Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I go over all even remotely prominent results from around the world that I have not already covered in separate articles. The sport remains quiet for the summer, but we do have some interesting stuff in the form of Top Rank’s undercard, the return of Beibut Shumenov, good prospects in Florida, and more.
Saturday, July 7th
Beibut Shumenov (18-2, 12 KOs) RTD9 Hizni Altunkaya (30-2, 17 KOs), cruiserweights – Astana, Kazakhstan
After two years and a couple months of retirement, former two division titleholder Beibut Shumenov returned to the sport in his native Kazakhstan this weekend. The now 34 year old had stepped away from the sport following an injury to his eye suffered in sparring described as a “severely detached cornea” that threatened permanent loss of vision. I hope that is taken care of now. Shumenov is probably best remembered here stateside for having his light heavyweight title reign drawn to a close by an ageless Bernard Hopkins back in 2014. His opponent here was a Turkish no hoper designed to ease back in with. Altunkaya’s record is entirely empty as is usually the case with fighters from Turkey.
Jose Argumedo (22-4-1, 13 KOs) UD10 Moises Calleros (28-9-1, 16 KOs), light flyweights – Guadalajara, Mexico
Jose Argumedo’s minimumweight title run came to an end about a year ago at the hands of Hiroto Kyoguchi in Japan, but not before he had defended the IBF belt three times. While the 105 lb division is generally as deep as a modern Adam Sandler comedy, that is still a nice run. This was the Mexican contender’s second fight since losing his belt, both up a weight class at light flyweight, and his first against a real opponent. Calleros himself was coming off a failed minimumweight title bid here. I strongly suspect Argumedo will find capturing a title in a real division like 108 much more difficult than he did three pounds south, but I also fully expect him to get the opportunity soon, maybe against Hekkie Budler as the IBF mandatory soon as they like to recycle fighters as challengers.
Dave Penalosa (13-0, 9 KOs) TKO2 Ricky Manufoe (27-35-3, 10 KOs), featherweights & Carlo Caesar Penalosa (12-1, 5 KOs) TKO5 Iwan Key (11-22-5, 1 KO), flyweights – Tagbilaran City, Philippines
I enjoyed this find quite a bit. The Penalosas are a proud Filipino boxing family with tremendous history. It all started with family patriarch Carl Penalosa making his debut in 1962, but he was never more than a journeyman. What he did do well though was give birth to three sons. Eldest son Jonathan made his way to a world title shot and lost, but it was Gerry and Dodie Boy that would find the major pro success. Gerry won a super flyweight title in the late 90s and improbably a bantamweight belt nearly a decade after losing his first title. Dodie Boy also two won titles in two weight classes. Those men are all retired, but a new generation is among us. Now we have Dodie Boy Jr and Dave, sons of Dodie Boy, and Carlos Caesar, who I believe is Jonathan’s son. Dave and Carlos Caesar were in action here, both picking up stoppage wins. I don’t know if any of these guys are serious prospects, but if one is then it is probably Dodie Boy Jr, not in action here. He is the one who had national amateur success, has the KO percentage, the youth, and has fought a little abroad. Regardless if none of these guys pan out, it is fun to watch a lineage like this develop over the history of the sport.
Andy Ruiz Jr (30-1, 20 KOs) UD12 Kevin Johnson (32-10-1, 16 KOs), heavyweights & Gabriel Flores Jr (9-0, 5 KOs) UD6 James De Herrera (4-5, 3 KOs), junior lightweights & Joseph Adorno (8-0, 8 KOs) KO3 Guadalupe De Leon (9-16-1, 5 KOs), junior lightweights – Fresno, California
Here is the action from Top Rank’s ESPN+ broadcast undercard from before TV on Saturday. Talented but likely unmotivated heavyweight Andy Ruiz Jr highlighted the prelims with a routine decision over former fringe contender Kevin Johnson. This was his second fight back since narrowly losing his title shot to Joseph Parker at the tail end of 2016 and his second in four months. Being active and back down eight pounds to 252 are promising signs, but it is hard to really envision him ever winning a belt at this point despite having the talent to compete at that level. Ruiz just doesn’t take care of his body. I’d like to see him between 235 and 240, but that has not ever and won’t ever happen Also in action were two interesting potential world level prospects in Gabriel Flores Jr and Joseph Adorno. Both these young men are teenagers and will take years to potentially develop into and start fighting contenders, but both show promise. Expect to see them on ESPN+ over and over for the next couple years.
Friday, July 6th
Logan Yoon (12-0, 10 KOs) UD10 Luis Eduardo Florez (24-10, 20 KOs), welterweights & Ivan Dychko (7-0, 7 KOS) KO1 Maurice Harris (26-22-3, 11 KOs), heavyweights & Livan Navarro (8-0, 6 KOs) KO1 Julio Cesar Reynoso (12-2, 7 KOs), welterweights – Hollywood, Florida
Kris Lawrence’s upstart promotional company “The Heavyweight Factory” put on a show with a nice trio of prospects at home in Florida on Friday. 19 year old Logan Yoon has more fights and is a kid with some real potential that is being stepped up to the midlevels of the sport pretty early in his career, but the real story here is two time Olympic bronze medalist Ivan Dychko. The 27 year old, 6’9″ giant only bowed out of the Olympics against the likes of Anthony Joshua and Joe Joyce. He is a serious prospect. Unfortunately, the matchmaking and effort here left a lot to be desired. 42 year old career journeyman Maurice Harris went down on the first opportunity he could find in a bit of a farce. Hopefully they find better for Dychko soon. Cuban Livan Navarro is worth keeping an eye on too for now and he looked dynamic here, but I do expect his ceiling is significantly lower than that of Yoon and Dychko.
Oscar Negrete (18-1, 7 KOs) UD8 Diuhl Olguin (13-10-3, 9 KOs), bantamweights & Raul Curiel (4-0, 3 KOs) KO2 Demetrius Wilson (2-8), welterweights – Los Angeles, California
Golden Boy’s LA Fight Club series on Ring.tv and EstrellaTV is usually so irrelevant that even I skip it more often than not, but this week’s edition was worth a look. Oscar Negrete is a decently talented Colombian bantamweight with a profile well outside of that of the usual Colombian inflated power puncher record. Negrete isn’t a big bantamweight and was pulled up in weight to be an opponent for giant super bantamweight titleholder Rey Vargas on HBO and predictably lost wide, but I still saw a lot of ability in that fight that will serve him well down at 118, or even 115 if Negrete considers dropping down again. I think he could it and find big fights at super flyweight. 2016 Mexican Olympian Raul Curiel also picked up his fourth career win on the show. He’s pretty raw still at this point.
