Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I go over all the even remotely meaningful results not otherwise covered in separate articles. After the slow week for UTR that just went by, we have returned with one of the busier ones in recent memory. We have one of the worst DQs in a while, Olympians galore, former titleholders, a Tomasz Adamek card, and so much more. Buckle up, readers. This is a long one.
Saturday, April 21st
Daud Yordan (38-3, 26 KOs) KO8 Pavel Malikov (13-1, 5 KOs), lightweights – Russia
Forgotten former Indonesian featherweight contender Daud Yordan popped up in Russia this week to stop an unbeaten local prospect for a regional WBO belt. Yordan earned his way to some big fights against the likes of Robert Guerrero, Chris John, and Celestino Caballero, but he could never quite pull them off. After losing his IBO belt in 2013, Yordan both moved up to lightweight and completely fell off the boxing map. He has still been fighting though and this was his eighth straight win since that night. Still only 30 and now with a little momentum, I doubt we’ve seen his last of Daud Yordan getting a bigger opportunity.
Tom Schwarz (21-0, 13 KOs) DQ6 Senad Gashi (16-1, 16 KOs), heavyweights & Agit Kabayel (18-0, 13 KOs) TKO3 Miljan Rovcanin (19-2, 13 KOs), heavyweights & Stefan Haertel (16-1, 2 KOs) TKO4 Dominik Landgraf (2-8, 2 KOs), light heavyweights – Germany
There is so much to unpack from this German card. First, 2012 Olympian Stefan Haertel’s career is on relevancy life support. He got a robbery win two fights ago against Viktor Polyakov and then moved up to light heavyweight in response only to immediately lose to Adam Deines. Obviously this was a recovery fight. Agit Kabayel is a surging heavyweight prospect and fringe contender after two straight nice wins now. Last time out he beat Derek Chisora and here he outclassed Miljan Rovcanin, a man who very recently largely outfought Alexander Dimetrenko in a weird fight. Kabayel hurt Rovcanin late in the second and put him down twice in the third with accurate right hands for the finish. He should be the story here, but he isn’t.
Instead, Senad Gashi stole the show in all the wrong ways by getting himself disqualified against young popular homegrown heavyweight Tom Schwarz. Gashi started his antics in the second round with a headbutt in the clinch while having Schwarz in the corner. It was intentional for sure and had a huge impact on the young German. It didn’t look huge, but Schwarz went down as if he was knocked out. The fight should never have continued beyond that point even if the 23 year old could be suspected as playing it up because he might not have been. In the fourth, Gashi landed another nice two headbutt combination. The first was an accident but the second was intentional. When he did it again in the sixth, he was disqualified. That didn’t put an end to the fighting, however, as Gashi decided to charge the new victor to keep the fight going. They brawled for a few seconds and then a riot broke out in the ring. It was quelled quickly and cooler heads prevailed, but it was an ugly scene briefly.
Lost in all of this is that Gashi was really doing fine in the fight itself. He was landing his right hand consistently. He wasn’t winning, but it isn’t as if he needed an out here because he was being routed. The first and biggest headbutt was the strangest of all in this respect as Gashi was working really well in the corner when he threw it. Second, it should be noted that he had some real frustrations here. Schwarz was consistently pushing down his head Wlad Klitschko style while for some reason Gashi got warned for it, over and over. His actions are still inexcusable and the ban for life that is reportedly being discussed is a completely reasonable discussion, but the poor officiating did play a part. Also, as much as a homegrown German heavyweight near the top of the division would be a valuable commodity, I don’t see it for Schwarz. He punches well at range, but that is it. He can’t maintain it offensively or defensively and he can’t really do anything else in there. 23 is super young at the sport’s biggest division, but he has a ton of work to do.
Ramon Alvarez (26-6-3, 16 KOs) UD10 Jorge Paez Jr (40-11-2, 24 KOs), junior middleweights & Hernan Marquez (43-8-3, 30 KOs) D10 Jose Quirino (18-2-3, 8 KOs), super flyweights – Mexico
Canelo Alvarez’s brother beat Jorge Paez’s son by decision on Saturday if that is a thing you care about. I am noting it as an oddity alone as at this point these two meeting is below the purview of even a wide reaching column like this one. I haven’t and won’t watch this fight, but I will note that the result went as expected. Ramon Alvarez is a mid level Mexican regional fighter with something left in him while Paez Jr has been shot for a few years now. Faded former flyweight titleholder Hernan “Tyson” Marquez fought to a ten round draw in the co-feature, though I will note that I am reading that he probably should have gotten the decision win on the strength of two knockdowns.
