Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I go over everything not already covered in separate articles. This week we have a lot to go over. We have championship boxing, Shakur Stevenson, Carlos Cuadras, Robinson Castellanos, several elite prospects, Jason Sosa, and so much more.
Sunday, August 19th
Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov (13-0, 10 KOs) TKO2 Robinson Castellanos (24-14, 14 KOs), junior lightweights & Magomed Kurbanov (15-0, 11 KOs) UD10 Charles Manyuchi (22-4-1, 13 KOs), junior middleweights & Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov (12-0, 8 KOs) KO1 Victor Alejandro Gonzalez (18-2, 9 KOs), junior lightweights – Ekaterinburg, Russia
Now this is a result to pay attention to. Ignore Robinson Castellano’s record. In his last five fights before this, for example, he stopped an unbeaten Ronny Rios, dominated an aging Rocky Juarez, lost to Oscar Escandon, destroyed Yuriorkis Gamboa, and then lost a title shot against Jezreel Corrales by technical decision in a fight that many thought he got a raw deal in. He’s a real contender junior lightweight, or at least he was going into this. Say hello to Shavkatdazhon Rakhimov, everyone. The Russian southpaw dropped Castellanos late in the first with a Loma-like left and spin before coming back out in the second with a more traditional, laser beam of a straight left to put him down again. This time he was hurt badly and Rakhimov was able to drop him twice more without issue to force the stoppage. This was borderline star making stuff from the 24 year old. He also picked up the IBO belt here too. While S8C doesn’t recognize the IBO as a world championship sanctioning body, it should help Rakhimov attract decent opponents going forward. Also in action were fellow Russian based prospects Magomed Kurbanov and Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov. Yaqubov, like Rakhimov, is originally from Tajikistan. These two seem a cut below Rakhimov for sure, but they are good young fighters in their own right. If you’ve heard of either of them it is Kurbanov due to the fact that he was trying to set up a fight with an aged Shane Mosley a while back now. RCC Promotions have themselves a nice little stable growing.
Shohjahon Ergashev (13-0, 12 KOs) RTD4 Juma Waswa (10-3-1, 4 KOs), junior welterweights – Moscow, Russia
Speaking of Russian based future stars, 26 year old Uzbek Shohjahon Ergashev returned to Moscow after three straight fights stateside. Back in January, Ergashev fought what was supposed to be an evenly matched Shobox prospect battle against Sonny Frederickson. Instead he annihilated him in three. This fight was even more one sided, but it was a homecoming mismatch by design. Juma Waswa had never fought outside of Africa came into the fight on a two fight losing streak. Ergashev tried to make quick work of him by coming out with an extended flurry and almost did, but Waswa ended up quitting on his own after four brutal rounds. He was down in the first and third and hurt badly late in the second. The Uzbek blue chip prospect did his fair share of taunting in the third too which likely further demoralized him.
Saturday, August 18th
Carlos Ocampo (23-1, 14 KOs) KO3 Jesus Rojas (11-5-2, 10 KOs), junior middleweights – Chihuahua, Mexico
I’ve covered Zanfer promoted Mexican prospect Carlos Ocampo many times on UTR. He’s been and remains a pretty good one in my view too, but there was no chance in any scenario that the 22 year old was going to be ready for an elite, pound for pound level killer like Errol Spence Jr two months ago. Ocampo looked good in the fight for a few seconds shy of a round with his size and skills, but Spence dug him hard to the body inside the ten second warning and he crumbled. It then probably felt satisfying for Ocampo to win his quick turn around comeback fight with a third round body shot Saturday back home in Mexico. This was meant to reestablish some confidence and nothing more. Ocampo has been a pretty big welterweight and competed at junior middleweight here. Whether the weight was getting too much for him as he stopped being a kid or they just weren’t bothering to worry about weight in such a low level fight, I am not sure.
Carlos Cuadras (37-3-1, 27 KOs) TD7 Ricardo Nunez (29-8, 23 KOs), super flyweights & Juan Pablo Romero (8-0, 5 KOs) UD6 Jorge Valenzuela (6-4, 1 KO), junior welterweights – Los Mochis, Mexico
Longtime Mexican super flyweight star Carlos Cuadras has attributed his recent in ring struggles to substance abuse issues. This was his first fight back after completing a rehab program and his first fight back since suffering an upset loss to McWilliams Arroyo on HBO’s second Superfly card six months ago. Panamanian longtime fringe contender and former two time title challenger Ricardo Nunez was a pretty stiff opponent to take on for a comeback bout in modern standards too, but Cuadras mostly returned to form here. Nunez is a reckless, if not dirty fighter who used his head to open a pair of cuts though that eventually ended the fight early and also cost him a couple points along the way. Nunez got his shots in and won a round or two, but Cuadras was never in real trouble and easily did the better work over the length of the fight. Carlos has been through a lot though. He’s an old 29 and I don’t know if he’ll ever really be able to climb all the way back up the mountain again. 2016 Mexican Olympian Juan Pablo Romero also got his eighth win on the show.
