Welcome to this week’s edition of Under the Radar Fight Results, the most comprehensive fight column on the internet. This is where I go over the results of the week not otherwise covered by separate articles. This week features several heavyweights, a few former world titleholders, a solid British domestic card, and much more.
Saturday, September 30th
Dominic Boesel (26-1, 10 KOs) UD10 Alis Sijaric (14-4, 12 KOs), light heavyweights – Germany
German light heavyweight fringe contender Dominic Boesel continues to try to put his career back together following his July upset stoppage loss to Karo Murat in a European title fight. He seems to be in a hurry to do so as well as he fought just two weeks ago too, albeit against a complete non threat with a bad losing record. Prior to that loss Boesel was positioning himself for a title shot by collecting minor belts from three of the four sanctioning bodies. It will take a few more wins for the German to get back to where he was.
Krzysztof Glowacki (28-1, 18 KOs) TKO5 Leonardo Damian Bruzzese (18-4-1, 6 KOs), cruiserweights – Latvia
Polish recent former cruiserweight titlist Krzysztof Glowacki won his second fight back here from losing his strap to the division’s best in Oleksandr Usyk last September. With wins over Marco Huck and Steve Cunningham, Glowacki probably would have made a better World Boxing Super Series tournament choice than the likes of Mike Perez or even say Dmitry Kudryashov, but nevertheless he is instead an alternate. He fought here to keep on the same schedule as the tournament in case he needs to replace someone.
Filip Hrgovic (1-0, 1 KO) TKO1 Raphael Zumbano Love (39-16-1, 31 KOs), heavyweights – Latvia
Croation 2016 Olympic super heavyweight bronze medalist Filip Hrgovic took his first pro fight this weekend at age 25. While he generally fell short against the Joe Joyce’s and Tony Yoka’s of the amateur world, Hrgovic was very much a world class operator. The 6’6″, full sized heavyweight now enters the paid ranks as a major prospect and he projects to be a significant power puncher too.
Felipe Orucuta (35-4, 29 KOs) TKO5 Edgar Jimenez (24-14-2, 16 KOs), bantamweight – Mexico
Two time title challenger Felipe Orucuta only narrowly twice missed out on becoming a world champion against Omar Narvaez. In 2013 and 2014, Orucuta lost to the title fight veteran by split and then majority decision, both times on the road in Argentina. While these narrow, world level losses elevated Orucuta’s profile, an upset stoppage loss to Jose Cateyano brought it all crashing back down. Orucuta is 4-0 over the past two years since that night, but he has only fought at this journeyman level in those wins.
Muhammad Waseem (8-0, 6 KOs) KO1 Jose Luis Calvo (3-9-3), bantamweight – Panama
Pakistani prospect Muhammad Waseem is on a weird career path. There are serious talks of him meeting titleholder Daigo Higa in Japan for the start of 2018, but he spent his 2017 stopping guys like Calvo in Panama. These fights will not get you ready for Higa. Waseem is part of The Money Team and trained by Jeff Mayweather, currently, and beyond that he did have a pretty good amateur career, but he was no dominant star by any means. This all kind of feels rushed to me. Waseem is a flyweight, by the way, but just isn’t bothering to cut down for these no hope opponents.
Anthony Yigit (20-0-1, 7 KOs) UD12 Sandor Martin (29-2, 10 KOs), junior welterweights – Sweden
In a sneaky good matchup, Anthony Yigit and Sandor Martin, two back end top twenty junior welterweights, met in Yigit’s native Sweden for the European title. In a somewhat inconsistent, but very competitive fight in which the two would deliver a mixture of action and clinching, Yigit fairly walked away with a decision win. The 26 year is probably as ready as he will be for a title eliminator bout if his team can secure one following this hard fought win.
Rocky Fielding (25-1, 14 KOs) KO1 David Brophy (19-2-1, 3 KOs), super middleweights – England
Rocky Fielding delivered what might be a career best result in this first round finish to net himself the British and Commonwealth belts in the main event of a domestically focused Sky card on Saturday. The specter of having lost in one to Callum Smith in 2015 still looms over Fielding’s chances at higher levels, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. Maybe a European title shot makes sense next for Fielding, or he could do something like wait for the loser of George Groves and Jamie Cox.
Paul Butler (25-1, 13 KOs) UD12 Stuart Hall (21-6-2, 7 KOs), bantamweights – England
In 2014, Paul Butler narrowly lifted a bantamweight world title belt off Stuart Hall before giving it up to drop down for a failed second title big against Zolani Tete. Time has been predictably much kinder to the now 28 year old Butler than to 37 year old Stuart Hall. Accordingly, Butler had a much easier time this go around and won by comfortable, near shut out margins. It is only a matter of time before Paul Butler gets another world level shot, but the same cannot be said for Stuart Hall as the veteran nears retirement.
Sean Dodd (15-2-1, 3 KOs) UD12 Thomas Stalker (12-3-3, 2 KOs) lightweights – England
33 year old Sean Dodd and his unassuming, powerless record continue to pick up wins, here defending his Commonwealth belt. With two very, very narrow fights against Scott Cardle and a win over Francesco Patera, Dodd has had a better run than his record suggests. Given how shallow the back end of lightweight has become, I even slide him just into my top 25 for the division. A Robbie Barrett fight would be interesting to help further sort out the British scene.
