Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I go over everything not already covered by separate articles. This week we have a PBC card, Hughie Fury, and the usual buffet stocked full of former title holders, challengers, and rising prospects.
Sunday, May 13th
Genesis Servania (31-1, 13 KOs) KO5 Jason Butar Butar (27-24-1, 18 KOs), featherweights – Quezon City, Phillipines
In September Genesis Servania came from basically no where to put on a competitive showing against featherweight titleholder Oscar Valdez, even dropping the Top Rank fighter along the way. It was a much more back and forth fight than anyone really believed it would be going in since few had any idea who Servania even was. The Filipino contender had no real wins of note before and neither of his two wins after have been any better, but we know he is capable of competing at the world level now and he will eventually get another opportunity down the line.
Saturday, May 12th
Miguel Marriaga (26-3, 22 KOs) KO4 Derlinson Buriel (7-4-1, 6 KOs), featherweights – Cartagena, Colombia
Miguel Marriaga is another man whose recent claim to fame is a highly competitive and exciting contest with Oscar Valdez, but unlike with Genesis Servania that wasn’t Miguel’s first rodeo at world level. In 2015 Marriaga put on a game but ultimately fruitless performance against then featherweight king Nicholas Walters. He lost nearly every round that night despite his efforts. He also was dominated by Vasyl Lomachenko the fight after losing to Oscar Valdez, but who isn’t dominated by the pound for pound king? Marriaga doesn’t really have a notable win with the closest example being a 2014 stoppage of former fringe contender Christopher Martin, but all three of his losses were to elite fighters too. I’d love to see him in against the above Genesis Servania for a little more balanced matchmaking.
Avni Yildirim (19-1, 11 KOs) UD12 Ryan Ford (14-3, 9 KOs), super middleweights – Hurth, Germany
Former MMA fighter turned boxer Ryan Ford put on a game performance here and did a lot of good work, but former Turkish prospect Avni Yildirim just did a little more basically every round. This is one of those fights where you can score it at or near a shut out with it still having been competitive the entire way. I don’t think anyone can really take Yildirim super seriously as a major prospect anymore after being wiped away so easily by a flawed fighter like Chris Eubank Jr in the first round of the World Boxing Super Series, but he still is a fun offensive fighter with some action potential. Ford isn’t a huge puncher, but he is a strong guy who landed a lot of good shots and Yildirim’s chin did hold up here. The Eubank shot that doomed him may or may not prove to be somewhat of a fluke over time. We’ll have to wait and see.
Isa Chaniev (13-1, 6 KOs) UD12 Ismael Barroso (20-2-2, 19 KOs), lightweights & Artur Akavov (19-2, 8 KOs) UD10 Gonzalo Coria (12-2, 5 KOs), middleweights & Konstantin Ponomarev (34-0, 13 KOs) UD8 Ambrosi Sutidze (11-14-5, 5 KOs), junior middleweights – Riga, Latvia
Ismael Barroso seemed to rebound well from his title shot loss to Anthony Crolla two years ago now by stopping Fidel Maldonado Jr in October, but time seems to be catching up to the 35 year old Venezuelan power puncher. Barroso fought well here for about three rounds, but after dropping Chaniev in the third everything changed. The Russian changed his tactics to be more in and out and Barroso quickly tired chasing him. The knockdown Chaniev scored in retaliation in the same round was a trip and bogus, but him winning the fight the rest of the way as Barroso became increasingly exhausted was not. Also in action, Artur Akavov won his third fight since nearly upsetting Billy Joe Saunders a year and a half ago and former Top Rank prospect Konstantin Ponomarev stayed unbeaten with a nothing fight of his own. He still listed on their website, but Ponomarev has now taken two straight fights in Europe so I don’t know exactly what his promotional situation is at this point.
