Welcome to this week’s edition of Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which we discuss any even remotely relevant fights for which we didn’t already have separate articles. This week we have a Ricardo Mayorga sighting, my top ranked bantamweight, more Maidana, some former title challengers, and much more. It was another busy week.
On the Radar Results
Abreu ends Soto-Karass on ESPN2
Wilder destroys Stiverne, Porter and Lipinets win
Under the Radar Fight Results
Sunday, November 5th
Hiroshige Osawa (32-4-4, 19 KOs) UD8 Erick Deztroyer (9-6-1, 2 KOs), featherweights – Japan
Last November Hiroshige Osawa received an undeserved title shot against Oscar Valdez on the Pacquiao/Vargas undercard. He was dominated and dismissed in seven. He had done nothing in the ring to deserve that shot and was strictly brought in to showcase Valdez on the big show. Yet, he is a recent title challenger so I include him. Here he returned at a notably low level and won his second fight since that night.
Saturday, November 4th
Mark Flanagan (23-5, 16 KOs) KO4 Pablo Matias Magrini (19-3-1, 15 KOs), cruiserweights – Australia
In July, Mark Flanagan got a little earned WBA title shot against Denis Lebedev. The Aussie survived being dropped in the ninth and made it the distance. Before that he won eleven straight against Oceanic level competition at best, but he has otherwise never fought a top fighter other than Lebedev. Here he returned to and won at the level he was fighting at before the fight in Russia. Like with Osawa above, the one failed shot this year is his claim to fame and there is little else to say.
Jhonny Gonzalez (65-10, 54 KOs) UD12 Irving Berry (23-7-2, 10 KOs), junior lightweights – Mexico
Good old Jhonny Gonzalez is still going at age 36, now 75 fights into his career. Since a bad 2015 where he was blown out by a particularly motivated Gary Russell Jr and was upset in a very narrow decision to Jonathan Oquendo, Gonzalez is 7-0 and on the verge of putting himself back in contention. He isn’t fighting world level guys, but he also isn’t fighting push overs, though Irving Berry isn’t one of his better opponents in that streak. While defending a minor WBC junior lightweight title and given his history with the organization, Gonzalez may be angling himself for a shot at Miguel Berchelt. While I do actually think Jhonny can compete at world level still, that isn’t the right matchup for him and wouldn’t end well in my view.
Misael Rodriguez (5-0, 3 KOs) KO2 Isaac Mendez (16-15, 14 KOs), middleweights – Mexico
So far in his young career, I have been critical of surprise Mexican Olympic medalist Misael Rodriguez’s chances as a professional. While that doesn’t change overall, he did show some sharper shots here. They also appeared to have more power, but it must be noted that Mendez has been stopped fourteen times now so probably not. Still, the Mexican’s footwork remains a mess, his hands bring little speed, and he seems less concerned with defense than he should. I don’t think he ever has any success at world level.
Luis Nery (25-0, 19 KOs) TKO6 Arthur Villanueva (31-3, 17 KOs), bantamweights – Mexico
Given his complicated situation with the WBC after winning their title and then failing a drug test, Luis Nery took a non-title ten rounder here against fringe contender Arthur Villanueva. The Filipino is no joke, however, and was able to stand toe to toe at times with Nery in a really interesting fight to watch. Villanueva got to Nery in the fourth and put him on the canvas, but in hindsight that was unexpectedly the turning point of the fight in the opposite direction. From there Nery suddenly seemed very motivated and it only took him two more rounds to put his challenger away. From here it looks like Nery will get to keep his belt but must rematch the man he took it away from, Japanese legend Shinsuke Yamanaka.
Jose Zepeda (28-1, 23 KOs) TKO6 Abner Lopez (25-8, 21 KOs), junior welterweights – Mexico
You might remember Jose Zepeda as the guy who hurt his shoulder in the second round of Terry Flanagan’s vacant title win, retiring before the fight really even began and handing the title to the Brit. After yet another injury ended Zepeda’s next fight early as well, this time a cut causing a no contest, he returned to the Mexican domestic scene where he has won five straight against middling domestic competition. This was probably his best win, but Lopez has been mostly losing for a while now. Zepeda probably deserves another chance.
