Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I go over all the even remotely prominent fights not otherwise covered by separate articles here at S8C. This week we have two world title fights, major Olympic heavyweight prospects, a lower level Matchroom card, and much, much more. What this week lacked in major fights it sure made up in quantity.
Sunday, June 17th
Artem Dalakian (17-0, 12 KOs) TKO8 Sirichai Thaiyen (50-4, 35 KOs), WBA flyweight title – Kiev, Ukraine
Artem Dalakian made his first defense of his flyweight belt back home in Ukraine on Sunday. Thaiyen, also sometimes known as Vodmongkol Vor Saengthep, was a now traditional victory lap first defense despite his gaudy record. He only has pair of wins over regional level Japanese fighters to show for it. Dalakian, who was born in Azerbaijan, picked up his belt in February with a minor upset win over an aging Brian Viloria on the pre-television undercard of HBO’s Superfly II. He is a good candidate for the third edition going forward. As for this fight, it was pretty routine with the rough titleholder dropping his Thai challenger three times on his way to the stoppage win on the feet. The fifth round knockdown came on a particularly pretty uppercut.
Saturday, June 16th
Yves Ulysse Jr (16-1, 9 KOs) UD10 Ernesto Espana (25-1-1, 20 KOs), junior lightweights & Simon Kean (15-0, 14 KOs) TKO3 Adam Braidwood (13-2, 12 KOs), heavyweights – Shawingan, Canada
Quebecois boxing continues to thrive. Yves Ulysse Jr, a true local born fighter, returned for the first time from his “upset” win over Cletus Seldin on HBO in December. I put upset in quotes because while yes, Seldin was the A-side and more known commodity, it was a pretty easy fight to pick if you had seen both men fight. Here Ulysse cruised to a wide decision over a Venezuelan with an empty record. A little more interesting was the on paper heavyweight slugfest in the co-main event. I’ve been a little harsh on Canadian Olympian Simon Kean based on how stiff he has looked, but he showed more fluidity and slipperiness here in against a reasonably live opponent for the first time in his caeer. Braidwood is far from world level, but he can punch. Kean neutralized his offense nearly entirely while still landing his own. The finish was one of the more ridiculous ones you’ll see too. Kean landed a left hook, straight right combination that had Braidwood all sorts of wobbled. The ref jumped in, but Kean landed another right hand at the same time. That knocked Braidwood backwards with the problem being that he had absolutely no legs. Yet he managed to stanky leg dance all the way across the entirety of the ring before falling and leaving himself dangling over the top rope. This was cartoon character slapstick stuff. Make sure you see it. If Braidwood’s name sounds familiar to you but you can’t place it, he was the man who had the tragic misfortune of placing the fatal blows on ex-UFC heavyweight Tim Hague last year.
Marco Huck (41-5-1, 28 KOs) TKO4 Yakup Saglam (40-5, 37 KOs), heavyweights – Munich, Germany
Aging and diminished former top cruiserweight Marco Huck is trying to revitalize his career at 33 by moving it to heavyweight. He began his campaign at the higher weight Saturday with a routine stoppage of a regional level Turkish heavyweight. Over six years ago now Huck did move up to heavyweight and nearly took a belt, losing to Alexander Povetkin by majority decision in an exciting fight. That was prime Marco Huck, however. I don’t expect such positive results this time around. Plus, for that fight the German based Serb weighed in under 210 while here he weighed in over 220. Still, a rematch could be one of the more viable options for Marco at the weight.
Firat Arslan (43-8-2, 28 KOs) KO1 Pablo Matias Magrini (19-5-1, 15 KOs), cruiserweights – Karlsruhe, Germany
Seemingly ageless, 47 year old cruiserweight Firat Arslan picked up another win this weekend, this time a quick stoppage over an overmatched Argentinian back in Germany. He had been defending a minor WBO belt, so presumably the former titleholder wants one last shot before he hangs them up. Firat isn’t far away, either, given that that sanctioning body has him ranked third. This one was for the extremely minor WBU belt though. Arslan’s last true world title opportunity was a narrow 2014 split decision loss to Yoan Pablo Hernandez. He is now 9-0 since that fight.
