Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I go over all the sport’s even remotely prominent results not otherwise covered in separate articles. This week we have mostly prospects, but also Arnold Barboza Jr, Canelo’s brother, Gary Russell Jr’s brother, Junior Makabu, and more.
Saturday, August 25th
Arnold Barboza Jr (19-0, 7 KOs) TKO5 Luis Solis (24-9-4, 20 KOs), junior welterweights & Antonio Lozada (40-2-1, 34 KOs) D8 Hector Armbriz (12-7-2, 6 KOs), lightweights & Robson Conceicao (9-0, 5 KOs) UD8 Edgar Cantu (7-5, 2 KOs), junior lightweights & Carlos Castro (21-0, 9 KOs) UD10 Diuhl Olguin (13-11-3, 9 KOs), super bantamweights & Trevor McCumby (24-0, 19 KOs) TKO3 Jessie Nicklow (27-9-3, 9 KOs), light heavyweights & Francisco De Vaca (19-0, 6 KOs) UD8 Jesus Serrano (17-6-2, 12 KOs), featherweights – Glendale, Arizona
Emerging junior welterweight contender Arnold Barboza Jr headlined Top Rank’s ESPN+ prelims on Saturday. Last time out he largely dominated Mike Reed in a much more one sided fight than I expected. This was a step back down, but I’m sure Top Rank has plans to move him to a main show undercard slot soon. Solis, who was stopped here thanks to a completely closed eye, has lost at this level time and time again. Also in action was recent Felix Verdejo conqueror Antonio Lozada Jr. On paper the Mexican looked like he was in a stay busy fight, but he ended up being held to a split draw after slow start. That’s a disappointing result for him to say the least. 2016 Olympic gold medalist Robson Conceicao of Brazil also got an easy win alongside recent Top Rank signee Francisco De Vaca. Local fringe contenders Trevor McCumby and Carlos Castro also more or less auditioned for Top Rank here. Of this bunch, Conceicao has the most athletic upside without a doubt, but his technique is sloppy. He has power, but he takes it off his shots by failing to turn them over and being wild.
Anvar Yunusov (4-0, 1 KO) TKO1 Mike Oliver (26-9-1, 8 KOs), junior lightweights – Greensboro, North Carolina
31 year old Tajik sort of prospect Anvar Yunusov is a rare three time Olympian having fought in Beijing, London, and Rio. He’s now trying to launch a pro career stateside and has been successful so far, but all his fights have been at a pretty low level. Even former fringe contender Mike Oliver here hasn’t won a fight that wasn’t by DQ since 2011. At 38, it is certainly time for Mike to hang them up. A man has to make a living though, I guess. I haven’t actually been able to see Yunusov as a pro yet and I don’t remember him from the Olympics as he only won two fights over three games, but I am going ahead and mostly writing him off anyway. If he had some medals, maybe I’d think he would be ready to step up in contend before ten fights. Instead, he is a normal prospect trying to make it at a lighter weight at 31. He’s in his prime now and will be fading out of it before he starts to fight contenders, if he ever does.
Ilunga Makabu (22-2, 21 KOs) RTD4 Taylor Mabika (19-3-1, 10 KOs), cruiserweights – Democratic Republic of the Congo
Congolese cruiserweight contender “Junior” Makabu fought at home in the DRC for only the second time in his career on Saturday. After consecutive wins of Dmytro Kucher and Eric Fields in 2013, Makabu looked like a rising prospect and contender in the division. Stopping Thabiso Mchunu late two years later sealed that reality and earned him a vacant title showdown with now British star Tony Bellew. How different British boxing almost was when Makabu hurt and dropped Bellew in the first round. Had it ended there, we’d live in a different boxing world. It didn’t, however, and the Englishman stormed back to score a shocking finish of his own in the third. This was Junior’s third fight back from that loss. He’ll get another shot sooner rather than later, especially if undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk starts vacating titles left and right. Even if Junior Makabu never gets his belt, I’ll say this about him: Few men who were knocked out in the first round of their pro debut have ever gone on to have a better career than the Congolese contender.
Ramon Alvarez (27-6-3, 16 KOs) UD10 Nicolas Luques (10-5, 1 KO), middleweights – Tlalplan, Mexico
Ramon Alvarez is the older brother of Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. That is really the only reason we are talking about this fight. He’s a good fighter on the domestic Mexican scene, but has has no bearing on the world level. Two other brothers, Rigoberto and Ricardo, also had long, domestically successful careers before retiring. You might remember Rigoberto losing a title shot to Austin Trout in 2011, even. Here a local level Argentinian was brought in for the easy win for Alvarez. Why when Mexico is absolutely loaded with similar level fighters locally? I don’t know. That’s all I’ve got for this one.
Friday, August 24th
Wenfeng Ge (11-0, 6 KOs) UD12 Ivan Soriano (18-2-1, 9 KOs), flyweights – China
Chinese boxing is in its infancy, but it logically is only a matter of time before the country’s massive population begins to become a force on the international stage, at least in the lower weight classes. If the country stays engaged with the fight game even only on the minimal level it is now, the sheer size of the population makes it all just a numbers game. There isn’t much going on at world level yet, but 31 year old emerging flyweight contender Wenfeng Ge is the country’s top pound for pound fighter in my estimation. If anyone active is going to pick up a belt for China in the next couple years, it is him. Ge defended a minor WBO belt here. His Chinese base is going to make him a tempting optional defense at some point down the line for someone. To be clear I do not think Wenfeng Ge is going to hold a belt without getting a favorable matchup for a vacant title, but he is China’s best hope as of now.