Tomasz Adamek (53-5, 31 KOs) TKO7 Joey Abell (34-10, 32 KOs), heavyweights & Mateusz Masternak (41-4, 28 KOs) RTD6 Youri Kalenga (23-5, 16 KOs), cruiserweights – Poland
41 year old former two division titleholder and heavyweight contender Tomasz Adamek continues to fight at home in Poland past his prime. He can still comfortably beat the sort of third or fourth tier heavyweights though so more power to him if that is what he wants to do with his life. More relevant to the sport’s current landscape was the cruiserweight co-feature. Both these men are Top 25 guys at the deep weight, but they both really needed the win that Masternak got to move towards title contention. This was also a bit of a revenge fight as Kalenga decisioned Masternak back in 2014. Kalenga had a good second round, but from there on it was a beating and his corner pulled him out after an especially bad sixth round.
Otto Wallin (20-0, 13 KOs) UD12 Adrian Granat (15-2, 14 KOs), heavyweights – Sweden
Otto Wallin remained unbeaten after this all-Swedish heavyweight showdown. He boxed well here with movement and sharp straights to his more plodding foe as he moved closer to a European title shot. This was a crisp fight fought at a good pace and range for big men. Neither were ever badly hurt other than maybe Granat not liking some body work in the eighth, but it was still a decent watch. If this win gets Wallin a shot at Agit Kabayel, sign me up for that one as the winner would become a world level contender. For Granat, this is probably the end of the road for being an attraction even at the European level. Two fights ago a faded Alexander Dimetrenko was brought in to be a name on his ledger, but the big man rocked the boat and knocked Granat out in one instead. Here he was soundly outboxed two fights later.
Nawaphon Por Chokchai (41-1, 33 KOs) TKO5 Amnat Ruenroeng (18-3, 6 KOs), bantamweights – Thailand
What a fall it has been for Amnat Ruenroeng. At the end of 2015 he was a fighter you could reasonably discuss in pound for pound rankings thanks to wins over Kazuto Ioka, McWilliams Arroyo, Zou Shiming, and John Riel Casimero. His ugly style didn’t win him fans, but it was winning him world level fights. One year later at the end of 2016, everything was different. Ruenroeng had been both stopped in a rematch with Casimero and had embarrassed himself in Rio trying to win an Olympic medal for Thailand. 2017 included a low level bounce back win and a wide decision loss to Chinese prospect Wenfeng Ge. This loss to Por Chockchai and his typically inflated Thai record seals the deal for the end of Ruenroeng as a relevant fighter, but it did have one unexpected thing going for him in it. He was exciting! This was a heck of an action fight that I really enjoyed watching. I didn’t expect that from an Amnat Ruenroeng fight, but I got it anyway. As for Por Chockhai, the only other time he has stepped up he was wiped away in three by Juan Hernandez Navarrete. This result is probably more Ruenroeng being shot than a new Thai contender emerging, but Por Chockchai is only 26 so he could use this as a launching pad going forward.
David Oliver Joyce (7-0, 6 KOs) TKO6 Jordan Ellison (9-13, 1 KO), lightweights – Northern Ireland
2016 Irish Olympian David Oliver Joyce picked up his seventh career win on the undercard of Carl Frampton’s victory over Nonito Donaire. At 31, Joyce is notably old for a prospect. He also doesn’t really come off as any sort of special athlete in the ring with his workmanlike performances. I do think he struggles to get past European level in all likelihood, especially given the opposition he is facing. As I say over and over, there are levels to this game from its top all the way down to its bottom. Joyce is significantly older than most other 2016 British Olympians and is fighting even worse opposition. That is telling to me.
Tommy Coyle (24-4, 12 KOs) TKO6 Sean Dodd (15-3-1, 3 KOs), lightweights & Sam Eggington (22-4, 14 KOs) TKO6 Achilles Szabo (21-19, 10 KOs), junior middleweights – England
Tommy Coyle picked up a career best win and the Commonwealth belt from Sean Dodd on Amir Khan’s undercard Saturday, but these are Euro level guys through and through. Sam Eggington, on the other hand, comes with some intrigue. Now we have seen Eggington outboxed twice by Bradley Skeete and Mohamed Mimoune so his ceiling is also probably Euro level, but through the bulk of 2017 it looked like Eggington might break through beyond that. His three straight wins over Frankie Gavin, Paulie Malignaggi, and Ceferino Rodriguez were really good work. Still only 24 and a few years short of his prime, Eggington blames difficulty making weight for the Mimoune loss in October. He has now moved to junior middleweight with this low level fight in response. We’ll see if it matters going forward.
