Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I take a look at all the remotely prominent results not covered in separate articles. This week that is everything. There were no major fight cards, but we do have fights from prominent fighters like Miguel Berchelt, Krzysztof Glowacki, and Roy Jones Jr to look at.
Saturday, February 10th
Simon Kean (13-0, 12 KOs) KO8 Alexis Santos (18-3, 15 KOs), heavyweights – Quebec
Simon Kean, a 2016 Canadian Olympian, is a heavyweight prospect being brought up by Montreal based regional powerhouse promoter Yvon Mitchell. I don’t have video of this fight, but my impression of Kean in his other bouts is that he is a limited prospect. He is a full sized, 6’5″ heavyweight who certainly looks like he can punch on the positive side. He just has struck me as rigid and stiff. I don’t think he is a super high level athlete on the level of the top heavyweights. Mitchell is a savvy promoter, however, so I suspect Kean will become notable anyway.
Tyson Cave (31-3, 13 KOs) UD8 Ulises Perez (17-7, 8 KOs), lightweights – Ontario
In 2014, Tyson Cave won nearly every round against Oscar Escandon in a secondary title fight and lost a split decision anyway because boxing. This prompted a pretty legendary Teddy Atlas rant from ringside. As a result of the robbery, Escandon has gone on to some bigger paydays while the victim, Tyson Cave, has been stuck back in Canada fighting this sort of fight for little money. It has been nearly four years since then, moving Cave from 32 to 36 years old. Part of the reason that he has not been able to get another shot was a pending assault charge, but the prosecution ultimately never produced any evidence and eventually decided their accuser wasn’t credible enough to proceed. Charges were dropped in June. We live in a cruel world sometimes.
Miguel Berchelt (33-1, 29 KOs) TKO3 Maxwell Awuku (44-4-1, 30 KOs), WBC junior lightweight title – Mexico
Even though he is widely considered the second best junior lightweight in the sport, I still am going to put forward the idea that Miguel Berchelt is really underrated. To my eye he is worth top ten pound for pound consideration and I think he’d give Vasyl Lomachenko a real quality fight. Berchelt is a puncher, but he isn’t in love with his power. He is both aggressive and cautious in all the right ways. Most of all, his technique is absolutely on point with both his feet and his hands. He is one of the most complete fighters in the sport. He is also still only 26 years old. As for this fight, it was the mismatch it was always going to be. Awuku got absolutely nothing done and it only took three for Berchelt to put him away.
Jaime Munguia (27-0, 23 KOs) KO3 Jose Carlos Paz (21-7-1, 12 KOs), junior middleweights – Mexico
I say it every time he fights, but Jaime Munguia is going to be in some outstanding fights at the very least. The Zanfer prospect is a huge pressure fighter who has no concern for his own defense. Instead, he presses forward eating shots to get in his very real power. This finish was on a body shot. Munguia is still only 21 and will likely change, but right now he reminds me of a young Antonio Margarito. Before all the drama of his late career, Margarito was a man who just walked through everything you had and got you late. Munguia’s punch output is a lot lower, but he also hits a lot harder than Margarito did. His long term prospects like depend most on his ability to develop a defense, or at least having a great chin. Given his youth and size, I suspect he will be a middleweight in a couple years as well.
Pedro Campa (28-1, 19 KOs) UD10 Ivan Alvarez (27-9, 17 KOs), junior welterweights – Mexico
Pedro Campa was a rising Zanfer Promotions prospect fighting solid domestic level competition in Mexico when he was shockingly stopped in the seventh round of an October fight that was a pretty clear step down in competition. This was the 26 year old’s first fight back and he went right back in at the level that he was winning at prior to the surprise loss. This tells me that he and his team consider the loss a fluke. It probably was.
Miguel Roman (59-12, 46 KOs) KO4 Aristides Perez (31-11-2, 17 KOs), junior lightweights – Mexico
“Micky” Roman did his thing here in using his fan favorite, brawling style to beat down his stay busy Colombian opponent over four rounds. The stoppage here might have come soon, but it felt inevitable anyway. This Micky Roman fight was a fun one to watch as always. Long known as a great action fighter, Roman somewhat improbably became a real top contender with his stoppage of Orlando Salido a couple months ago. The talk is now that he will get a title shot against Miguel Berchelt. That is probably too much for Roman, but he has earned the shot.