Jamie McDonnell (29-2-1, 13 KOs) NC3 Liborio Solis (25-5-1, 11 KOs), bantamweights – Monaco
Last October, secondary world titleholder Jamie McDonnell was awarded a twelve round decision over Liborio Solis that no one thought he deserved. The WBA ordered a rematch and it took over a year to happen. What did we get? A third round clash of heads opening a bad cut on McDonnell that forced the fight to be stopped before it could become official. This is the most disappointing rivalry in boxing at this point. We are not going to see a trilogy here as theoretically the WBA will order McDonnell to unify his garbage “world” title with Ryan Burnett’s real “super world” title. I feel for Solis for not getting justice here, but it is time to move on. McDonnell’s title that he should have won is bogus anyway.
Agit Kabayel (17-0, 12 KOs) UD12 Dereck Chisora (27-8, 19 KOs), heavyweights – Monaco
Derek Chisora was upset here in this European title fight, I guess, or at least that is how all the media covering this fight is reacting. To my eye it seems that Chisora has been proven again and again to be on this very European level and for him to lose a fight like this should not come as a surprise, but that is just me I guess. He started okay here, but by the midpoint he seemed exhausted and faded out of the fight other than the weak attempted surge here and there. While I do dismiss Chisora, this is a still a huge moment for Kabayel and his name recognition going forward.
Scott Quigg (34-1-2, 25 KOs) TKO6 Oleg Yefimovych (29-3-1, 16 KOs), featherweights – Monaco
This was Scott Quigg’s third fight back from his disappointing loss to Carl Frampton at the start of 2016. Yefimovych fought about even with him for two rounds before Quigg’s strength and power took over the fight. From there it was increasingly a beating as the rounds went on until it was stopped in the sixth for the first stoppage loss of Yegimovych’s career. This was also a WBA eliminator which puts Quigg in line to meet the Santa Cruz/Mares 2 winner. Whoever comes out ahead in that one, we are in for a good follow up when Quigg gets his shot.
Harlem Eubank (3-0, 1 KO) SD4 Aboubeker Bechelaghem (12-9-1), junior welterweights – Monaco
Harlem Eubank, nephew to Chris Eubank and cousin to Chris Eubank Jr, doesn’t seem to be a real threatening prospect going forward. In fact, had the knockdown clearly scored against him in the first round been properly ruled by the referee, he would have only gotten a draw here. And that is assuming the two judges gave that first round to Bechelaghem. If just one of the two didn’t, a correctly scored knockdown would have in fact resulted in a loss. Harlem doesn’t have the high end athleticism that his cousin used to overcome similar inexperience issues early.
Dominic Breazeale (19-1, 17 KOs) RTD8 Eric Molina (26-5, 19 KOs), heavyweights – New York
On paper this looked like an exciting heavyweight brawl, but unfortunately it was a more tactical affair that had the crowd in the Barclay’s Center booing at times. It seemed a little harsh from the crowd as there were punches being thrown, but it was an ugly fight. The video I can find cuts off before the end of the sixth round, but I am reading that Molina was stopped as much by exhaustion as anything else. Regardless, this was an important win for Breazeale as it puts him in position to fight in a final WBC eliminator, potentially against Dillian Whyte if Eddie Hearn can’t straight up buy a shot at Wilder for his heavyweight.
Sean Monaghan (29-1, 17 KOs) UD8 Evert Bravo (23-7-1, 17 KOs), light heavyweights – New York
Regional Long Island fan favorite and ticket seller Seanie Monaghan finally tried to step up from fighting a career of journeyman and gatekeepers against Marcus Browne in July. Though he wasn’t expected to do all that well, Monaghan somehow did even worse than expected by being absolutely blown out in two rounds. There wasn’t a competitive second in that fight. I thought maybe he’d retire given that he is also 36, but instead he returned just four months later back down at a more comfortable level.
