Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I go over results not otherwise covered in separate articles. This week we have a great Top Rank main event, Vergil Ortiz, Dmitry Kudryashov, Pablo Cesar Cano, and more.
Sunday, September 16th
Frankie Gavin (26-3, 15 KOs) PTS6 Kevin McCauley (15-175-12), junior middleweights – Birmingham, England
Oh, Frankie Gavin. The World Amateur Champion seemed a solid bet to bring home gold in Beijing, but a failed weight cut ended his dreams before they could even get going. He turned pro with a fair bit of hype following his elite amateur career still though. For a while, he looked on track to become a top welterweight contender. He beat and aging Junior Witter and captured the regional belts and up and coming Brit is supposed to and he defended them several times. Yet, when he tried to step up past that level, Gavin his an unexpected wall quickly and with great force. Leonard Bundu upset him in his bid to become a European titlist, dropping him along the way. While Frankie rebounded with a win against Bradley Skeete, he looked slow, lethargic, and out of focus. The decision was debatable too. Still, the win set up a domestic PPV showdown with Kell Brook. These two were once considered major prospects together, but suddenly Gavin was just a b-side stepping stone after his listless attitude and performances had become to define him. True to expectations, Brook destroyed him in six. Trying to rebuild, Gavin met then little regarded domestic Sam Eggington two fights later and was soundly thrashed again. That was about two years ago now and the former promising prospect has taken three low level fights since then, struggling once against a .500 journeyman to boot. Kevin McCauley and his brilliant record have appeared on this column before, certainly will again, and obviously marks a level below even a journeyman to get a nothing win against. This was a tune up to set up a European title shot against young, powerful, and unbeaten Spanish slugger Kerman Lejarraga. I guess its a good opportunity, but I don’t see it ending well for the British once upon a time hopeful.
Saturday, September 15th
Rohan Murdock (23-1, 17 KOs) TKO4 Pablo Daniel Zamora (33-16-1, 19 KOs), light heavyweights – Brisbane, Australia
Super middleweight fringe contender Rohan Murdock fought above weight here as he stays busy waiting for a title shot. He’s a plus athlete with some ability, but I don’t see it translating all that well to world level competition. His movement and defense are not quite right. Stylistically they are not the same, but in terms of talent Murdock sometimes makes me think of Chris Algieri. Murdock, like Algieri, has the physical ability and learned skill to carry him to the top level of the sport, but not necessarily enough of it to be all that competitive within that level. It does seem inevitable that Bob Arum will use him as an opponent for Zurdo Ramirez at some point though as he’s talked about it and already brought him over to fight on a Top Rank US card. Rohan might be able to make that fun for a little while, especially given how vulnerable Zurdo has become over his last few fights, but I just don’t see the win in him.
Avni Yildirim (21-1, 12 KOs) MD12 Lolenga Mock (42-15-1, 13 KOs), super middleweights & Vincent Feigenbutz (29-2, 26 KOs) TKO6 Yusuf Kanguel (16-3-1, 12 KOs), super middleweights – Ludwigshafen, Germany
I’ve really enjoyed the Lolenga Mock ride the past couple years and I’m disappointed to see it not reach the culmination it could have here. This was a close contest ultimately decided on the official cards by a first round knockdown that the younger and more powerful Yildirim scored over him. The 46 year old was as tireless as ever and rallied late to close the scoring margins as Avni faded badly down the stretch, but ultimately he fell the knockdown points short. As for Yildirim, the powerful Turkish fighter was considered a top prospect until he got thoroughly starched by Chris Eubank Jr just shy of a year ago. He’s been active since with this being his fifth win in about eleven months, but the prognosis isn’t really a ton better for him. Mock has been a fun story with one of the most fascinating career arcs of all time, but a world class fighter doesn’t struggle with him. Nor does a world class fighter get absolutely blown out early by Eubank Jr. The writing is clear in terms of what Avni is, but I’ll keep covering him for now. The rumored showdown with WBC titleholder David Benavidez is not something I’d advise for him. Also in action was former secondary titleholder Vincent Feigenbutz who is somehow still only 23 years old. He took down a late replacement with ease and is now on an eight fight winning streak. Feigenbutz peaked at Euro level before, but he still hasn’t hit his prime physically so there is still hope for him to grow beyond that.
