Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I go over all fights not otherwise covered by separate articles. This week we have secondary cards by PBC and Matchroom, some big undercards, and more.
Saturday, June 10th
Travis Kauffman (32-2, 23 KOs) MD10 Scott Alexander (14-3-2, 8 KOs), heavyweights & Gerald Washington (19-2-1, 12 KOs) UD10 John Wesley Nofire (20-2, 16 KOs), heavyweights & Michael Hunter (14-1, 9 KOs) KO5 Iago Kiladze (26-3, 18 KOs), heavyweights – Lancaster, Pennsylvania
This was a pretty poor PBC on FS1 card on paper even by the relatively low standards of the series. It featured three heavyweights without much potential to win on world level and was headlined by the man with the least potential of all. This card’s one saving grace ended up being that fight’s wild first round though as both Kauffman and Alexander were badly hurt and dropped. In fact, I am not even sure Kauffman truly won this fight against a true regional level fighter in Scott Alexander. I scored it narrowly the other way. Both Gerald Washington and Michael Hunter (in his second fight at heavyweight) cruised uneventfully as predicted.
Jack Culcay (24-3, 12 KOs) TKO6 Adasat Rodriguez (17-8-2, 6 KOs), middleweights & Adam Deines (15-0-1, 7 KOs) UD10 Gasan Gasanov (15-6-1, 12 KOs), light heavyweights & Enrico Koelling (26-2, 8 KOs) TKO3 Andrejs Pokumeiko (17-14-1, 13 KOs) & Filip Hrgovic (5-0, 4 KOs) TKO4 Filiberto Tovar (9-1, 5 KOs), heavyweights – Leipzig, Germany
This was a pretty loaded regional show in Germany. Culcay is a hardnosed, underrated fighter who has held a secondary world title previously and put forth solid efforts in narrow losses to both Maciej Sulecki and Demetrius Andrade. Now competing at middleweight, it is only a matter of time before he gets a shot there too. Also on the show, Adam Deines burst onto the scene earlier this year by upsetting German Olympian Stefan Haertel and picked up another win here while Enrico Koelling picked up his third low level victory following his failed title shot against Artur Beterbiev late last year. Maybe most interesting is former amateur standout Filip Hrgovic of Croatia continuing to build his pro career. Expectations aren’t through the roof with him, but they are pretty high nonetheless.
Francisco Rodriguez Jr (28-4-1, 20 KOs) KO2 Yohei Tobe (13-3-1, 9 KOs), super flyweights & Lindolfo Delgado (5-0, 5 KOs) TKO3 Jose Luis Avalos (3-11-2, 1 KO), junior welterweights – Nuevo Leon, Mexico
Former unified minimumweight titleholder Francisco Rodriguez Jr of Mexico returned for his ninth straight win following his two losses at light flyweight in 2015, one of which being a title shot against Donnie Nietes. Rodriguez unified the two mimumweight belts just days after his 21st birthday and is still only 24. He has been competing officially at super flyweight of late, but will likely take his inevitable next big shot at flyweight. Maybe even more interesting was the fifth pro fight for Mexican Olympian Lindolfo Delgado. I am quite high on him, though his competition has been notably poor even for an early stage prospect. Still, he shows great promise and I look forward to seeing the 23 year old progress.
Mark Heffron (20-0, 16 KOs) TKO6 Andrew Robinson (21-4-1, 6 KOs), middleweights & James Metcalf (18-0, 10 KOs) TKO12 Aitor Nieto (22-6-1, 9 KOs), junior middleweights & Nathan Gorman (13-0, 11 KOs) TKO3 Sean Turner (12-3, 8 KOs), heavyweights – Manchester, England
This is the action from deeper on Tyson Fury’s undercard. Middleweight Mark Heffron took a step up here after almost exclusively fighting local club fighters and passed. He really beat up Andrew Robinson and got a standing sixth round finish after hurting him with a left hook to earn a minor WBC belt. James Metcalf took that step one fight ago, but here he earned the same WBC title down one weight class and took out a lateral move in Aitor Nieto late. The real attraction here is young, 21 year old heavyweight attraction Nathan Gorman, however. He certainly fails to look the part, but Gorman is a large man with coordinated, quick hands and plenty of time to grow as a fighter. His future could be bright. Gorman showed some beautiful uppercuts here in stopping Turner.
Ivan Redkach (21-4-1, 16 KOs) UD8 Brian Jones (14-9, 8 KOs), junior welterweights & Carlos Balderas (5-0, 4 KOs) KO1 Alex Silva (3-8, 2 KOs), lightweights & Antonio Santa Cruz (7-4, 3 KOs) UD4 Jordan Baletero Reyes (2-7, 2 KOs), super bantamweights & Jose Balderas (3-0) v Luis Montellano (0-2-1), bantamweights – Los Angeles, California
Ivan Redkach engaged in a fun war with John Molina Jr six months ago before being stopped in the fourth round. He was once considered a prospect, but those days are long gone. Perhaps Redkach can live on as an action fighter. He returned here off television on PBC’s undercard. Carlos Balderas is a US Olympia and major prospect, but he is a ways off from contention. Definitely keep an eye on him though. Jose Balderas is his older brother, but he is not considered a real prospect. The same can be said for main event fighter Leo Santa Cruz’s brother Antonio. That is probably obvious from his record alone.