Anthony Fowler (6-0, 5 KOs) TKO2 Ryan Toms (15-15-3, 9 KOs), middleweights & Conor Benn (12-0, 9 KOs) TKO6 Chris Truman (13-9-2, 2 KOs), welterweights & Qais Ashfaq (2-0) PTS4 Ricky Starkey (2-6-2), super bantamweights – England
Also on Khan’s undercard were a trio of Matchroom prospects. The biggest name here thanks to his famous father is Conor Benn. He looked shaky last time out against French clubfighter Cedrick Peynaud, however, and has long has his skeptics including myself. I still don’t understand how he got that decision. There is talk of a rematch next. The best prospect here is Anthony Fowler pretty easily, though he is probably a notch below say Josh Kelly or Lawrence Okolie in my view. Still, he’s a good one. Qais Ashfaq, a 2016 Olympian like Fowler, only recently turned pro and I am still trying to get a good read on him.
Rau’shee Warren (16-2, 4 KOs) UD8 Juan Gabriel Medina (10-3, 9 KOs), super flyweights – New York
Three time US Olympan Rau’shee Warren was a great story in 2016 when he finally broke through and won a world title in his rematch with Juan Carlos Payano. The talented then bantamweight had gone 0-3 in ever coming out of the Olympic games with a medal despite being the only three time Olympian in American history. Seeing him bring home a meaningful pro title was validation for all of his work. Unfortunately ,Warren lost his belt to Zhanat Zhakiyanov in his first defense at the beginning of last year. Rau’shee responded by dropping down into the loaded and lucrative super flyweight field, but despite a good win against McJoe Arroyo last summer PBC hasn’t really been able to get him in with the elites of that division. Hopefully that changes soon.
Fabian Andres Maidana (15-0, 11 KOs) TKO3 Justin Savi (31-16-2, 21 KOs), junior welterweights & Richardson Hitchins (5-0, 3 KOs) TKO1 Alexander Charneco (4-5, 4 KOs), welterweights & Gary Antuanne Russell (5-0, 5 KOs) TKO2 Andrew Rodgers (4-3-1, 2 KOs), junior welterweights – New York
A trio of extremely prominent PBC prospects were in action in Brooklyn as well. Fabian Maidana is the younger brother of Marcos and the furthest along. I was skeptical of him until last time out when he showed a lot of fortitude to come back from an early deficit to take a nice win over Johan Perez in a fight where the odds were stacked against him. Perez missed weight by a full weight class and Fabian had his vision obscured by a bad cut, but he still pulled it off in the end. Richardson Hitchins and Gary Antuanne Russell were both American 2016 Olympians, though Hitchins competed for his parents’ Haiti. I am really, really high on Gary Antuanne Russell, brother to Gary Russell Jr. To my eye he is one of the best prospects in all the sport.
Sergey Kuzmin (12-0, 9 KOs) KO6 Jeremiah Karpency (15-2-1, 6 KOs), heavyweights & Batyr Ahmedov (4-0, 3 KOs) TKO3 Oscar Barajas (18-6-1, 9 KOs), junior welterweights & Shakhram Giyasov (2-0, 1 KO) UD6 Gabor Gorbics (24-11, 14 KOs), welterweights & Murodjon Akhmadaliev (2-0, 2 KOs) TKO4 Carlos Gaston Suarez (7-5-3, 2 KOs), junior lightweights & Kennedy Katende (4-0, 1 KO) SD6 Luther Smith (10-3, 9 KOs), cruiserweights – New York
Somehow, despite having some great ones, PBC did not put on the show with the most prospects in Brooklyn Saturday night. Evander Holyfield’s Real Deal Promotions had that honor instead. This show is a straight embarrassment of riches. Sergey Kuzmin is a prominent and promising heavyweight prospect knocking on the door of contention. Last time out he tried to step up against Amir Mansour, but that turned out to be a bust as an early no contest. The other four men were all Olympians in Rio. Shakhram Gyasov and Murodjon Akhmadaliev brought home silver and bronze for Uzbekistan while Batyr Ahmedov was one win away from medaling for Turkey. 33 year old cruiserweight Kennedy Katende is definitely not the prospect the other four are, but even he is notable for having fought in the 2008 Olympics for Sweden and 2016 Olympics for Uganda. Again, this is simply a loaded card of fighters that will likely matter a lot in a few more years.
