Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I go over all meaningful results not otherwise covered by separate articles. This week we have names such as Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, Jen Pascak, Curtis Stevens, Fedor Chudinov, and more. It was an interesting week for the sport.
Curtis Stevens (30-6, 22 KOs) RTD4 Carlos Jairo Cruz (18-3, 12 KOs), middleweights – Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
16 months after being knocked unconscious by David Lemieux and approximately one month after waking up from it, Curtis Stevens made as about as quiet of a return to the sport as possible for him this weekend. In what I am sure was a work-vacation, Stevens took this fight down in the beautiful DR. There is no video that I can find, but it should be of no surprise that he made his local foe quit after four rounds. Stevens is well proven to not necessarily be a true world class contender by this point, but he can punch and is just as proven as being well above this regional sort of level.
Fedor Chudinov (18-2, 12 KOs) SD12 Nadjib Mohammedi (40-6, 23 KOs), super middleweights & Mairis Briedis (24-1, 18 KOs) UD10 Brandon Deslaurier (11-2-1, 1 KO), cruiserweights & Denis Shafikov (40-4-1, 20 KOs) UD10 Jhon Gemino (17-11-1, 7 KOs), lightweights – Moscow, Russia
Here is the undercard action from the cruiserweight World Boxing Super Series finale. Former secondary super middleweight titleholder Fedor Chudinov returned to the ring for the fourth time since losing his title bid to George Groves by stoppage in a fun war a little over a year ago. This was a step back up to Euro level and it didn’t go well. These were bad scorecards. Nadjib Mohammedi put on as complete of an effort as I’ve seen him in his career and soundly outboxed Chudinov. The result here was some very frustrating home cooking. Also in action was recent former cruiserweight titleholder in Mairis Brieis and former lightweight challenger Denis Shafikov, both in soft. It really felt like Briedis was intentionally going ten here in a tedious fight to watch. Shafikov decisioned well traveled Filipino journeyman Jhon Gemino and still seems determined to be down at junior lightweight despite being upset in his debut there against Rene Alvarado.
Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (46-4-1, 41 KOs) TKO1 Young Gil Bae (28-7-2, 22 KOs), super bantamweights & Nawaphon Por Chokchai (42-1, 33 KOs) UD12 Likit Chane (16-8, 10 KOs), bantamweights – Bang Phun, Thailand
Top super flyweight Srisaket Sor Rungvisai took a stay busy fight up in weight back in Thailand and triumphed within a round. Sor Rungvisai disappointed basically everyone when he announced he was skipping Superfly 3 as he was the star of the first two, but reports have repeatedly indicated that he isn’t in a good head space right now and wouldn’t be up for it. Apparently his long term relationship has come to an end and he is struggling to cope. We forget how human these fighters are, sometimes. Also in action was former flyweight title challenger Nawaphon Por Chokchai. He was easily dispatched by Juan Hernandez Navarette in March of 2017, but he did win a fun little war with former top flyweight Amnat Ruenroeng last time out. Ruenroeng is badly faded, but that is still Por Chockhai’s best win to date. His gaudy record is otherwise entirely empty in traditional Thai fashion.
Yamaguchi Falcao (16-0, 7 KOs) UD10 Elias Espadas (17-4, 12 KOs), middleweights & Carlos Caraballo (8-0, 8 KOs) RTD5 Jesus Martinez (24-4, 12 KOs), super bantamweights – Las Vegas, Nevada
2012 Olympic bronze medalist Yamaguchi Falcao was supposed to meet Demtrius Andrade on the televised portion of this show in what would have been a great test, but Andrade signed with Eddie Hearn and backed out. This left him with Espadas on the prelims. In a bit of a dirty fight, Falcao dropped Espadas in the second and hurt him again in the tenth, but otherwise he did struggle a little bit in the messy affair. Espadas landed some nice shots along with his elbows and head. It wasn’t the showing Falcao had probably hoped for, but a win is a win and he did definitely deserve the decision in the end. Puerto Rican former top amateur Carlos Caraballo was also in action. I can’t find video for this fight, but the Cotto Promotions prospect is one of the more promising young men coming from the island right now. He pulled Martinez up two weight classes here so that dulls the shine a little bit, but this was a nice win for an eighth pro fight too. Remember his name.
Vivian Harris (33-12-2, 19 KOs) UD10 DeMarcus Corley (51-31-1, 28 KOs), welterweights – Memphis, Tennessee
Are you ready for the trilogy to end all trilogies? Back in the very early 2000s, about a decade and a half ago, both of these men were well regarded world titleholders, especially Chop Chop Corley. In just a few years it fell apart for both men, however, and they both went on to be journeyman. Chop Chop in particular is the textbook definition of a world traveling boxing journeyman. He possesses probably my favorite boxrec to just scan through. Here is a list of men he has fought: Randall Bailey, Zab Judah, Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, Junior Witter, Devon Alexander, Marcos Maidana, Lucas Matthysse, Viktor Postol, and Ruslan Provodnikov are the most prominent, but his record is also littered with names that hardcore fans would know like Hank Lundy, Paul McCloskey, Anthony Yigit, Selcuk Aydin, Thomas Dulorme, Ashley Theophane, and much more. Now you can add Vivian Harris, twice. With a combined 41 years in the ring as pro fighters between them, the two men met last year and Chop Chop emerged victorious. For some reason they rematched this weekend, however, and this time Vivian had his hand raised in the end. Who is buying the PPV trilogy capper? All of us, obviously.