Efe Ajagba (3-0, 3 KOs) TKO6 Rodney Hernandez (10-7-2, 2 KOs), heavyweights & Dylan Price (4-0, 4 KOs) TKO1 Trevir Ballinger (0-3), super flyweights – New York
Power punching 2016 Nigerian super heavyweight Olympian Efe Ajagba fought for the second time in basically a week here. Super flyweight Dylan Price was a highly successful junior amateur who was too young to try to qualify for the Olympics and decided to turn pro instead of waiting for 2020. Both of these two read like promising prospects, but neither have much in the way of footage on them yet. Ajagba is signed to Ringstar and Price to Mayweather Promotions
Malik Hawkins (12-0, 9 KOs) UD8 Juan Jesus Rivera (28-19, 18 KOs), welterweights & Hasim Rahman Jr (3-0, 3 KOs) TKO1 James Jones (4-12, 3 KOs), heavyweights – Virginia
Here are two more prospects with unclear ceilings. Malik Hawkins is a young ShoBox veteran with great size and good hand speed. He is raw though, or at least he was last time I was able to watch him. Hasim Rahman Jr is the son of the obvious candidate. Rahman had a small measure of hype as an amateur, but he is now 25 and missed major developmental time due to his role in a fatal car accident and his subsequent sentence. He is also the fighter that had a fighter change his mind about fighting him after the ring walk if you read about that recently. Both of these fighters could develop into contenders, but both could flame out just as easily. Time will tell.
Devin Haney (18-0, 12 KOs) TKO5 Hamza Sempewo (14-9, 7 KOs), lightweights – New Jersey
Devin Haney has a more defined ceiling and it is high. The 18 year old, Floyd Mayweather Sr trained prospect remains independently promoted and extremely active. All eighteen of these fights have taken place within the last two years. Since he fights all the time I end up saying the same things all the time, but here we go again. Instead of pursuing an Olympic bid as one of the nation’s top youth amateurs, Haney chose to turn pro in Mexico just days after his seventeenth birthday. Due to his age, it was much easier for him to get fights in Mexico and accordingly ten of his early professional bouts came south of the border. At 18 fights into his career already at 18 years of age, Haney is probably on a Canelo track where we get thirty or so fights in before the competition really picks up. He is expected to be a champion eventually though.
Friday, November 3rd
Mauro Barrios (1-0, 1 KO) TKO2 Leonardo Baez (1-1), featherweights – Argentina
Mauro Barrios was a nice little surprise when reviewing the week’s results. His father, Jorge Barrios, was for a while the face of Argentinian boxing. Jorge held a super featherweight world title for five fights in 2005 and 2006, but it is his fight with Acelino “Popo” Freitas from 2003 that needs to be watched by anyone who hasn’t seen it. Brazil and Argentina are fierce sporting rivals, but it rarely gets to play out in a high level boxing match like this one. Unfortunately, Jorge would spend some time behind bars for manslaughter following fleeing the scene of an accident which killed a pregnant woman and this ended his career. He was out in time for this fight to see his son turn pro. I admittedly know nothing about Mauro, but I always thought his dad was an interesting fighter and Mauro has a big built in Argentinian fanbase if he can amount to anything.
Andrey Sirotkin (14-0, 4 KOs) RTD9 Ricardo Mayorga (32-10-1, 26 KOs), super middleweights – Russia
The winner of this week’s “Well, This Happened…” award, 44 year old Ricardo Mayorga brought one good first round burst to the ring and then nothing else against unbeaten Russian Andrey Sirotkin. Sirotkin can’t punch and Mayorga has always had his chin, so this was just a slow drubbing from round two on until Mayorga quit on his stool citing a hand injury.