Abimael Ortiz (6-0-1, 4 KOs) TKO5 Jantony Ortiz (8-1, 4 KOs), super bantamweights & Subriel Matias (11-0, 11 KOs) TKO4 Breidis Prescott (31-14, 22 KOs), junior welterweights – Fajardo, Puerto Rico
Jantony Ortiz was a 2012 Olympian for Puerto Rico. He won a fight in London and had top billing on this local card, but all did not well for him. He was upset and stopped in the fifth by Abimael Ortiz. The reason I was paying any attention to this card at all, however, was neither Ortiz. Instead it was Subriel Matias. The 26 year old is starting to turn some heads in the Caribbean thanks to his very real, very obvious power. Here he dropped former contender turned journeyman Breidis Prescott with a huge left hook at the end of the third before finishing him in the fourth. Matias also has an early stoppage win against another known journeyman in Daulis Prescott as well, Briedis’s brother. I have my reservations about the Puerto Rican as he is a bit crude, but if he can polish up a bit the physical talents are there to be worked with.
Cristofer Rosales (28-3, 19 KOs) KO4 Paddy Barnes (5-1, 1 KO), WBC flyweight title & Steven Donnelly (1-0) PTS4 Kevin McCauley (15-172-12), junior middleweights – Belfast, Northern Ireland
Three time Olympian and two time medalist Paddy Barnes is already 31 at a weight class where that is getting notably old, so taking a world title crack with limited pro experience on the Frampton-Jackson undercard made some sense. I thought he’d get run over by a strong champion in Critofer Rosales, but figured he should try anyway. I was half right. Barnes did get finished with a painful looking body shot in the first half of the fight. In that sense he did not fair well. He also boxed better than I expected though. I really did think Rosales would walk right through him after stopping Daigo Higa last time out, but in truth their skill level in the ring was comparable. Class does show over time and we only got a couple rounds, but Barnes was holding his own early. He still got caught though. Irish Olympian Steven Donnelly made his pro debut on the show as well. I don’t think we can expect much from him as a pro, but he’s here. Also, to his opponent in Mr. McCauley, I say the following. If you have 172 more losses than knockouts scored on your record, maybe try something else. I often wonder what these guys make. For example, he fought 32 times in 2017, going 4-26-2. He wasn’t finished all year though. Still, I can’t imagine he’s even approaching a grand a fight. It just doesn’t seem worth it to me, but who am I to judge another man?
Jason Sosa (21-3-4, 15 KOs) UD8 Reynaldo Blanco (14-5, 8 KOs), junior lightweights & Shakur Stevenson (8-0, 4 KOs) UD8 Carlos Ruiz (16-5-2, 6 KOs), featherweights & Oleksandr Teslenko (14-0, 11 KOs) UD6 Avery Gibson (9-7-4, 3 KOs), heavyweights & Joseph Adorno (9-0, 9 KOs) TKO1 Agustine Mauras (6-5-3, 3 KOs), junior lightweights – Atlantic City, New Jersey
Jason Sosa returned for the first time since being dominated by Vasyl Lomachenko for a routine, lower level decision on Top Rank’s ESPN+ prelim broadcast. Ukrainian heavyweight prospect Oleksandr Teslenko was also in action. Some are high on him, but I don’t know. He can look like a top heavyweight at the right range, but he can’t stay there and has little gas tank. He was fighting a club fighter here and was seemingly starting to fall apart in the sixth round a bit. I don’t know what would have happened here in a full length fight. 19 year old Joseph Adorno continues to look great against these club fighters on the other hand. He smashes them out quick like a top prospect is supposed to. What I want to talk about with this show is Shakur Stevenson. I really hope I am eating my words here in a few years because I want boxing to succeed in every way it can, but I’m just going to say it. I don’t think Top Rank has the star here that it thought it signed after his silver medal. Let me clarify what I mean by that though. Shakur is a talented kid. He is. I will not be surprised if he wins a belt or two in his career. What he is not going to be is exciting. He is a safety first fighter whose instincts are to use his reflexes to protect himself and he carries virtually no power in the ring. I don’t see him becoming a Mayweather or even Broner like character that draws people with their outside the ring stuff either. There is no shame in who he is. Again, Shakur is a talented kid with high upside. I just don’t ever see him becoming a next level draw in the sport financially. I would love to be wrong, but I can’t picture it.
Batyr Akhmedov (5-0, 4 KOs) KO9 Ismael Barroso (20-3-2, 19 KOs), junior welterweights – Los Angeles, California
What a weekend for young, Russian based prospects. Batyr Akhmedov has a more complicated cultural identity, however. He is living in Russia, is listed as from Uzbekistan, fought in the 2016 Olympics for Turkey under the name Batuhan Gozgec, and has now fought two in a row in America. Look at this win though. Ismael Barroso has knockout wins over high level, second tier fighters in Kevin Mitchel and Fidel Maldonado Jr. He fought pretty well against Anthony Crolla too. While he did get upset last time out by Isa Chaniev, it was by decision and he had to travel all the way to Latvia. Getting stopped stateside by Akhmedov is something else entirely. This was a super bold bit of matchmaking that almost looked ready to backfire early when Barroso used his very real power to score an early knockdown, but Akhmedov didn’t seem all that hurt when he got up. He just went back to work. Joel Diaz had a smart gameplan for him too. Barroso had notably faded late and been hurt to the body in the past, so they took him deep with body works before he crumbled from them in the ninth. This is extremely promising stuff from a five fight pro.