Lindolfo Delgado (3-0, 3 KOs) KO3 Hector Mendoza (5-13-3, 1 KO), lightweights – Mexico
This was the first time I got to see extended footage of 2016 Mexican Olympian Lindolfo Delgado. I am now a big fan of his chances to make it big. For a 23 year old professional novice, Delgado has an outstanding, natural sense of how to maintain his punching range. From there he brings really heavy, coordinated hands from both sides both upstairs and down. He does need to work on his defense a bit, but he is young and training under Robert Garcia. It is early, but I think the young Mexican has star potential.
Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (54-4-1, 38 KOs) RTD4 Adam Gadajew (17-15, 8 KOs), cruiserweights – Poland
Of the Polish cruiserweight Krzysztof’s taking easy fights that this card was supposed to be built around, only Wlodarczyk delivered on that promise. This was the 36 year old former cruiserweight titleholder’s first fight back from his first career stoppage loss at the hands of Murat Gassiev, so the opponent level makes sense. There is not much else to say on this one as I do not have a full video. From highlights it appears that he just beat up Gadajew until he quit.
Krzysztof Glowacki (29-1, 18 KOs) UD8 Serhiy Radchenko (6-1, 1 KO), cruiserweights – Poland
This one almost went off the rails in a hurry for top Polish cruiserweight Krzysztof Glowacki. Radchenko was brought in to be a soft opponent for this eight round tune up, but apparently no one told him that. Though he lost most the rounds, Radchenko was competitive throughout and nearly pulled a rabbit out of his hat in the fifth round. He dropped Glowacki so suddenly that the ref ruled it a slip, but Radchenko knew and went on the attack. A big follow up left hook had the former titleholder in all sorts of trouble and Radchenko battered him until he went down again. Given that Radchenko was not only a novice, a but a novice with absolutely no power on his record, this was a random sequence to say the least. Nevertheless Glowacki survived and earned the decision. Post-fight he called out Maksim Vlasov and that is a fight I would be a big fan of happening.
Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov (12-0, 9 KOs) TKO8 Malcolm Klassen (33-8-2, 17 KOs), junior lightweights – Russia
Fans with a good memory might recall Malcon Klassen as a two time junior lightweight titleholder from South Africa, eventually losing to Mzonke Fana and Robert Guerrero. He has still remained a competent fringe contender, though his last quality win was three years ago now against Paulus Moses. This was a competitive fight, but Shavkat Rakhimov’s body work ultimately did him in. He put Klassen down on body work in the second and for the final count in the eighth. It is clear that the 23 year old Russian hits really hard as he became the first man to stop his 36 year old foe here, but his overall game is pretty limited. He’s one of those guys who only wants to throw in perfect position and then struggles to get there. Rakhimov just charges forward with his guard up without jabbing his way in or cutting off the ring. There is some potential here and this was an excellent 12th career win, but I’d like to see some major improvements before the young Russian steps up further.
David Oliver Joyce (6-0, 5 KOs) KO2 Lyuben Todorov (3-1, 2 KOs), lightweights – Northern Ireland
Irish Olympian David Oliver Joyce snuck his way onto a small time card in Northern Ireland on Saturday. I’ve got no video of this. Based on his other fights, however, I am not that high on him. He is a competent fighter and was a quality amateur, but he doesn’t bring that elite level athleticism or skillset that would be needed given that he is already 31. I just don’t see him getting past that British/European level.
Henry Lundy (29-6-1, 14 KOs) UD8 DeMarcus Corley (50-29-1, 28 KOs), lightweights – Pennsylvannia
Henry “Hank” Lundy is one of those bad breaks fighters that this sport is so cruel to sometimes. While most recent fans know him for getting dominated by Terence Crawford on HBO, his other five losses are complete heartache. First, in 2011 he was way up on the cards before shockingly getting stopped late by John Molina Jr. A year later he lost an absolute toss up decision to Ray Beltran that could have gone either way. In his very next fight Lundy traveled to Ukraine and again lost a very close fight to Viktor Postol. Against Thomas Dulorme he was dropped and hurt early, but Lundy rallied back late after eventually recovering and nearly stole that one. Finally, he lost a technical decision against Mauricio Herrera after five rounds of even action before the fight could really get going. All five of those losses were to good to really good fighters and all five were there for him to take if just one or two things had gone differently. Here he picked up a win over former top fighter Chop Chop Corley who has resurrected his career as a decent journeyman in his 40s after a decade of losing.