Esquiva Falcao (19-0, 13 KOs) TKO7 Jose Miguel Fandino (11-4, 7 KOs), middleweights, Florida
2008 Olympic silver medalist Esquiva Falcao, brother to Golden Boy prospect Yamaguchi Falcao, is a Top Rank Brazilian prospect probably ready for a step up. Those come slowly for Top Rank fighters, however. One interesting thing Arum and company have been doing of late is allowing their prospects to take stay busy record building fights on All-Star Boxing cards in Florida. This is probably to make up for the loss of all those UniMás cards they used to run.
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Antonio Vargas (5-0, 3 KOs) UD6 Jonathan Garza (6-0, 1 KO), super bantamweights & Aidar Sharibayev (7-0, 6 KOs) TKO1 Daulis Prescott (31-6, 23 KOs), junior welterweights – Florida
Antonio Vargas was a 2016 US Olympian and won an easy decision here. He, like Esquiva Falcao, is a Top Rank prospect being loaned out to All-Star Boxing for this card. The real story for me here, however, is Aidar Sharibayev. I can’t find much on the prospect outside of the fact that he comes from the outstanding amateur program of Kazakhstan, but finishing a solid gatekeeper like Daulis Prescott in one is an absolute statement for a seventh pro fight. Nicholas Walters, Tevin Farmer, and unbeaten Mexican prospect Saul Rodriguez all took seven or more to get rid of him. Unfortunately, no video for either of these yet though so I am going off result alone here.
Winfred Harris Jr (16-0, 9 KOs) UD8 Chris Chatman (14-8-1, 5 KOs), middleweights – Michigan
Regional Detroit prospect Winfred Harris pushed his unbeaten record to sixteen wins. He is mostly fighting barely live bodies, but three fights ago he did start to step up by beating an aged Lanardo Tyner. He is also still 22. Age, unbeaten record, and one reasonable win make him worth keeping on the periphery of your radar. I am not expecting much though.
Thursday, November 2nd
Samuel Clarkson (20-4, 13 KOs) TKO2 Alejandro Berrio (38-8, 33 KOs), cruiserweights – Texas
Though he was blown away by super prospect turned titleholder Dmitry Bivol, Samuel Clarkson is a good midlevel fighter with ShoBox wins over the likes of Jerry Odom and Cedric Agnew. Fighters like Clarkson are a good reminder that there are many, many levels to this sport. It isn’t just the main network guys and thousands of bums. Here Clarkson took this fight up at cruiserweight which is probably not a good idea long term.
Wednesday, November 1st
Fabian Andres Maidana (14-0, 10 KOs) UD Johan Perez (22-5-2, 15 KOs), welterweights – Colombia
Fabian Maidana, 25 year old younger brother of Marcos Maidana, picked up a really good win here over former interim titleholder Johan Perez. It was a bold fight to take given that it was also “TNT” Maidana’s first fight outside of Argentina. To complicate matters further, Perez missed weight by a full seven pounds and had a considerable size advantage. Johan used it to jump out to an early lead, but once Fabian Maidana settled down a bit he was able to take over and win a close but fair decision despite all these obstacles. Those include a late cut that obscured his vision as well. After this fight it seems settled that Fabian Maidana is more than a famous name. He is a prospect to watch. Of note, this was the card during the WBA’s annual convention and fighting on that for them can only help with the fighter’s standing with the sanctioning body.
Sonny Fredrickson (18-0, 12 KOs) KO3 Placido Ramirez (10-1, 7 KOs), junior welterweights – Colombia
Also on the WBA convention card, 23 year old minor Toledo, Ohio prospect Sonny Fredrickson picked up his first minor title by dominating local fighter Placido Ramirez in three. Fredrickson is already in their top ten and is a dark horse candidate to get a shot at their Terence Crawford vacated title once they decide what to do for that belt. Dominating this fight in front of the entire in person WBA certainly won’t hurt have that possibility.
