Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I go over all the results not otherwise covered in separate write ups. As we enter into summer, the sport does quiet down. It never stops completely though. This week we have major Olympic medalists, an emerging contender in South Africa, Frank Warren’s prospects, an actual horse, and more.
Saturday, June 23rd
Steven Butler (24-1-1, 21 KOs) TKO4 Carson Jones (40-14-3, 30 KOs), middleweights & Mathieu Germain (15-0, 8 KOs) UD10 Christian Uruzquieta (17-4-1, 6 KOs), junior welterweights & Erik Bazinyan (20-0, 15 KOs) TKO4 David Zegarra (32-3, 20 KOs), super middleweights – Montreal, Canada
Pour one out for Carson Jones. I don’t want to oversell 31 year old as he has never been a true world class fighter, but Jones has made a career out of being about as tough of an out in the journeyman game as there has been. Just ask Kell Brook. This was the second straight time he failed to offer a real stiff test to a young fighter though, meaning the end might be near for him at that level. Still, for 22 year old Canadian prospect Steven Butler to become only the second man to stop him since 2006 is something noteworthy. Butler’s one loss was at the very beginning of last year against fellow top Canadian regional fighter Brandon Cook, which is a forgivable loss for a then 20 year old. Butler’s ceiling is probably something just below world class still, but this is the first result he’s had to make me wonder if maybe he could break through. Germain and Bazinyan are solid prospects developing in Montreal too. I’m not projecting future elite fighters here, but really any time someone has started to build a record in Montreal they become worth paying attention to.
Norberto Jimenez (29-8-4, 16 KOs) UD10 Renson Robles (12-4, 6 KOs), super flyweights & William Encarnacion (17-0, 14 KOs) UD10 Eliecer Aquino (19-3-1, 13 KOs), super bantamweights – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
On Japan’s big annual New Year’s Eve card of 2014, Norberto Jimenez got a surprising draw against then titleholder Kohei Kono. He spent a lot of the fight running and generally made it ugly, so getting a draw off those tactics on the road was not expected. Beyond Kono Jiminez doesn’t really have any world class experience, but he does have one thing: a miracle record. Norberto Jimenez started his career 2-8-1 and is 27-0-3 since. Who else can brag of such a career turn around? I’m sure he’ll get another shot eventually too. William Encarnacion fought for the DR in the 2012 London games and won a fight while there. That makes him a prospect of note on Hispaniola, but I must confess that I haven’t seen enough footage to have much of an opinion on his ceiling as a fighter.
Tony Yoka (5-0, 4 KOs) TKO10 David Allen (13-4-2, 10 KOs), heavyweights & Souleymane Cissokho (7-0, 5 KOs) UD10 Carlos Molina (28-10-2, 8 KOs), junior middleweights
This was a pretty major show for French boxing. 2016 Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist (thanks to a questionable decision win over Joe Joyce) Tony Yoka took a minor step up here against British regional level talent David Allen. He passed, but I am hesitant to anoint Yoka as the future of the division. He has the size for sure at 6’7″ with an 82″ reach and he’s a decent athlete too. There is just something about his style that is a little off putting. He’s passive in there. I also don’t think he hits all that hard for a gigantic, 245 lb man either. He cruised here early and somewhat casually without exciting too much before turning the heat up slowly late. He brought the fight to a boil for the finish in the tenth and final round by battering his out of shape opponent around the ring. Senegalese-French junior middleweight prospect Souleymane Cissokho also brought home a medal in Rio and was in action here too. Rapidly fading former top contender Carlos Molina was an excellent test and barometer for him. Cissokho won every round basically, but he got hit back plenty too. Molina faced fellow Rio emerging prospect Josh Kelly of England in his last fight and Cissokho got a bit more done offensively, but was worse defensively than the Brit to my eye. What a major fight that could be some day between those two.