Friday, June 20th
Jean Pascal (33-5-1, 20 KOs) TKO8 Steve Bosse (1-1, 1 KO), cruiserweights – Laval, Canada
Jean Pascal ended his brief “retirement” with dollar signs in his eye here against hockey enforcer turned semi-popular midtier UFC fighter Steve Bosse, but Mayweather-McGregor II this did not turn out to be. I hope both men were paid already because reportedly this freakshow fight was a bust at the gate. As for the fight itself, it was a bit of a strange watch. A physically bloated Pascal up at cruiserweight didn’t seem to take this all that seriously, nor did he really seem to pursue a finish. He worked only sporadically with his still fast twitch and somewhat wild style. It was probably a combination of the added weight, wanting to carry the fight a bit, and Bosse being known as durable if nothing else in a boxing match. Bosse was durable too, or at least he was right up until a hellacious left hook in the eighth seemed briefly to knock him out. He got up, but the ref had seen enough. Find that shot if you haven’t seen it yet.
Lamont Roach (17-0-1, 7 KOs) RTD6 Deivi Julio Bassa (20-5, 12 KOs), junior lightweights – Cancun, Mexico
This Golden Boy on ESPN main event brought back psuedo-prospect Lamont Roach Jr. Last time Roach struggled a bit on his way to a draw against faded former fringe contender Orlando Cruz on the road in Cruz’s native Puerto Rico. The fight should have been scored a for Roach as a badly blown knockdown call late cost him the point advantage that would have won him the fight on the cards, but he still struggled against a man top talents shouldn’t really struggle against. Plus, it was an ugly fight. Golden Boy trotted out 37 year old Colombian Deivi Bassa to get him back on the winning ways here as they had used Bassa for a few other of their fighters and it worked as planned. Bassa was dropped along the way, but he was also pretty game until he abruptly and somewhat confusingly quit in his corner. Lamont Roach Jr is not a top prospect in my view. But with Golden Boy behind him, he will be back on our TVs soon for sure.
Alexey Egorov (6-0, 5 KOs) RTD6 Lateef Kayode (21-4, 16 KOs), cruiserweights & Radzhab Butaev (9-0, 7 KOs) KO3 Ramses Agaton (20-9-3, 10 KOs), junior middleweights – El Monte, California
A pair of Russians former amateur standouts took a pair of fights in California. Egorov was only a domestic level amateur, but he fought on the highest level of a good Russian scene and did well there even if he never broke out internationally. Look at this win though. Lateef Kayode is beyond shot, of course, but he’s still a notable name for a sixth pro fight. Butaev too got stuck in the Russian machine when it came to the biggest international competitons. He did fight internationally though in the smaller tournaments and picked up a few notable wins along the way. As a pro he was supposed to be competing in that ongoing Holyfield/WBC tournament, but an injury kept him out in a major disappointment. He’s a good prospect and would have been a threat to win the thing in my view.
Jaron Ennis (21-0, 19 KOs) KO3 Armando Alvarez (18-1, 12 KOs), welterweights & Thomas Mattice (13-0, 10 KOs) SD8 Zhora Hamazaryan (9-1, 6 KOs), lightweights & Montana Love (11-0-1, 5 KOs) D8 Kenneth Sims Jr (12-1-1, 4 KOs), junior welterweights & Zhilei Zhang (19-0, 15 KOs) KO1 Eugen Buchmueller (11-3, 8 KOs), heavyweights & Fanlong Meng (13-0, 8 KOs) KO1 Chris Eppley (11-5, 10 KOs), light heavyweights – Sloan, iowa
20 year old Jaron “Boots” Ennis has been a major prospect in the sport since he turned pro after narrowly failing to make the US Olympic team for 2016 after losing a one a piece trilogy finisher against fellow top prospect Gary Antuanne Russell in the finals. He has been extremely active too, but he’s also been extremely low key. Thankfully Ennis finally had a bit of a coming out here. He is still a bit of a baby in the sport professionally, but he’s one to watch for sure. Also broadcast was a more or less nothing draw between Love and Sims as well as a really bad decision in the co-feature. Thomas Mattice did not win that fight. You really have to feel for Zhora Hamazaryan for that result. Finally, two Chinese Olympic prospects also took fights pre-TV. Zhang is particularly of interest to me. The two time Olympian and silver medalist has great size and some athleticism to go with it, but even at 35 he has still yet to take any sort of step up. I wish he would.