Ohara Davies (16-1, 13 KOs) TKO6 Tom Farrell (13-1, 3 KOs), junior welterweights – England
In his first fight back from an embarrassingly one sided July beating from Josh Taylor in what was supposed to be an even prospects match, Ohara Davies looked back to his old self in this one. Putting down Farrell four times in six rounds, Davies simply battered his previously unbeaten foe here in what I am sure he intended to be a bit of a statement performance. At 25, the future is still bright for the London native, but it will take more than destroying a fighter like Tom Farrell to wash the taste of the Taylor fight away.
Anthony Fowler (3-0, 3 KOs) TKO4 Jay Byrne (5-3, 1 KO), middleweights – England
2016 British Olympian Anthony Fowler picked up his third win in a fourth round stoppage over Irishman Jay Byrne, becoming the first man to stop him when neither fellow prospects Felix Cash nor Josh Kelly could. More interesting than these fights is Fowler’s reputation as a hot head. He could have lost his professional debut by disqualification when he hit a downed opponent and he also nearly lost his Olympic spot for gambling on the games, for example. We’ll see if the reputation continues to hold as he develops.
Dereck Chisora (27-7, 19 KOs) TKO5 Robert Filipovic (4-3, 3 KOs), heavyweights – England
Former heavyweight title challenger Derek Chisora took a tune up here ahead of his scheduled European title fight with unbeaten German prospect Agit Kabayel. It is kind of disappointing that the British commission approved him in with a 4-2 fighter, but Filipovic did manage to go five rounds here at least. Chisora, 33, is basically just a British/European level fighter at this point, but he retains name value in the UK and can be used in money fights there still.
Gary O’Sullivan (26-2, 18 KOs) TKO4 Nick Quigley (15-3, 3 KOs), middleweights – Massachusetts
In a Golden Boy on ESPN card that contained no Golden Boy fighters and didn’t air on ESPN, fringe contender Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan picked up a dominant stoppage win over Nick Quigley in the main event. This was really a Murphy’s Boxing card presumably using up a date for Golden Boy that they were struggling to fill, but I am just making an educated guess here. Either way, it aired on the WatchESPN website/app and Spike O’Sullivan is not a real contender. Both Chris Eubank Jr and Billy Joe Saunders had an easy time with him.
Friday, September 29th
Jon Fernandez (14-0, 12 KOs) RTD6 Alexander Podolsky (9-1, 3 KOs), junior lightweights – Spain
Sergio Martinez promoted power punching Spanish prospect Jon Fernandez picked up a win back home in Spain on Friday. Last time out, Fernandez received some minor US exposure on ShoBox in an impressive showing with Maravilla himself in attendance. The 22 year old is a good prospect and one to watch out for going forward. He also picked up a WBC silver title here which will help tremendously in their rankings.
John Vera (18-0, 11 KOs) TKO3 Sunday Ajuwa (13-3, 10 KOs), junior middleweights – Texas
Headlining the first card in Roy Jones Jr’s promotional company’s deal with BeIN Sports, John Vera kept his unblemished record in tact with a dominant win over Nigeria’s Ajuwa. I don’t see the 29 year old as a real serious prospect, but hopefully Roy can get him a step up and test him a bit here going forward with this television deal. Unless you count the shell of Joseph Agbeko, Vera is definitely the closest thing to a contender in Jones’s stable.
Ivan Dychko (1-0, 1 KO) TKO1 Aubur Wright (2-2, 1 KO), heavyweights – Texas
Giant, 6’9″ two time Olympic super heavyweight bronze medalist (2012 and 2016) Ivan Dychko of Kazakhstan turned pro on the Roy Jones Jr BeIN Sports card. He was matched with 6’11” Aubur Wright in what was assuredly one of the biggest combined height fights off all time. Many thought Dychko beat Anthony Joshua in the 2012 Olympics, but he obviously did not get the decision over the eventual gold medalist and professional titleholder. The 27 year old will have a size advantage almost every time out. Between Dychko and Hrgovic, it was a big weekend for prominent super heavyweight amateurs turning pro.
Gabriel Flores (4-0, 3 KOs) TKO2 Donnie Reeves (1-1, 1 KO), junior lightweights – Texas
Gabriel Flores made history last year when, at 16, he became the youngest fighter in history to sign with a major promoter when he did so with Top Rank. After waiting to turn 17 so he could actually legally fight professionally, Flores took a fight just days after his early May birthday and has fought three more times since then. Curiously, he hasn’t actually fought on a Top Rank card yet, but instead they are letting him grow on the regional scene. This probably makes some sense for such a young fighter who didn’t get an amateur career beyond the youth scene.
Thursday, September 28th
Oscar Rivas (21-0, 16 KOs) TKO1 Carl Davis Drumond (35-5, 25 KOs), heavyweights – Quebec
If you’re looking for a dark horse in the heavyweight division, you could do worse than 30 year old Montreal transplant Oscar Rivas. Originally from Colombia, Rivas is a real power puncher who shows up to fights in shape. Sometimes that is all it takes at heavyweight. I recommend looking up some of his knockouts and seeing for yourself. I am interested in seeing what Yvon Mitchell can drum up for Rivas in the future.
Cletus Seldin (20-0, 16 KOs) UD10 Renald Garrido (19-16-2, 10 KOs), welterweights – New York
Popular Jewish Long Island attraction Cletus Seldin returned after more than a year off. Seldin is a marketable, action fighter, but he hasn’t really been able to step up because he has failed a pair of drug tests for elevated testosterone. At 31, time is short for Star Boxing and “The Hebrew Hammer” to really start to make a move here. He would be an excellent opponent to stick on a Nassau Coliseum card in terms of the draw, much like Seanie Monaghan, but hopefully in a more realistic matchup than his with Marcus Browne.