Thulani Mbenge (14-0, 11 KOs) TKO7 Diego Gabriel Chaves (26-4-1, 22 KOs), welterweights & Thabiso Mchunu (19-4, 12 KOs) TKO6 Ricards Bolotniks (11-5-1, 5 KOs), cruiserweights – Kempton Park, South Africa
This is both a coming out party for South African emerging welterweight contender Thulani Mbenge and a potential funeral for Diego Chaves. The Argentinian has had many competitive fights with world class opponents, but he has been mostly inactive since his 2014 fortunate draw with Tim Bradley and this is his second straight stoppage loss in a fight he was favored in. Jamal James got him on a body shot at the tail end of last year. Thulani Mbenge did him much differently though. The South African has a great frame for the weight and used it to launch beautiful, devastating right hands with power and precision. Thulani Mbenge has great straight right. Chaves took it well for about four rounds and never stopped fighting back, but from about round five on they were clearly too much for him. He was dropped at the end of the sixth and face planted in the seventh when the towel came in. Note the name Thulani Mbenge because he just might be for real. He also picked up the IBO belt here if you care about that. I don’t. Also in action was cruiserweight fringe contender Thabiso Mchunu, holder of wins over the likes of Johnny Muller, Eddie Chambers, and Olanrewaju Durodola. The top of the division has been too much for Mchunu, but this stay busy fight was not a challenge.
Denys Berinchyk (9-0, 6 KOs) RTD5 Jose Luis Prieto (26-5, 17 KOs), lightweights – Kiev, Ukraine
We have to talk about Denys Berinchyk. Why? Is it because the 30 year old won silver in London back in 2012? Is it because he’s a real prospect and potential world level player who has done the requisite win a minor title work to be ranked by the WBO? No. I mean he is those things, but that isn’t what we are going to talk about. We’re going to talk about the fact that he rode to the ring on a horse. Yeah, on horseback. One other time he came to the ring in a jump suit and handcuffs surrounded by mock prison guards and another time he rode a motorcycle, WWE style. He came to the ring one time dressed as a bear too. As a 30 year old lightweight prospect Berinchyk needs to get out of Ukraine as soon as possible to make a real run out of his career. If he does, you’ll hear about it in a hurry with these entrances. He can fight a bit too, but who cares? A horse did his ring walk for him.
Lee McGregor (4-0, 4 KOs) TKO4 Goodluck Mrema (22-3, 12 KOs), bantamweights & Martin Bakole Ilunga (11-0, 8 KOs) TKO1 DL Jones (8-2-1), heavyweights – Glasgow, Scotland
Barry McGuigan’s Cyclone Promotions keeps as about as small of a roster as any promoter of note could possibly keep. Recently he lost Carl Frampton and is without a true top of the sport guy, but Josh Taylor is rapidly rising to fill that void. Also in action on Taylor’s card this weekend are a pair of McGuigan signed prospects that I find interesting, two of only six fighters Cyclone lists on their website. Lee McGregor looks good early in his career. The 21 year old Scottish prospect appears to have talent and size to project himself past that British domestic level wall. He has a coordinated attack with both hands and some power to boot. I am less sure about the younger, bigger brother of cruiserweight contender Junior Makabu, but Martin Bakole Ilunga can certainly punch if nothing else. He basically won the fight on the first punch he threw, though Jones did rise and need to be put down again one more time. It took Daniel Dubois three rounds to do what Ilunga did in about 45 seconds here.
Anthony Yarde (16-0, 15 KOs) TKO7 Dariusz Sek (27-4-3, 9 KOs), light heavyweights & Daniel Dubois (8-0, 8 KOs) TKO5 Tom Little (10-6, 3 KOs), heavyweights & Ohara Davies (18-1, 14 KOs) TKO2 Paul Kamanga (21-2, 12 KOs), junior welterweights – London, England
I am going to be honest here and maybe get some flack for it, but I am not in love with Frank Warren’s stable of prospects. His big two are known names now in Yarde and Dubois. He’s done well to promote them both, real well actually, but I just don’t know if they are really world level fighters. Yarde is a talented, powerful puncher, but there just isn’t much to his game overall, especially defensively. He is right there to be hit at all times and I don’t think he is the overall athlete that he is being hyped up to be. Dare I say the name Jeff Lacy? That is who I see when I watch Yarde. As he very, very slowly edges up his level of competition, Warren is only putting him in with really soft hitters too as if he fears the same defensive woes that I see. Can we at least get him in a domestic title bout soon? As for Dubois, he is just sort of this slow, lumbering brute at this point. He just kind of follows his guy and punches hard without ever seeming all that explosive. 20 is an absolute baby for a heavyweight though so at least he has nothing but time to progress technically. As for Ohara Davies, well we saw his limitations in against Josh Taylor last year. I will say though that Taylor is an elite, elite prospect and we shouldn’t write Ohara off just yet as he has some things working for him, chiefly his power at range. Find a highlight of this KO to see what I mean. It is one of the more unique finishes that you will find.