David Oliver Joyce (8-0, 7 KOs) TKO6 Arturo Lopez (5-5-3), junior lightweights & Willy Hutchinson (5-0, 3 KOs) TKO3 Taha Mirhosseini (0-2), light heavyweights – Glasgow, Scotland
Two of Frank Warren’s major prospects in Ireland’s David Oliver Joyce and Scotland’s Willy Hutchinson continued to build their careers on a smaller show in Glasgow. Frank and company are quality promoters, but they don’t run shows at the pace of a Matchroom, PBC, or Top Rank, so sometimes they need to loan their prospects out to smaller cards when they are in that early stage where frequent fights are everything. As for Joyce and Hutchinson as prospects, I like Willy a lot better. Joyce is a former Olympian, but he’s already 31 and just isn’t a standout athlete or technician. The 20 year old Scot has a much higher upside and so much more time to achieve it. Both continued to be in very soft here, but then again as a promoter why would you test your prospects on someone else’s card?
Sebastian Fundora (10-0, 6 KOs) TKO4 Antonio Urista (10-3, 2 KOs), junior middleweights & Antonio Russell (12-0, 10 KOs) KO1 Nick Otieno (31-15-3, 13 KOs), bantamweights & Efetobor Apochi (5-0, 5 KOs) TKO1 Aaron Chavers (8-6-1, 3 KOs), cruiserweights & Leon Lawson III (8-0, 4 KOs) UD6 Brandon Adams (4-7-1, 2 KOs), junior middleweights – Minneapolis, Minnesota
6’6″ junior middleweight Sebastian Fundora is an interesting mix of being somewhat of a freakshow attraction while also being a reasonably talented prospect. At 20, it won’t be long until he can’t make the weight, but it doesn’t really matter much. Fundora would have seriously notable physical advantages in terms of height and frame all the way up at light heavyweight. He’s a predictable mess in there right now, but imagine if someone could harness those gifts. Antonio Russell also has his own gifts, one of which is his famous last name as brother to featherweight star Gary Russell Jr. Antonio doesn’t have the international amateur credentials of his brothers and isn’t considered the sure fire, absolute blue chip prospect youngest child Gary Antuanne Russell, but he’s still a physically talented 25 year old with some potential. As for Efetobor Apochi and Leon Lawson III, they are a notch below but still notable. Apochi fought in Rio and came over from Nigeria with very real heavyweight prospect Efe Ajagba. Lawson is the son of the notorious trainer of the same name, making him cousin to the Andre and Anthony Dirrell. I don’t have big expectations from either of them, but they will be presented the opportunity to prove me wrong. Most fighters don’t get even that much in their careers.
Ruben Villa (13-0, 5 KOs) UD8 Jose Santos Gonzalez (23-6, 13 KOs), featherweights – Corona, California
Signed with a solid mid-sized promoter in Thompson Boxing, Ruben Villa is absolutely one of the best American prospects not signed to a major promoter. The 21 year old featherweight was a very successful amateur. Though he did unfortunately fall short and lose to Shakur Stevenson in the late stage of Olympic qualifying and become an alternate, Villa has already beaten Stevenson twice before in the year. He also won the US national amateur championship at the youth and junior levels, taking silver in the full amateur level in his first year of eligibility. Villa is unfortunately not a puncher, but he is a skilled and aggressive fighter in there. His future is bright.
Thursday, August 23rd
Murodjon Akhmadaliev (4-0, 3 KOs) KO1 Ramon Contreras (15-7, 6 KOs), super bantamweights – Costa Mesa, California
Uzbekistani super bantamweight prospect Murodjon Akhmadaliev is reportedly a power puncher for the weight, but I haven’t actually been able to see him in action so I reserve judgment. Let’s just keep this to the facts: Akhmadaliev is 24 and won bronze in Rio for his country. He moved stateside to pursue a pro career and by all accounts is a good one. Hopefully he gets some more exposure soon as he looks like a major prospect on paper.
Olanrewaju Durodola (28-2, 26 KOs) KO2 Jackson Junior (21-11, 19 KOs), cruiserweights – Argentina
Why US based, Nigerian cruiserweight Olanrewaju Durodola was fighting a cruiserweight journeyman in Argentina this week, I couldn’t tell you. He got a needed win though. The 37 year old power puncher rose to fame by upsetting and stopping feared but defensively limited Russian power puncher Dmitry Kudryashov in 2015, but that is all he has truthfully accomplished at world level. He was dominated by Mairis Briedis, lost a rematch to the Russian, retired on his stool against Maksim Vlasov, and then was soundly outboxed by a well past his prime Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. There were wins like this one sprinkled in that stretch, but it is abundantly clear that Durodola isn’t a cruiserweight contender. He’s a journeyman and journeymen travel, like to Argentina for instance.
