Welcome to this week’s edition of Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I examine the week’s results in the sport that I hadn’t otherwise covered. In a week absent any major cards, that is everything. This week we have a couple serious Mexican prospects, another Mexico over Japan win, British Olympians, and more.
Sunday, September 3rd
Daniel Roman (23-2-1, 9 KOs) TKO9 Shun Kubo (12-1, 9 KOs), super bantamweights – Japan
For the second consecutive week, a Mexican has traveled to Japan and stopped his Japanese opponent for a belt. While this is only a secondary world title from the always promiscuous WBA, it may become real shortly. The true WBA super bantamweight title is held by Guillermo Rigondeaux and he is planning on moving up for at least one fight. If he were to be stripped or vacate, Daniel Roman would be your WBA titleholder at super bantamweight. As for the fight itself, after a pair of feel out rounds Roman began to control it with his pressure. By the end of the sixth it had become a beating. While Kubo valiantly returned fire until the end, this could have probably been stopped earlier.
Iran Diaz (13-2-2, 5 KOs) UD10 Luis Concepcion (36-6, 25 KOs), super flyweights – Panama
At 31, it might be time to stick a fork in former world title holder Luis Concepcion. Last summer the Panamanian finally won his world title after years of missed chances and secondary belts by outpointing Kohei Kono in Japan. Unfortunately, Concepcion immediately lost it on the scale in his first defense against Khalid Yafai, then losing the fight too in a rather listless effort. After rebounding with a KO2 over a journeyman, Concepcion posted this poor result this weekend. Diaz had previously been stopped in his two step up attempts, but here he won a very wide, near shut out decision over the former titleholder. The past year has been a dramatic fall from grace for Luis Concepcion.
Bobby Gunn Jr (9-0, 7 KOs) TKO2 Mike Miranda (44-7, 40 KOs), super middleweights – West Virginia
Career journeyman and supposed bare knuckle boxing champion Bobby Gunn is now largely pinning his hopes on his son, Bobby Gunn Jr. On paper, this is working out for the Gunn family as 20 year old Junior here picked up two regional titles from major sanctioning bodies. This isn’t quite the win it looks like on paper though since Miranda is now 0-6 outside of his native Brazil. Still, these belts should help the younger Gunn move forward in the sport should they choose to continue matching him against positive record fighters.
Saturday, September 2nd
Antonio Margarito (41-8, 27 KOs) TD7 Carson Jones (40-12-3, 30 KOs), junior middleweights – Mexico
Carson Jones was never going to be allowed to win this fight. This much is clear. With that said, Margarito didn’t start terribly and had a case for winning each of the first three rounds. In the second a headbutt from Jones opened a cut over his always damaged eye right after the opening bell, but he fought through it. After three competitive rounds, however, Jones took over the fight in the fourth from a fading Margarito. Rounds four, five, six, and seven were clear Carson Jones rounds as he largely battered the former elite fighter around the ring.
Round five was a particularly interesting one. First, Jones again lunged in with his head, this time losing a point. That was not a ridiculous moment, but what came later was. At the end of the round Jones had landed a few huge shots and potentially had Margarito hurt. Of course then the round would mysteriously end twenty seconds early. After the seventh, it appeared Margarito had quit in his corner, but apparently the fight was stopped due to the cut sustained in the second round. Blood had not been flowing into his eye, nor had the cut visibly worsened, but this was the ruling. Accordingly the fight went to the cards and Margarito won a ridiculous decision.
Carson Jones didn’t have to win this decision. I gave Margarito two of the first three, but he could have won all three. If he had, Jones’s clear four rounds minus the point loss would have ended in a draw. This would have been an annoying ending, but a mathematically understandable one. Instead, the judges somehow managed to give Margarito rounds in which he was clearly beaten up. He was also saved by an early bell in the fifth and given an out to get to the seemingly fixed scorecards that didn’t make a ton of sense. Good job, boxing.
Ramon Alvarez (24-6-3, 13 KOs) D8 Johnny Navarrete (33-10-2, 15 KOs), junior middleweights – Mexico
Canelo’s older journeyman of a brother Ramon returned with a pretty exciting, come from behind draw against a fellow Mexican journeyman. Alvarez really had to rally here late to avoid a loss that his career probably couldn’t afford. Having lost two of his last three to mid level Mexican fighters Omar Chavez and the current shell of Antonio Margarito, it would have been hard to take Alvarez seriously as even a Mexican domestic level fighter had he lost here.
Jaime Munguia (25-0, 21 KOs) KO2 Uriel Gonzalez (16-3-1, 12 KOs), junior middleweights – Mexico
20 year old Jaime Munguia posted a highlight reel second round one punch knockout here on the Margarito/Jones undercard. A somewhat rare Mexican fighter with a long amateur career, Munguia reportedly posted over sixty fights in the unpaid ranks before turning pro. At his young age he is already widely outclassing the Mexican domestic scene at junior middleweight and is definitely a prospect to watch. His most notable win so far would probably have to be two fights ago against the same Johnny Navarrete who took Ramon Alvarez to a draw on this very same card. Munguia beat him wide. The young Mexican is not a sure fire blue chipper, but I’d expect to see major promoters taking a look at him sooner rather than later as he is a very promising prospect.
Eric Molina (26-4, 19 KOs) MD6 Jamal Woods (13-36-7, 10 KOs), heavyweights – Texas
A majority decision is an interesting result for Eric Molina in his return against a club fighter in what looks like it was supposed to be a walk over, but I can’t imagine there is likely ever be video of this fight for us to evaluate the decision with. Either way, Woods is a tough club fighter who has been in with a handful of known opponents and only stopped a couple times. This was Molina’s first fight back since his failed title bid against Anthony Joshua last December.