Jose Zepeda (29-1, 24 KOs) KO5 Carlos Diaz Ramirez (26-1, 13 KOs), lightweights – Mexicali, Mexico
Back in 2015, Jose Zepeda received a lightweight title shot despite not ever having fought at the weight. It didn’t go well. Not because he was beaten soundly, but instead he dislocated his shoulder and had to retire after the second round. His luck didn’t end there either as a cut caused his next fight to be ruled a no contest. Since then Zepeda has been back toiling away at the top of Mexican regional scene. This fight with unbeaten Carlos Ramirez marked his opportunity to break back into the world level as the WBA deemed it a world title eliminator. For only the second time in his career, Zepeda dropped back down to lightweight. This time was a triumph, but far from an easy one. After having Ramirez on the ropes at the end of three, things fell apart for Zepeda in the fourth. He was battered around the ring and dropped on a body shot, looking done until he surprisingly survived the last twenty or so seconds. He flipped the fight right back on its head in the fifth though with his own sustained body attack. By the end of that round Ramirez had collapsed in the corner, unable to rise. I’ve read reports that he was vomiting over there too from the body damage, but I didn’t look for it. It was a pretty epic comeback in a very enjoyable fight.
Wilfredo Vazquez Jr (25-7-1, 20 KOs) TKO3 Cristian Mijares (59-9-2, 27 KOs), lightweights & Jose Lopez (28-6-2, 15 KOs) MD10 Roberto Ortiz (35-3-2, 26 KOs), junior welterweights – Gomez Palacio, Mexico
Former multiple time super flyweight titleholder Cristian Mijares had his run end on the world level quite a while ago now, but he has still been winning consistently on the Mexican regional level for some time even at much higher weights. Accordingly, it was quite the surprise to see this result. Maybe it shouldn’t have been though. Mijares recently backed out of a title shot and has said he was retiring after this fight, so it is reasonable to think his heart could have not been completely in it. Either way he found himself trapped in the corner in the third and ate a vicious right hand that did serious damage to his nose. Slumped over in the corner and looking down, Mijares waved his head no during the count without attempting to rise. It doesn’t matter on the world stage, but regionally this was a big upset. Also in action was recent HBO fighter Roberto Ortiz. You might remember him for getting beat up by Cletus Seldin and making that limited fighter a thing back in November, but really Ortiz just isn’t that good as shown by this loss and Seldin’s next performance.
Andrzej Fonfara (30-5, 18 KOs) TKO6 Ismayl Sillah (25-6, 19 KOs), cruiserweights – Warsaw, Poland
Andrzej Fonfara needed this win. After showing signs of life late in his 2014 title challenging loss to Adonis Stevenson, Fonfara established himself as a contender with a stoppage win over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and more impressively a decision over Nathan Cleverly. Unfortunately, it all came crashing down in his next fight when Fonfara was stopped in the first round by a then barely known Joe Smith Jr. Fonfara followed the quick upset loss by really struggling with an absolutely shot Chad Dawson, needing a come from behind last round stoppage to avert disaster. For some reason these struggles got him a rematch with Adonis Stevenson and again he was obliterated early. With his career relevancy on life support, Fonfara took this fight back home in Poland up at cruiserweight and got a much needed win over a known journeyman in Ismay Sillah.
Angel Acosta (18-1, 18 KOs) TKO12 Carlos Buitrago (30-4-1, 17 KOs), WBO light flyweight title – San Juan, Puerto Rico
Power punching light flyweight titleholder Angel Acosta held on to both his world title and perfect knockout percentage at home in Puerto Rico on Saturday. The crude but entertaining slugger dominated early and was up comfortably, but he did tire and fade a bit in the midrounds. Buitrago boxed a few of them pretty well too. It wasn’t enough for a full comeback on the cards though. Even if it was, it wouldn’t have mattered as Acosta trapped him on the ropes in the twelfth. After the ref gave him an eight count ruling that the ropes had held him up, Acosta moved in and found a solid three punch combination to rock Buitrago’s head and get the ref to stop the fight. Acosta is no artist in there, but he is an entertaining watch.
Lewis Ritson (16-0, 10 KOs) TKO1 Paul Hyland Jr (18-1, 7 KOs), lightweights & Josh Kelly (7-0, 5 KOs) RTD7 Kris George (14-2, 8 KOs), welterweights & Gavin McDonnell (20-1-2, 5 KOs) UD12 Stuart Hall (21-7-2, 7 KOs), super bantamweights & Charlie Edwards (13-1, 6 KOs) TKO3 Anthony Nelson (12-2, 2 KOs), super flyweights & Ricky Burns (47-2-1, 15 KOs) RTD4 Ivan Njegac (10-6, 4 KOs), lightweights – Newcastle, England
As usual, there is a lot to unpack in this Matchroom Boxing card. First, Lewis Ritson’s rapid ascent continued in the main event with his fourth straight quick destruction of a high regional level fighter in the UK. After being hurt almost immediately, Hyland chose to brawl and was dropped three times before the stoppage. Ritson is vulnerable in there, but he has definitely earned himself an opportunity at the world level at any point. 2016 Olympian Josh Kelly also picked up a stoppage win. In my view Kelly’s ceiling is very, very high. He is a talented fighter with all the potential to be the next big star in British fighter. Eddie Hearn seems to agree too as he is matching Kelly relatively aggressively for a 24 year old with this few fights. It should probably be noted though that the bigger story in this fight were the ridiculous injuries his opponent received. Both Kris George’s hands and his jaw are potentially broken following the fight.