Ivan Golub (15-1, 10 KOs) UD10 Lanardo Tyner (34-13-2, 21 KOs), welterweights & Mykal Fox (18-0, 4 KOs) UD10 DeMarcus Corley (51-34-2, 28 KOs), junior welterweights – Hanover, Maryland
Should be undefeated prospect Ivan Golub lost his 0 in a robbery decision to Jamontay Clark on a PBC on FS1 show last year, but anyone who saw it knows who the actual winner of that fight was. Here he returned for his second fight back from that travesty and faced an interesting test in 43 year old former contender turned journeyman Lanardo Tyner. It isn’t a surprise to see that Golub didn’t get a stoppage here as Tyner has only ever been finished once, but he did score a shut out and that is all that can really be asked realisticlly. Tyner is tricky to hit. Lesser but still officially unbeaten prospect Mykal Fox didn’t get a shutout against a true world traveler DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley. In another life Chop Chop once held a belt, but most of his career has been spent wandering the globe taking on prospects. He has fought in almost twenty countries now and still occasionally gets his upset as he almost did here. Two judges turned this back a one round loss for him. I don’t think there is video of this card, but based on some obvious numbers I’d guess Fox didn’t have the power to keep him away easily enough. Its not a real shame that the fight was scored competitively though. Chop Chop still gets rounds in most fights at 44, wherever they may be.
Friday, August 17th
Satoshi Shimizu (7-0, 7 KOs) TKO4 Shingo Kawamura (16-4-1, 8 KOs), featherweights & Akira Yaegashi (27-6, 15 KOs) TKO7 Hirofumi Mukai (16-6-3, 6 KOs), super flyweights – Tokyo, Japan
32 year old two time Olympian and 2012 bronze medalist Satoshi Shimizu picked up another stoppage win in defense of his OPBF title this weekend. His handlers have been on the record of wanting to fast track him to a title shot like is the normal in the successful boxing nation at the flyweights, but the logistics of that at featherweight are something else altogether. Getting Leo Santa Cruz, Gary Russell Jr, Josh Warrington, or Oscar Valdez in the ring is no easy task, so for now he does this. Also in action is former three division titleholder Akira Yaegashi. The Japanese great has had a really underrated career, but he’ll probably be most remembered outside of Japan for his three losses unfortunately. The most recent of which was a shocking first round knockout loss to the generally light hitting Milan Melindo. 35 is ancient for the flyweights, so it is hard to see Yaegashi getting back in this at the highest level. He’ll sure try though.
Andrew Cancio (19-4-2, 14 KOs) UD10 Dardan Zenunaj (14-5, 11 KOs), junior lightweights & Greg Vendetti (20-2-1, 12 KOs) UD10 Yoshihiro Kamegai (27-5-2, 24 KOs), junior middleweights & Shakhram Giyasov (4-0, 3 KOs) KO3 Albert Mensah (31-7-1, 15 KOs), welterweights – Indio, California
Andrew Cancio is one of those better than you’d think from glancing at his record kind of guys. He has good wins over Rocky Juarez, Jerry Belmontes, and Rene Alvarado while his losses and draws either came early in his career or were to world level contenders. After a year and a half away, Cancio returned on a Golden Boy on ESPN show to be a stepping stone for unbeaten prospect Aidar Sharibayev. Cancio flipped the script, however, and scored a dominant stoppage win instead. Thanks to the win, Golden Boy signed him up and this was his first fight officially under their banners. They gave him a lay up of a main event. A little more interesting and a little sadder was the co-main event. It did seem obvious that Yoshihiro Kamegai was ripe for the picking after all those wars, but certainly Golden Boy was trying to put him in with a regional guy in Greg Vendetti that he could still beat. Nope. It was a depressing performance to watch. Also in action was 26 year old Rio silver medalist Shakhram Giyasov of Uzbekistan. Albert Mensah is a really tough opponent for a fourth pro fight, but Giyasov dominated here. He is a promising pro.
Hasim Rahman Jr (6-0, 4 KOs) UD6 Raymond Ochieng (26-22-3, 21 KOs), heavyweights – Hinckley, Minnesota
27 year old Hasim Rahman Jr picked up his sixth win up in Minnesota. I’m basically just noting this out of curiosity. I was able to find a couple of his fights before and he isn’t a real prospect of note. With the right match making he can build a record and get a shot off his name, but I’ll be shocked if Hasim Rahman Jr ever wins a world level fight. Losing time to being at fault in a fatal car accident didn’t help either.