Hasim Rahman Jr (4-0, 3 KOs) MD4 Ronny Hale (3-11, 3 KOs), heavyweights – Pennsylvannia
This was a terrible showing for the son of the former undisputed heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman. Quite frankly, I don’t think he had an argument for having won this. While Rahman Jr took the opening frame, he clearly lost rounds two and three. He also did very little in the fourth, but, to be blunt, Ronny Hale is a fat man and spent most of the round hunched over in exhaustion. I scored it a draw and thought every round had an obvious winner. While I don’t think he is a real prospect, it was clear in this fight that Junior has the skills to dominate a Ronny Hale. He just kind of froze in there. Hasim Jr has the exact same frame and posture of his father, but I don’t know if his heart is in this.
Nico Hernandez (4-0, 3 KOs) TKO5 Victor Torres (2-8-1, 1 KO), bantamweights – Kansas
For the second straight time, American surprise 2016 Olympic medalist Nico Hernandez had to deal with an unexpected, last second opponent switch that pulled him up two weight classes. This time his scheduled opponent got trapped at the Chicago airport due to visa issues and Victor Torres was brought in from California the day before the fight to replace him. Still only 22, Nico Hernandez is trying to build himself up as a local attraction in Park City, Kansas before going national a la Terence Crawford in Omaha. Park City is part of the greater Wichita metropolitan area which does have a reasonably nice population. This fight was apparently recorded for a later broadcast on CBS Sports Network, but I haven’t seen any sign of it.
Friday, February 9th
Ray Ximenez (17-1, 4 KOs) UD8 Eugene Lagos (12-5-2, 7 KOs), featherweights – Texas
Roy Jones Jr, who fought his retirement the day before, has quietly done a pretty solid job getting his nascent promotional company off the ground over the last few years. He is no where near a major player and probably never will be, but he now has guys I recognize as distinctly his fighters alongside a consistent television deal with BeIN Sports. That’s better than I ever would have expected him to do. Ray Ximinez is maybe the guy Jones Jr Promotions pushes the hardest. He does have some skill and his only loss is a very forgivable one to a higher level prospect in Top Rank’s very underrated Christopher Diaz, but ultimately I don’t think he has the pop to keep better opponents away.
Thursday, February 8th
Roy Jones Jr (66-9, 47 KOs) UD10 Scott Sigmon (30-12-1, 16 KOs), cruiserweights – Florida
Ya’ll musta forgot, forgot, forgot… Those who have been crying for Roy’s retirement for a decade should be happy here as the 49 year old former king of the sport is saying he is hanging them up now. Of course, he is already allowing for an exception if he can get former longtime MMA pound for pound king Anderson Silva in the ring for a boxing match. I’ve never had a problem with Jones continuing to fight. I never do with the old legends. Since he lost to Joe Calzaghe in 2008, Roy has gone 14-4. No one has been calling for the retirements of the 14 men he has beaten. To me, that is hypocrisy on the highest level. Sure, the four losses represent the four times he has stepped back up, but it is his life to run. If the man wants to fight on this level until he is 60, that is fine by me. It should be up to the commissions to stop him from going too high up the ranks and getting KO’d, not him.
Wednesday, February 7th
Oleksandr Teslenko (12-0, 10 KOs) TKO2 Keenan Hickman (6-3-1, 2 KOs), heavyweights – New York
Ukrainian Oleksandr Teslenko was a quality amateur. Thanks to the competition in the Ukrainian amateur program, however, he did not get to show it at the highest levels of the unpaid ranks. Still, he posted a record of 224-23, or at least that is the claim. I can’t find proof, but what I can find is a pretty promising heavyweight on tape. Teslenko is obviously a plus athlete with some pop in his sharp right hand. I also love how he digs to the body. There is some real potential here. For now Teslenko is still based out of Toronto, but he has signed with Lou DiBella and has been fighting stateside more often. This fight was aired on DiBella’s low key Broadway Boxing series.
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