Tom Schwarz (22-0, 14 KOs) KO2 Julian Fernandez (11-1, 8 KOs), heavyweights & Adam Deines (16-0-1, 7 KOs) UD10 Mustafa Chadlioui (12-4-2, 8 KOs), super middleweights & Mohammed Rabii (6-0, 4 KOs) UD6 Anderson Clayton (41-13-2, 35 KOs), junior middleweights – Magdeburg, Germany
Big, raw, and young home grown German heavyweight prospect Tom Schwarz thrashed another overmatched opponent in Germany. At 24, he’s extremely young for the division. I don’t see Schwarz’s handlers moving him up any time soon. He has the frame and he’s not a horrible awkward athlete for his size, but he’s also not a natural athlete by any means either and his fundamentals have a long way to go. Boxing does well in Germany and foreign fighters do become local stars, but there is nothing as potentially lucrative as a born and bred German heavyweight contender with his looks. Here he bashed his opponent out with some clubbing right hands while chasing him across the ring in the second, borderline caveman style. It worked though. Super middleweight fringe contender Adam Deines continued to build his name and record up at home too after upsetting then unbeaten German Olympian Stefan Haertel in March to appear on the radar. This was his second win since then, though neither has done much to capitalize on that momentum. Speaking of Olympians, 2016 Moroccan bronze medalist Mohammed Rabii, 25, picked up his sixth career win as well.
Dmitry Kudryashov (23-2, 23 KOs) KO1 Alexandru Jur (17-2, 7 KOs), cruiserweights – Kemerovo, Russia
There is just something perpetually appealing about super flawed but extremely powerful punchers to me. No one fits the bill better than terrifying Russian cruiserweight Dmitry Kudryashov. In reality there is very little the Russian fringe contender is actually good at. He isn’t that good at landing punches and is definitely terrible at not getting hit clean by everything coming back. Plus his stamina and chin seem questionable at best too. What he is capable of though is punching a hole through the core of the Earth and sending whichever unlucky soul that happens to be on the other side directly into orbit. What I am saying is that the man punches hard. Alexandru Jur got bowled over by his first real attempt at an attack and basically tapped out on the spot after feeling the power. Kudryashov will never beat a top cruiserweight because they are going to punch him in the face for a minute or so and then he’ll be knocked out, but sign me up for that too. If this man ever goes the distance I will be very confused and begin to question the very reality we think we live in. I believe it is a scientific impossibility that such a thing could happen.
Vergil Ortiz Jr (11-0, 11 KOs) TKO2 Roberto Ortiz (35-4-2, 26 KOs), junior welterweights & Alexis Rocha (12-0, 8 KOs) UD8 Carlos Ortiz Cervantes (11-3, 11 KOs), welterweights & Brian Ceballo (5-0, 3 KOs) TKO2 David Thomas (6-4-1, 2 KOs), welterweights – Las Vegas, Nevada
Before the PPV lights turned on, Golden Boy let two of their absolute top prospects compete in the big arena in the build up to GGG-Canelo 2. I’m sure they were excited for it, but it was kind of a weird decision too. Unless the series is coming to an end, both of these guys are at the level where they can start headlining Golden Boy on ESPN cards given the small time nature of the series. Vergil Ortiz already has, actually, and this matchup would have been a good one for the series on paper too. Roberto Ortiz was a veteran who had recently appeared on HBO. Granted it didn’t go well, but he was still a respectable opponent for a 20 year old with ten career fights. Vergil smashed him out in an impressive show too that unfortunately next to no one saw. Alexis Rocha, younger brother to Ronny Rios, took a more measured approach in getting past his Mexican foe with power at least on his record. Rocha has a pretty high ceiling at 21 too, but Vergil Ortiz is Golden Boy’s real hope for future stardom next to their favorite son Ryan Garcia. Also in action was former prominent American amateur Brian Ceballo picking up his fifth win. Ceballo fell short in Rio qualifying, but he rebounded by winning the national championship at his weight last year. He’s already 24 though so there was no time to wait for Tokyo. Instead he signed with Tom Loeffler at K2 and has begun his pro career.