Eduardo Hernandez (24-0-3, 20 KOs) KO3 Raul Horacio Centeno (20-4-1, 8 KOs), junior lightweights – Mexico
Like Jaimie Munguia, 19 year old Eduardo Hernandez is a rising unbeaten Mexican prospect on the verge of a breakthrough. Unlike Munguia, however, Hernandez did it the traditional Mexican way by learning his craft on the job. Hernandez turned professional at 15 years old. With all three draws on his record coming before his 18th birthday, those results cannot be held against him. Last year, at 18, Hernandez blew out Victor Terrazas in two in what was a huge statement towards his potential. In the few years prior to that bout Terrazas had defeated Cristian Mijares, Fernando Montiel, and Neohmar Cermeno, for example, but was no match for the rising teenage prospect. Hernandez can look a bit crude at times and took a round and a half to settle in here, but once he does his power is real and opponents crumble.
Friday, September 1st
Joe Cordina (4-0, 4 KOs) TKO1 Jamie Speight (15-3, 2 KOs), lightweights & Joshua Buatsi (2-0, 2 KOs) TKO5 Baptiste Castegnaro (8-13, 5 KOs), light heavyweights & Lawrence Okolie (5-0, 4 KOs) PTS6 Blaise Mendouo (3-4), cruiserweights – England
The 2016 British Olympic boxing team continued its journey together in the paid ranks under Matchroom. Buatsi got the headline, but overall they are pretty interchangeable. All three are good looking prospects. Of note for each of them, Cordina met and blew out a fighter with a really positive record, Okolie was drawn the distance for the first time, and Buatsia managed to only be the second man to stop his opponent in his thirteen losses. This was one of those NXTGN Matchroom cards. These guys are at least two years away from significant world level fights, but expect to consistently hear a lot about them along that ride.
Ted Cheeseman (10-0, 7 KOs) DQ3 Francesco Lezzi (9-9-1, 3 KOs), middleweights – England
In a bout that was supposed to quietly build an under the radar prospect’s record on the same card as the Olympians, we instead got a comedy show. Cheeseman was a decent amateur on the British scene and is being treated as a real prospect by Eddie Hearn and Matchroom, but he was not the story here. Instead the Italian stole the show. First, he did it by not punching really at all, but instead complaining. When he did punch, he immediately got dropped in the second round. In the third, Lezzi had had enough of the ref not listening to his complaints, mostly about shots to the back of the head, so he shoved him. Of course this earned him a disqualification and Cheeseman his tenth win. You can’t make this stuff up.
Conor Benn (8-0, 6 KOs) TKO2 Kane Baker (4-1), welterweights – England
Conor Benn, son of Nigel, continued his rise here with another quick stoppage. This young Benn lacks a strong amateur pedigree, but at 20 there is room to grow. It is clear that he is a good athlete as well. Here he blitzed out an unbeaten but really low level foe on the same card headlined by Buatsi. Conor’s half brother Harley, also 20, is also making a pro career without a serious amateur one, or really one at all in his case. Interestingly, the two hate each other and like to beef to twitter. Though they are a few weight classes apart, I can’t help but feel like eventually we are heading toward some bizarre soap opera style family grudge match way down the line.
Manny Robles Jr (14-0, 6 KOs) KO7 Jose Estrella (18-13-1, 12 KOs), featherweights – California
Golden Boy prospect Manny Robles Jr won against a journeyman to headline another small time LA Fight Club show. Robles is the son of rising star trainer Manny Robles, the main who recently helped guide Oscar Valdez and Jessie Magdaleno to world titles. Robles Jr isn’t on their level athletically, but he is no slouch either. Clearly the 23 year old prospect is getting good training from his father as well. Golden Boy actually has an interesting stable of young fighters in the 122-130 corridor so Robles could be in intriguing matchups in the future.
Thursday, August 31st
Ricardo Nunez (29-6, 23 KOs) UD9 Iwier Henriquez (10-10-1, 4 KOs), bantamweights – Panama
Two time failed title challenger Ricardo Nunez returned for a routine decision in his native Panama. Though Nunez failed in both 2012 and 2013 in his world title bids, most recently he is coming off a good performance. Last September he met unbeaten prospect Leduan Barthelemy, brother to Rances, on a PBC on FS1 card and had what seemed like a reasonably clear argument to have won the fight. Yet, as happens all too often, the house prospect got a nod that he might not have deserved. Here is to Nunez getting another shot from that soon.
Takuma Inoue (9-0, 2 KOs) UD10 Hiroyuki Kudaka (25-17-1, 11 KOs), bantamweights & Koki Inoue (9-0, 8 KOs) RTD2 Cristiano Aoqui (11-7-2, 11 KOs), junior welterweights – Japan
Takuma and Koki, brother and cousin to Japanese sensation Naoya Inoue, both returned to action a week out from their more famous family member makes his HBO debut. Despite their KO percentages suggesting otherwise, Takuma, 21, is the better prospect between he and Koki, 25. While Takuma is clearly a good athlete, that lack of power is a bit concerning for his chances as he moves up. Koki isn’t as dynamic, but he is showing some power as he rises up. He is also a big Japanese fighter at junior welterweight so that is working for him as well. Both of these fights were designed to be record builders rather than real tests and they delivered on that promise.
