Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which we take a look at all remotely prominent fights not otherwise covered by separate articles. For this week in the sport void of action on the world level, that is literally everything. Still, we have former titleholders, a major Mexican prospect, and more to review.
Saturday, June 2nd
Kevin Lerena (21-1, 9 KOs) UD12 Roman Golovashchenko (19-2, 17 KOs), cruiserweights – Baku, Azerbaijan
South African cruiserweight contender Kevin Lerena took his show on the road to former Soviet satellite Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea. Lerena has really sealed his standing in the division with consecutive decisions over top twenty five divisional contenders in Dmytro Kucher and Youri Kalenga. This was a step back, but a win is a win. It should also be noted that the 26 year old also has avenged his one defeat to fringe contender Johnny Muller. Lerena is a good, agile mover who makes good use of the space afforded to him in the ring and he is just entering the early days of his physical prime. I doubt the South African can deal well with the very top of the exciting cruiserweight division, but the back half of the top ten seems well within his reach. Currently he has the IBO belt too if that is worth anything to you. The four main world titles are pretty well locked up right now so I suppose that is the best he can do for the time being.
McJoe Arroyo (18-2, 8 KOs) MD8 Sander Diaz (5-3-1, 2 KOs), bantamweights & Jeyvier Cintron (6-0, 4 KOs) RTD3 Omni Padilla (5-14, 3 KOs), super bantamweights – Palmar de Valera, Colombia
Sometimes all I can do is just stare at results like this one and wonder what it means. The Puerto Rican Arroyo brothers are two of the more talented, but frustrating fighters in recent memory due to their inactivity. McJoe has only fought once in each of the last four years. In 2015 he won a vacant super flyweight belt only to lose it on the road in the Philippines to then unknown Jerwin Ancajas in what was a pretty big upset at the time the following year. He tried to come back in 2017, but meeting Rau’shee Warren in the multiple time Olympian’s divisional debut was too much and he dropped another relatively wide decision. Now it is 2018 and McJoe has popped up in Colombia where he only managed a majority decision over a local novice. I’m extremely unlikely to find video of this fight so I am mostly left scratching my head. Has he fallen this far? Was there a just a bad card in the bunch? It is hard to say, but my gut says the answer probably isn’t great for his future. Puerto Rican Olympian Jeyvier Cintron also picked up a win on show as well.
Robin Krasniqi (48-5, 17 KOs) UD12 Stanislav Kashtanov (36-3, 21 KOs), super middleweights & Stefan Haertel (17-1, 2 KOs) UD8 Emmanuel Feuzeu (10-7-2, 5 KOs), super middleweights – Bayern, Germany
These two are borderline below the purview of UTR at this point, but it was a quiet week so we can take a look. Robin Krasniqi has been a Euro-level fringe contender at super middleweight for years. He has stepped up against Nathan Cleverly, Juergen Braehmer, and most recently Arthur Abraham last year and fell well short against all of them. Stefan Haetel was a 2012 Olympian from Germany who has some skills but ultimately no pop to keep fighters off him. His career is still recovering from a poor two fight series in late 2017, early 2018 in which he should have lost a decision to Viktor Polyakov and then did lose to Adam Deines. This was his second low level win since his fist loss. Krasniqi picked up the European belt with his win in the main event. Neither of these guys are going to matter at world level, but matching them together for that belt does make real sense regionally.
Emanuel Navarrete (25-1, 22 KOs) KO12 Jose Sanmartin (26-5-1, 17 KOs), super bantamweights – Nuevo Leon, Mexico
23 year old Mexican prospect Emanuel Navarrete keeps knocking down the solid regional competition put in front of him one by one. Much like his fellow Zanfer promoted fighter Jaime Munguia, Navarrete is a bit limited athletically but makes up for it with real, thudding power. He has the kind of power that just physically moves fighters across the ring. Sanmartin, who had never been stopped, almost survived. In fact, he briefly looked like he might be taking over the fight in its last third. Two late knockdowns finished him off in the end though. Of note, this was a WBA eliminator that puts the young Mexican fighter in position to meet the winner of Danny Roman’s June 16th title defense against Moises Flores in what is a potentially promising matchup either way. Also, disregard his loss. It came in a four rounder when Navarrete was 17 in his sixth pro fight.
Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (55-4-1, 38 KOs) UD10 Olanrewaju Durodola (27-6, 25 KOs), cruiserweights – Rzeszow, Poland
The wheels are off the wagon for Nigerian cruiserweight Olanrewaju Durodola. Briefly a top contender following his big 2015 upset of Russian power puncher Dmitry Kudryashov, Dorodola has been mostly dominated since on the world level with stoppage losses to Mairis Briedies, Kudryashov in the rematch, Maksim Vlasov, and now a wide decision loss to faded former titleholder Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. As for Wlodarczyk, the 36 year old Polish fighter is now 2-0 since being blown out in three in the first round of the World Boxing Super Series by Murat Gassiev last fall. Wlodarczyk’s long title reign came to an end in 2014 at the hands of Grigory Drozd and he doesn’t seem likely to ever get a belt back at this point.
Toka Kahn Clary (25-1, 17 KOs) UD10 Emmanuel Dominguez (22-7-2, 14 KOs), featherweights – Atlantic City, New Jersey
Once beaten prospect Liberian prospect Toka Kahn Clary is probably Evander Holyfield’s top fighter for Real Deal Promotions in terms of being closest to real contention. He got the main event here against Mexican journeyman Emmanuel Dominguez and picked up a minor WBA belt in the process. This was mostly was mostly a one sided fight. Dominguez did survive a knockdown to make it to the final bell, but he had no argument on the cards. Clary was previously a Top Rank prospect, but they dropped him after a surprise first round knockout loss to another Filipino in journeyman Jhon Gemino on a UniMás card last September. That alone tells us Clary isn’t an elite talent if the eye test wasn’t enough, but that doesn’t mean he can’t become a contender still.
Friday, June 1st
Blake Caparello (27-3-1, 11 KOs) TKO1 Trent Broadhurst (20-3, 12 KOs), light heavyweights – Melbourne, Australia
Blake Caparello has become a power puncher. The Australian fringe contender has come up short against Sergey Kovalev, Andre Dirrell, and Isaac Chilemba, but he has won consistently on the regional level in increasing style. Five of his eleven finishes have come in his last five wins and he also officially put down both Kovalev and Dirrell in those defeats. Broadhurst was a very weak recent former title challenger and Caparello put him out in the very first round. Caparello is never going to win on the world level in all likelihood, but he still has had an interesting career to follow over the past few years.
Jaron Ennis (20-0, 18 KOs) TKO2 Mike Arnaoutis (26-11-2, 16 KOs), welterweights – Atlantic City, New Jersey
20 year old Philly prospect Jaron Ennis picked up a win in what generously might be called a step up against faded former Greek title challenger Mike Arnaoutis. It probably was more of a lateral move given the 38 year old’s recent track record, but Arnaoutis is a name on the record at least. Ennis is a promising young pro with solid amateur credentials as he was one fight from qualifying for the US Olympic team in 2016, losing to a blue chip prospect in Gary Antuanne Russell in the finals. He had previously beat Russell in the qualification process, but lost twice to him after and didn’t make the team. Still not signed to a major promoter, I would be surprised if neither Top Rank nor Matchroom USA scoop him up in their upcoming talent scrambles.