Krzysztof Glowacki (30-1, 19 KOs) KO1 Santander Silgado (28-5, 22 KOs), cruiserweights – Walcz, Poland
Former cruiserweight titleholder Krzysztof Glowacki returned in his native Poland for a first round knockout win on Saturday. Glowacki was riding high in mid-2016 after back to back wins over last generation’s cruiserweight rulers in Steve Cunningham and Marco Huck, but he was knocked back down to Earth by rising divisional star Oleksandr Usyk later the same year when he lost his undefeated record and belt to the Ukrainian star. This was his fourth fight back from the loss and an even easier matchup than the record suggests, but it makes sense after Glowacki was nearly knocked out in his last fight by a novice with no power on his record. 31 is still young at cruiserweight so the Pole has plenty of time to climb back up the rankings, but he is going to need a real win here again soon. May I recommend an All-Polish showdown with either Mateusz Masternak or Krzysztof Wlodarczyk?
Abner Cotto (23-3, 12 KOs) TKO4 Samuel Santana (11-12-3, 2 KOs), junior lightweights – Cidra, Puerto Rico
Cousin to Puerto Rican legend Miguel Cotto, Abner Cotto was once a known prospect who had that status abruptly stripped away in a first round stoppage loss to Omar Figueroa in 2014. He lost again to eventual titleholder Francisco Vargas two fights later, but that was a competitive decision that looks much more forgivable in hindsight and he followed it with a solid victory over fringe contender Jerry Belmontes. Unfortunately, a TKO5 loss to Javier Fortuna three months later sealed the deal on Abner’s future. Cotto took about a year and a half off after the Fortuna fight and is now quietly 5-0 since then. At 30 there is time for him to get another shot, but he is unlikely to win when he does.
Hughie Fury (21-1, 11 KOs) TKO5 Sam Sexton (24-4, 9 KOs), heavyweights – Bolton, England
First, praise where it is due. Hughie Fury landed one hell of a right hand to end this fight. He could not have timed a Sam Sexton lunge any better and he landed the single best shot of his career when he did so here to win the British belt. With that said, however, I just think so little of the young Fury in the ring. He fights like he doesn’t want to be in there. He won’t ever be able to beat a top fighter unless he makes the fight so negative that no one does anything at all and the judges have to basically flip a coin. That is how he nearly got a win and belt from Joseph Parker, but who wants to watch that? It was nice to see him sit down on his shots in the fourth after first dropping Sexton, but just seems to scared to do that when there is any sort of danger present. The one silver lining here is that he is only 23 and that might as well be 17 at heavyweight. There is time for him to stop running and throwing fade away shots with all the power taken off them. Will he though? I doubt it.
Jamel Herring (17-2, 10 KOs) TKO5 Juan Pablo Sanchez (30-16, 14 KOs), lightweights & Teofimo Lopez (9-0, 7 KOs) KO1 Vitor Jones Freitas (14-2, 8 KOs), lightweights & Michael Conlan (7-0, 5 KOs) UD8 Ibon Larrinaga (10-2, 2 KOs), featherweights & Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (4-0, 2 KOs) TKO4 Jesus Silveira (8-6-2, 3 KOs), junior welterweights – New York, New York
This was the ESPN+ prelim portion of the Top Rank card headlined by Vasyl Lomachenko’s exciting stoppage of Jorge Linares. Jamel Herring is a marketable former marine, but he is also a 32 year old failed PBC prospect and a strange signing for Arum and company. The other three are major prospects. Fazliddin Gaibnazarov has the gold medal pedigree and Michael Conlan has the built in Irish fanbase and obvious star potential. As far as in ring pro potential goes, however, Teofimo Lopez stands above both of them in my view. He is an obvious plus athlete with excellent reflexes and real power. He also is becoming a bit of a character with his post-fight dance and backflip celebrations. All three of the forme Olympians are good prospects, but the 20 year old is the most dynamic and is still maturing whereas Conlan and Gaibnazarov are both 26 already.
