Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I go over all the results not otherwise covered by separate articles. The summer is quiet as usual, but there is still action to go over. We have Michael Conlan’s card in Belfast, Sam Eggington, a zombie that looks like Mike Alvarado, and more.
Saturday, June 30th
Pedro Campa (29-1, 19 KOs) TD5 Domicio Rondon (15-4, 10 KOs), junior welterweights – Mexico City, Mexico
Pedro Campa has been a known Zanfer Promotions prospect for some time now. That Mexican outfit has become a bit of a specialist in raising Mexican fighters up quietly against domestic competition to the point where they are ready for a title shot and then unleashing them. See Miguel Berchelt and Jaime Munguia for examples. Campa, however, hit a major speed bump when he was abruptly stopped in seven rounds last October in a fight designed to be a stay busy bout. It was a step down against a guy with a borderline .500 record, but he got caught and it just goes to show anything can happen in the ring. We’ll see how he comes back from it. This ended early on a cut on Campa, but he easily controlled the fight on the way to the technical decision otherwise.
Michael Conlan (8-0, 5 KOs) PTS8 Adeilson Dos Santos (19-5, 15 KOs), featherweights & Jack Catterall (22-0, 12 KOs) UD10 Tyrone McKenna (16-1-1, 6 KOs), junior welterweights & Gary Corcoran (18-2, 8 KOs) TKO5 Victor Ray Ankrah (8-3, 8 KOs), junior middleweights & Jono Carroll (16-0, 3 KOs) TKO9 Declan Geraghty (17-3, 4 KOs), junior lightweights & Tyrone McCullagh (11-0, 6 KOs) UD10 Joe Ham (14-1, 5 KOs), super bantamweights – Belfast, Northern Ireland
There is a lot to unpack from Belfast this weekend. The biggest thing here was another win for Top Rank promoted Irishman Michael Conlan. This win can fairly be called a victory over a former title challenger too, but only because Top Rank used Dos Santos as a ridiculous victor lap defense for Jessie Magdaleno last year. Conlan looked like his normal self here, a good but not exactly blue chip prospect. Junior welterweight emerging contender Jack Catterall won the best matched fight of the cards against Tyrone McKenna, dropping him three times along the way and winning on alarmingly close cards given how the fight went. This should set up a big domestic showdown with Ohara Davies next. Recent Jeff Horn challenger and two Irish prospects in the form of Jono Carroll and Tyrone McCullagh also got wins with McCullagh’s netting him a British title. None of those three men are future titleholders in all likelihood, but I can see all three of them getting a shot in the future. The Irish sell and promoters are always happy to get them opportunities.
Sam Eggington (23-4, 15 KOs) TKO4 Peter Kramer (8-1-1, 5 KOs), junior middleweights – Birmingham, England
When Sam Eggington toppled Frankie Gavin and Paulie Malignaggi consecutively before grabbing the European title in his next bout, it looked like the young fighter was really coming into his own. It was pretty easy to forgive previously getting outboxed by a solid regional technician like Bradley Skeete at only 22 on the backs of three straight good wins. It was an illusion though as Eggington was once again soundly outboxed in October, this time by little known Frenchman Mohamed Mimoune. Eggington and his team blamed weight for the lethargic performance. That is true much less often than than it is claimed to be, but we’ll see in Eggington’s case. He was a large welterweight and is getting to the age where a man starts to fill out. This was his second nothing fight at junior middleweight since the loss. He is slated to return again on Amir Khan’s next show in September, hopefully against a live body this time.
Mike Alvarado (39-4, 27 KOs) TKO9 Martin Angel Martinez (18-15-1, 11 KOs), welterweights & Trey Lippe (15-0, 15 KOs) TKO3 Byron Polley (30-23-1, 13 KOs), heavyweights – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
The shell of Mike Alvarado continues to be trotted out by Top Rank on their undercards while they try to figure out who to best sacrifice it to now that Manny Pacquiao has publicly not wanted any part of that fight. Whoever gets him is going to have a sad, easy time of it. Alvarado offers no defense and only passable offense at this point. Of course I am talking about on world level as he is capable on journeyman level still, but he’s going to get hurt when they put him in with basically anyone else at 140 or 147 in the Top Rank stable. The late former top heavyweight Tommy Morrison’s son Trey Lippe was also in action on the undercard as a local fighter with some name value. He isn’t signed to Top Rank, at least not yet. Lippe does bring some power to the ring, but otherwise he is just a limited brawler in there. A badly overweight Byron Polley was still able to catch him with some regularity in there despite taking a ton of punishment in return and going down approximately eight seven times in the fight. Trey Lippe is not a world level prospect, but he is a marketable name.
Jai Opetaia (16-0, 13 KOs) KO2 Kurtis Pegoraro (11-4, 1 KO), cruiserweights – Brisbane, Australia
23 year old Australian Olympic prospect of Samoan descent Jai Opetaia continued his march towards an eventual title shot this weekend. This was a bit of an awkward fight as Pegoraro didn’t want to engage much before he was caught and finished with a big body shot in the second. Opetaia is a really solid athlete in there with surprisingly good footwork. He cut off the ring well here, for example. He can be a bit loose and wide with his shots, but his hands are really quick for a big man and pack some pop. I am moderately high on Jai Opetaia. As long as he and his team remain patient and don’t rush into something this year, I do think he will be a world level player.
Friday, June 29th
Miguel Gonzalez (28-1, 6 KOs) UD11 Michell Banquez (14-1, 12 KOs), super flyweights & Jose Velasquez (20-6-2, 13 KOs) KO4 Juan Pablo Sosa (11-4-2, 6 KOs), super bantamweights – San Francisco de Mostazal, Chile
Neither of these Chilean fighters are world level threats, but I include them because you’ll see them in a title fight at some point soon. They fit the formula for random undeserving South American title challengers to a tee. It is a simple one too: Win a lot of fights in a row regardless of opposition quality and collect minor belts. Gonzalez has won 11 straight and has a WBA minor title while Velasquez has taken twelve straight while alternating minor WBA and WBO titles. Their shots are inevitable. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Rashidi Ellis (20-0, 13 KOs) UD10 Alberto Mosquera (25-4-2, 16 KOs), welterweights – Cancun, Mexico
Rashidi “Speedy” Ellis is one of Golden Boy’s many middling prospects. He got everyone excited when he blew out a decent midlevel guy in Eddie Gomez inside of a round at the tail end of 2016, but he stayed on that level for his next fight and nearly lost to John Karl Sosa. In response, Golden Boy has stepped him back for two fights now, including this one down in Cancun. Mosquera had loss at and below this level several times with no real wins to speak of, so don’t be fooled by the Panamanian’s decent looking record. He was here to lose and he did. Ellis had no trouble in this fight and was never going to.
