh and then fell asleep after a foot long right hand from Subway’s Mike Lee. Or he didn’t. I don’t know. I just made that up because Subway puns seemed more interesting than loading this on my DVR and watching two minutes of a Mike Lee fight. If you somehow don’t know, Mike Lee is a former Notre Dame student who has a boxing following because of… I don’t know, white pride? Because he is a white former Notre Dame student is why. Top Rank tried to make something of him, but it didn’t happen. There was a Subway commercial. He has never fought anyone. This was on CBS Sports Net. Moving on!
Ievgen Khytrov (15-1, 12 KOs) UD8 Derrick Findley (27-22-1, 18 KOs), super middleweights – Connecticut
Formerly hyped Ukrainian middleweight prospect Ievgen Khytrov was upset in one of the more exciting fights of the year back in January on ShoBox. Eight months later, he returned to the ring on Saturday. Findley is a tough out who has fought a who’s who of fighters around the division, a guy only elite fighters stop. Khytrov scored a shut out decision here at least.
Thursday, September 14th
Javier Fortuna (33-1-1, 23 KOs) UD10 Nicolas Javier (16-1, 9 KOs), lightweights – Dominican Republic
Dominican former junior lightweight title holder Javier Fortuna returned midweek for an easy win over an opponent with an empty record back home in the Caribbean. I can only imagine that a fight card was a welcome distraction from the clean up on the storm torn nation. Fortuna is now 4-0 since losing his belt to Jason Sosa last summer in China, all four fights coming within the lightweight division but not quite fully up at its limit. It is unclear to me at which weight he would prefer to perform at at this point.
Wednesday, September 13th
Shingo Wake (22-5-2, 14 KOs) KO8 Boonsom Lamsiri (50-3, 31 KOs), super bantamweights – Japan
Despite scoring a one sided knockout, I bet Shingo Wake had a pretty disappointing time on this card. The main event pit world titleholder Yukinori Oguni defending against Ryosuke Iwasa. Oguni only had one loss on his record and it was to Wake, so it followed that a rematch for Oguni’s belt would make a ton of sense. Iwasa smashed that idea away. While Wake remains a viable domestic candidate for a title defense, the narrative that would have made that fight make sense has now been swatted away by an onslaught of straight lefts.