Friday, April 20th
Jon Fernandez (15-0, 13 KOs) KO3 Juan Huertas (14-2-1, 10 KOs), lightweights – Spain
Sergio Martinez promoted 22 year old Spanish lightweight prospect Jon Fernandez really caught my eye on ShoBox last summer and I wish they’d bring him back. That night his precision and power oriented counter punching as a real eye opener. If Maravilla Promotions can get him back stateside, they really should as there might be something here. This fight was a beatdown quite similar to his ShoBox showing.
Max Ornelas (11-0-1, 4 KOs) UD8 Juan Antonio Lopez (12-4, 4 KOs), bantamweights & Gabriel Flores Jr (7-0, 5 KOs) UD6 Alejandro Rochin (5-2, 3 KOs), junior lightweights- Nevada
I am not super high on Max Ornelas, but he is only 19 and Roy Jones Jr Promotions are certainly pushing him as a prospect with their BeIN Sports television deal. This was his second straight main event win on the series. A little more interesting to me, however, is Gabriel Flores Jr. The somehow still 17 year old is a gifted prospect who made waves when he signed with Top Rank at only 16. Flores was one of the best junior amateurs in the world, but given his age he never even fought in the full amateur system. Flores has only actually fought two of his seven pro fights on Top Rank cards as the strategy here seems to be finding him slots on smaller shows instead. Top Rank has been doing this with a few of their early stage prospects, but it makes a special sort of sense for Flores Jr who will have an extensive prospect stage career thanks to his age.
Thursday, April 19th
Oscar Rivas (23-0, 17 KOs) RTD2 Sergio Ramirez (16-6, 8 KOs), heavyweights & Christian Mbilli (9-0, 9 KOs) TKO1 Luis Eduardo Paz (12-5-1, 8 KOs), super middleweights – Quebec
Montreal based Colombian heavyweight prospect Oscar Rivas picked up another win on Thursday. Rivas is a good athlete with pop and that comes to fights in shape. There isn’t much more you can ask of a rising heavyweight except to start fighting actual contenders. I like Rivas. I like Christian Mbilli even more. It was only through poor luck of the draw in meeting eventual Cuban gold medalist Arlen Lopez that stopped the Cameroonian born prospect from medaling for France in Rio. I love his aggressive and body digging style as an early stage pro too. Mbilli is only 22 and has a couple years left as a prospect, but he is going to be an exciting one to watch grow up into a contender in there.
Wednesday, April 18th
Steve Rolls (18-0, 10 KOs) UD10 Damian Ezequiel Bonelli (23-3, 20 KOs), super middleweights – Ontario
Multiple time ShoBox alum Steve Rolls is a decent looking prospect until you realize he is 34 years old. Last summer the Toronto based fighter scored a win on that program over talented but enigmatic power puncher Demond Nicholson. This was his second fight since that ShoBox appearance. Rolls seemed to be acknowledging that time is short by moving his career stateside for four out of five fights, but he took this one back in Canada. There is a great fight scene in Quebec centered around Montreal, but not so much in Toronto or greater Ontario where Rolls likes to operate. He really does need to find a bigger opportunity sooner rather than later and I doubt it can happen there.
Tuesday, April 17th
Shingo Wake (24-5-2, 16 KOs) TKO4 Roman Canto (12-11-3, 7 KOs), featherweights – Japan
Former OPBF titleholder and world title challenger Shingo Wake stayed busy in Japan Tuesday with an easy walkover win over Filipino journeyman Roman Canto. Wake was dominated and stopped in the summer of 2016 by the then ascendant Jonathan Guzman in his one world title fight, but otherwise has won fourteen straight outside of that blemish. That winning streak includes a victory over Guzman conqueror Yukinori Oguni. I thought for sure we’d see Wake in with Oguni for a world title rematch once he won, but Oguni was promptly upset by Ryosuke Iwasa and now Wake’s path back to a world title is much less clear.