Maxim Dadashev (11-0, 10 KOs) TKO10 Darleys Perez (33-4-2, 21 KOs), junior welterweights & Jose Benavidez (27-0, 18 KOs) KO1 Frank Rojas (22-1, 21 KOs), welterweights & Shakur Stevenson (7-0, 4 KOs) TKO2 Aelio Mesquita (16-2, 14 KOs), featherweights & Gabriel Flores Jr (8-0, 5 KOs) Jorge Rojas (4-4-1, 2 KOs), lightweights – Las Vegas, Nevada
“Mad Max” Dadashev picked up a really big win here on the preliminary portion of Top Rank’s big Terence Crawford headlined card by stopping fringe contender Darleys Perez in the final round. Two fights ago Perez had clearly beat Maurice Hooker only to receive a robbery draw. Hours before this fight, Hooker picked up a world title over in the UK while Perez received a beating here from a prospect not even on Top Rank’s main card. Boxing can be cruel. Also on the show, major prospects in Shakur Stevenson and Gabriel Flores Jr picked up wins. In particularly it was really nice to see Stevenson sit down on his shots and throw with some power. Former major prospect Jose Benavidez, brother of David Benavidez, also picked up an early win. Jose was once considered arguably the top prospect in the sport, but his career has strangely stalled out without a loss and he is trying to kickstart it again going forward. It must be noted that he should have a loss, however. Benavidez didn’t deserve the 2014 decision he got over the always tricky Mauricio Herrera.
Duke Micah (22-0, 18 KOs) SD10 Thomas Snow (19-4, 12 KOs), bantamweights – Brooklyn, New York
Duke Micah isn’t a hyped prospect by any means, but he is a world ranked bantamweight and former Ghanian Olympian on the verge of a potential title shot over the next couple years. That almost all came crashing down on this Real Deal Boxing card. He was wild and outboxed for stretches here, well mildly outboxed anyway. This was a pretty tedious and uneventful fight that I do not recommend watching. I scored most of the early portion of the fight for Micah, but Snow just out landed him in its second half. The Ghanaian couldn’t find him with any consistency. To make matters worse, Micah took a swing at him while he was down on a slip in a blatant moment of frustration and lost a point in the tenth. This could have very easily been scored for Thomas Snow, a rare American bantamweight. It wasn’t and Micah got a split decision win. It was no robbery as this was a close one, but it is definitely a moral victory for Thomas Snow and the opposite for Duke Micah.
Friday, June 9th
Mike Lee (21-0, 11 KOs) UD10 Jose Hernandez (19-4-1, 9 KOs), light heavyweights & Tervel Pulev (11-0, 10 KOs) TKO1 Armando Ancona (8-8-2, 5 KOs), heavyweights – Rosemont, Illinois
Mike Lee went to Notre Dame. He’s Irish. For some reason Subway put him in a commercial. Top Rank tried to promote him, but it didn’t work out. I don’t remember why. Probably because he’s not ever going to be a contender. I’m done with this one. Tervel Pulev is much more interesting from the undercard. The Bulgarian heavyweight took home bronze in the London 2012 games. Those are real prospect credentials, but he also is 35 and weighed in under 210 lbs for this fight. He should definitely cut to cruiserweight if possible. It probably doesn’t matter at that age though.
Wednesday, June 6th
Lawrence Okolie (9-0, 7 KOs) TKO3 Luke Watkins (13-1, 9 KOs), cruiserweights & Ryan Doyle (17-2-1, 9 KOs) TKO5 Reece Bellotti (12-1, 11 KOs), featherweights & Ted Cheeseman (14-0, 9 KOs) TKO5 Paul Upton (15-1, 3 KOs), junior middleweights & Daniyar Yeleussinov (2-0, 1 KO) PTS6 Zoltan Szabo (24-12, 10 KOs), welterweights – London, England
Lawrence Okolie probably isn’t going to be involved in too many fights that could be described as pretty. He needed a better showing though coming off that dreadful win over Isaac Chamberlain in February. He got it here. A series of right hands finished off another unbeaten opponent in the third round. The co-main event was a pretty big upset in which Ryan Doyle took the Commonwealth belt from unbeaten Reece Bellotti in a barn burner. Bellotti was just too wild and reckless after some early success and paid for it in the fifth. The stoppage may have been a tad quick, but it was heading that way anyway in my view. Ted Cheeseman, a very real prospect, picked up a win over Paul Upton and his empty record too. As extremely highly touted Kazakh Olympic gold medalist Daniyar Yeleussinov who cruised to a medal in Rio without losing a round. He didn’t get a stoppage here, but it was a routine win for a man who could be a major, major player in just a year or or.
Denis Shafikov (39-4-1, 20 KOs) UD8 Hector Ruben Ambriz Suarez (12-7-1, 6 KOs), lightweights – Hollywood, California
After having an argument to have earned a decision over lightweight titleholder Robert Easter Jr last summer and narrowly not getting it, Denis Shafikov seemed every bit a top contender in the lightweight division. Then he decided to drop down in weight and surprisingly lost a decision to fringe contender Rene Alvarado on an HBO Latino broadcast in December. This was his first fight back and it seems he is sticking to junior lightweight, though this was technically a pound above that limit. I initially thought the weight cut was a bad idea and drained him, but upon further reflection I have realized that myself and basically everyone else held our esteem of Shafikov based on his performance against Easter Jr. As it turns out, Robert Easter Jr isn’t the fighter that was promised. He just isn’t notably good in the world level sort of sense. When you consider that factor that in, Shafikov’s ability to lose to a decent fighter like Rene Alvarado makes more sense without having to consider him being weight drained. He doesn’t think he was drained either, apparently, as he went down there again for this tune up.