Friday, May 11th
Juan Jose Velasco (20-0, 12 KOs) TKO2 Juan Jose Velasco (12-6-1, 3 KOs), junior welterweights – Buenos Aires, Argentina
I don’t know anything about Juan Jose Velasco. He came to the US last September for a Sampsons Boxing card and won by stoppage. Other than one other fight in Mexico, all his other bouts have come in Argentina against regional competition. Why am I writing about him then? In July he will be main eventing an ESPN card against Regis Prograis for his minor piece of the WBC belt at 140 lbs. I don’t know why he is getting that opportunity, but he is.
Imre Szello (21-0, 13 KOs) KO2 Williams Ocando (18-6, 16 KOs), cruiserweights – Szentes, Hungary
Hungary is a country that, outside of Zsolt Erdei, has historically only produced warm bodies for the rest of Europe to build records against. There is an outside chance they have something real here in Imre Szello though. Szello was a solid European amateur for a long time. He medaled in all the usual regional tournaments and won a fight in the 2008 Olympics. After that the Hungarian stayed amateur for a few years before transitioning to the World Series of Boxing. He then turned fully professional in 2014. Szello is moving quickly at 34 as he should be if he has world title aspirations. All 21 of his fights have come in a little over three years. They have all also been in Hungary. This will probably have to change soon if he wants to continue progressing.
Tony Harrison (27-2, 21 KOs) SD10 Ishe Smith (29-10, 12 KOs), junior middleweights & Andrew Tabiti (16-0, 13 KOs) KO6 Lateef Kayode (21-3, 16 KOs), cruiserweights & Erick Bone (20-5, 8 KOs) SD10 Cameron Krael (13-13-3, 3 KOs), welterweights – Las Vegas, Nevada
I missed this PBC on Bounce card because I don’t get the channel. I’ve gotten firmly scolded by you dear readers for expressing annoyance at fights being on the channel as it technically has a large population footprint, but no one watches fights on it. As far as I can tell no one has even bothered to pirate these and put them online. Accordingly, I still haven’t seen the fights. By all accounts Harrison deserved a unanimous verdict and Tabiti was predictably dominant, but I can’t vouch for this first hand. Also on the card but I do not believe televised was Erick Bone’s narrowly scored win over a regional journeyman and his.500 record. If that was a reasonable verdict, Bone probably shouldn’t be used to be the B-side for bigger fighters anymore.
Roberto Arriaza (17-0, 13 KOs) UD10 Juan Ruiz (20-2, 12 KOs), welterweights – Ontario, California
Nicaraguan slugger Roberto Arriaza had his coming out party in March when he absolutely obliterated Sammy Valentin in one on a Telemundo card. That was a vicious, vicious knockout. Here he got the main event of Thompson Boxing’s 18th anniversary show broadcast live on their Facebook page. Arriaza didn’t get the big finish here partly because Ruiz fought an extremely negative fight and partly because Arriaza doesn’t have the subtly to his game to overcome that, but he still won basically every round and remains a prospect to watch.
Monday, May 7th
Hiroki Okada (18-0, 13 KOs) KO1 Ciso Morales (19-7-1, 12 KOs), junior welterweights & Ryota Yamauchi (3-0, 3 KOs) TKO5 Yota Hori (13-7-2, 8 KOs), super flyweights – Tokyo, Japan
28 year old Hiroki Okada became an emerging contender in December when he dominated and stopped competent Filipino fringe contender Jason Pagara in six rounds. There isn’t much for quality domestic opposition for him to fight up at junior welterweight, so I needed to see a fight like that to evaluate and he passed big time. This was a stay busy fight while he waits for a potential world level opportunity. Ryota Yamauchi is a prospect people well versed in the Asian fight scene are excited about. A particularly valuable resource for me in a variety of ways is asianboxing.info, a website you should definitely check out. They are high on him over there and that is enough for me until I get some more video to draw my own conclusion.