Friday, September 14th
Jose Ramirez (23-0, 16 KOs) UD12 Antonio Orozco (27-1, 17 KOs), WBC junior welterweight title & Alexander Besputin (11-0, 9 KOs) TKO9 Alan Sanchez (24-1, 10 KOs), welterweights & Gabriel Flores Jr (10-0, 5 KOs) UD6 Roger Gutierrez (7-2-1, 4 KOs), lightweights & Hiroki Okada (19-0, 13 KOs) SD10 Cristian Rafael Coria (27-7-2, 11 KOs), junior welterweights & Jamel Herring (18-2, 10 KOs) UD10 John Vincent Moralde (20-2, 10 KOs), junior lightweights & Bryan Vasquez (37-3, 20 KOs) UD10 Carlos Cardenas (23-15-1, 14 KOs), junior welterweights – Fresno, California
I definitely didn’t intend for this one to fall into UTR, but as always S8C is a one man show and sometimes life gets in a way. Regardless, what a fight. No one is going to remember it unfortunately given what went down the following night in Las Vegas, but Jose Ramirez and Antonio Orozco delivered on the promise of their matchup in a big way. This was action, action, and more action start to finish. If one thing held it back from becoming a true classic though, it was the fact that Jose Ramirez was obviously getting the better of it all the way. He put down Orozco twice and probably won nine to eleven rounds in the fight. Antonio was always in the fight and his resilience was amazing, especially after rising from the late body shot knockdown that looked like a finish. He just never was able to take control for anything more than a combination. Still, it was a great watch.
Major Top Rank prospects Alexander Besputin and Gabriel Flores Jr also picked up wins on the main card. Besputin is rising fast and Alan Sanchez is a solid eleventh win, especially given how dominant was. Flores is still 18 and a ways off contending, but we still learned something about him here as he had to respond to being floored in the first round. He responded well. On the prelims fringe contenders Hiroki Okada, Jamal Herring, and Bryan Vasquez also got their expected wins. Herring and Vasquez did what they were supposed to, but Okada was a bit of a mess in narrowly scraping by his intended to be easy foe. Cristian Coria set a torrid pace that the Japanese contender could barely keep up with. Okada went down in the final round too in a moment that almost cost him the fight. This was no robbery, but there is certainly an argument to be made that the Argentinian actually pulled off the upset here. Needless to say we can probably put the Hiroki Okada title shot talk to bed for now.
Terrel Williams (17-0, 12 KOs) UD10 David Grayton (15-3-1, 11 KOs), welterweights & Anvar Yunusov (5-0, 2 KOs) TKO1 Angel Monrreal (10-11-1, 3 KOs), junior lightweights – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Terrel Williams is a hard one to write about in his second fight back from his two year hiatus following his tragic fight with Pritchard Colon in 2015 on NBC. That night left his Puerto Rican opponent in a coma and has created so much controversy on multiple levels. From Roc Nation’s absolutely disgusting abandonment of the permanently brain damaged fighter to the shots to the back of the head that may have caused it to Colon’s family still protesting Williams’ fights, there is drama from every angle. For what its worth, Williams-Colon was a dirty fight from both men. Colon himself landed one of the most egregious low blows you’ll ever see earlier in the contest when he was hurt. Then let’s not forget Colon’s outraged team got him disqualified on accident by thinking the fight was over after round nine and removing a glove. They tried to send him back out there to take more despite being all sorts of hurt, though he did seem fine in the fight’s immediate aftermath. Plus, most egregiously, they had him keep going after complaining about being dizzy following the one real serious shot to the back of the head in the seventh round. This was not Terrel Williams’ fault even if he did end up physically causing it. It is an unfortunate potential byproduct of the sport and nothing more, the dark side of our passion. Following the tragedy Williams took two years off reportedly distraught and this is his second fight back. It’s a good win on paper too, but I’ve not actually seen the fight. Three time Olympian Anvar Yunusov also picked up his second stoppage win on the Kaufman show in Philly.
Thursday, September 13th
Pablo Cesar Cano (31-7-1, 21 KOs) TD5 Ruslan Madiev (12-1, 5 KOs), welterweights & Bilal Akkawy (18-0-1, 14 KOs) UD8 Cristian Olivas (16-3, 13 KOs), super middleweights & Raul Curiel (5-0, 3 KOs) UD6 Ryan Pino (8-3, 4 KOs), welterweights – Las Vegas, Nevada
There was blood in this one. Pablo Cesar Cano kept up his work rate to build an early lead on unbeaten Kazakh prospect Ruslan Madiev, but he was bleeding from basically the opening bell. At the end of the fifth a horrific cut was opened thanks to an accidental headbutt on Cano and the fought had to be stopped. Don’t look it up if you’re squeamish as it is one of the worst cuts in recent years. This was a disappointing result all around, really. Madiev was definitely behind at this point in the fight, but he should have had another entire half of the fight to work back in but it didn’t happen. Australian power punching prospect Bilal Akkawy also made his American debut on the show, but he didn’t deliver on the promise of some of his youtube highlights here despite winning the fight wide. Finally, 2016 Mexican Olympian and solid prospect Raul Curiel picked up another win deep on the undercard as well.