Also on the card, Gavin McDonnell followed his domination of unbeaten prospect Gamal Yafai with another solid win over former titleholder Stuart Hall. McDonnell, who fought for a world title early last year, is having himself a nice 2018. He’s putting himself back in title shot discussion for sure. Former flyweight title challenger Charlie Edwards picked up a win as well. Back in 2016 the young fighter got a way too early title shot against John Riel Casimero and was unsurprisingly stopped. Still only 25, he still has time to grow and get another opportunity as a more seasoned fighter. Finally, three weight titleholder Ricky Burns returned with a nothing tune up. The only thing notable about it is that he took it at junior welterweight, meaning it remains unclear whether or not the return to lightweight in his loss to Anthony Crolla was a one off event or not.
Stephen Fulton (13-0, 6 KOs) TKO9 Jesus Ahumada (14-2, 9 KOs), super bantamweights & Yordenis Ugas (22-3, 11 KOs) TKO2 Jonathan Batista (17-14, 10 KOs), middleweights & Eimantas Stanionis (6-0, 5 KOs) TKO3 Erick Daniel Martinez (14-13-1, 8 KOs), welterweights – Frisco, Texas
Here are the relevant pre-TV undercard fights from Errol Spence Jr’s one round title defense. Super bantamweight prospect Stephen Fulton has a pair of nice wins over ShoBox regulars Joshua Greer Jr and Adam Lopez. It seems PBC is going to take those successes and try to bring him up as a more traditionally paced prospect now. It has been hard for them to do this though because of their large roster and lower volume of dates for them to build records on. I think by this point anyone reading this definitely knows who Yordenis Ugas is. The once thought to be busted and now surging welterweight contender took a stay busy, easy payday up at middleweight and rolled here. Finally, 2016 Lithuanian Olympic gold medalist Eimantas Stanionis also got his sixth career win. He’s a good example at what I am talking about with dates and PBC. Stanionis is obviously a major, major prospect on amateur credentials, so PBC takes more care with keeping him busy than most. Yet even as a prospect booked at a high volume, he still took only four fights in 2017 while Olympians with say Eddie Hearn or Bob Arum took five or six. That doesn’t seem like a big difference, but every fight matters in terms of record building and development. It will add up over time.
Ivan Dychko (6-0, 6 KOs) TKO1 Michael Marrone (21-9-1, 15 KOs), heavyweights – Saint Petersburg, Florida
6’9″, 27 year old heavyweight prospect Ivan Dychko was a major player on the international amateur scene for years. He competed in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic games, winning two fights in each before bowing out to Anthony Joshua and Joe Joyce. That was good enough for bronze in 2012. He also competed in the 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015 World Championships. He took him silver, bronze, and silver in the last three. Given that his age isn’t as old for a heavyweight prospect as it would be for any other division, his deep amateur credentials, and his extremely notable size, hopes are high for the Florida based Kazakh big man. There is no video of this fight that I can find, however. Marrone hasn’t made it past the second round since 2014 so we can’t read much into the result either, unfortunately.
Friday, June 15th
Joe Joyce (5-0, 5 KOs) KO1 Ivica Bacurin (30-14-1, 19 KOs), heavyweights & Michael Page (2-0, 2 KOs) KO2 Michal Ciach (1-6,1 KO), light heavyweights – London, England
Should have been 2016 Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist Joe Joyce picked up his fifth career win Friday against a no hope, late replacement fighter. Joyce is a non-traditional 6’6″ heavyweight in that he is a pressure fighter through and through who doesn’t worry about his range at all. Like I said with Dychko above, age isn’t as important of a factor with heavyweights as with other weight classes, but it might be a little more so with Joyce at 32. I’d expect to see him in with some British regional names sooner rather than later, i.e. a Gary Cornish or Sam Sexton before stepping up to the Derek Chisora type high regional level. As for Michael “Venom” Page, he is quite the character in the ring. Long considered a major MMA prospect for Bellator, MVP has been soundly criticized for his inactivity and not having stepped up. Taking his second, extremely low level boxing match isn’t going to help quiet those criticisms. Google this fight and check him out though. At the very least I can say with some confidence that he has a style all to his own in a fight, whether it be MMA or boxing.
