Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I go over all the even remotely prominent results not otherwise covered in separate articles. This week we poke some fun at Floyd Mayweather Jr, Ryan Garcia gets tested, a former two division titleholder has his 100th fight, and more.
Saturday, September 1st
Pedro Guevara (32-3-1, 19 KOs) RTD10 Roberto Sanchez (17-2, 11 KOs), super flyweights & Karim Arce (14-0-1, 5 KOs) UD8 Alexander Munoz (40-8, 31 KOs), super bantamweights & Lindolfo Delgado (6-0, 6 KOs) TKO5 Ricardo Rico (4-6, 2 KOs), junior welterweights – Ciudad Obregan, Mexico
This is a really nice lineup for a Mexican domestic card. Pedro Guevara has been fighting on the world scene for years, first competing for a light flyweight belt back in 2012. There he narrowly lost a split decision to John Riel Casimero. He’d win his belt two years later by shocking Akira Yaegashi in Japan by stoppage, defending it twice before losing it back in Japan by split decision to Sho Kimura. He tried to reclaim a title once again late last year in Japan against divisional top dog Ken Shiro and almost did so, but yet again he lost by a narrow split decision instead. At 29, Guevara seems to be playing with his weight a bit. Last time he took a stay busy fight last time at bantamweight, for example. The lowest weight fighters often do stuff like that so in one sense that isn’t unusual, but Guevara never personally had. This one was up at super flyweight and for a minor belt. The fight was one sided after a competitive first round and Sanchez elected not to come out for the eleventh. Given that this was his second fight in a row up in weight, Pedro might be thinking it is time to chase some more money, or conversely he could very well just drop back down to 108 the next time he gets a shot. As for Karim Arce and Lindolfo Delgado, they are two relevant prospects on different paths. Lindolfo is the hyped Olympian and he does look great in the ring, but he has only been fighting club fighters so far. Arce is the nephew of Mexican hero Jorge Arce, carrying both the blessings and burdens that come with such a name in Mexico. He doesn’t seem to have the talent of his uncle or the Olympian he shared this card with, but the 19 year old has all the time in the world to develop.
Cesar Juarez (23-6, 17 KOs) UD10 Jorge Sanchez (18-4, 9 KOs), super bantamweights – Tijuana, Mexico
The up and down career of rugged Mexican brawler Cesar Juarez continues. Juarez appeared on my and basically everyone else’s radar first when he was signed on to be a relatively soft opponent for Nonito Donaire when the Filipino needed a win at the end of 2015. Yeah, about that. Donaire did his thing and absolutely dominated the first half of the fight with his superior craft, but Cesar was there as Donaire tired down the stretch and he took full advantage of it. He was down too much when the rally began to win, but by the end of the fight Juarez was beating Donaire up. If he looked like a contender there all of the sudden, Juarez blew it just as fast by losing a split decision back home in Mexico while stepping back down a level. The combination of these two results made him a known but safe opponent for Filipino prospect Albert Pagara in the states, only this time Juarez scored a big knockout to flip his fortunes once again. Two more wins saw him in a secondary title fight against rising star Isaac Dogboe on the road in Ghana. That didn’t end well. Dogboe beat Juarez up and stopped him with ease. As his handlers try to rebuild him, this was Cesar’s third win since the beating in Ghana at the beginning of the year. Sanchez was coming off a loss at a lower level. That in itself shows pretty plainly what these fights are meant to do. Cesar took the near shut out as dominantly as would be expected.
Jeyvier Cintron (8-0, 4 KOs) UD10 Alonso Melendez (15-3, 13 KOs), super flyweights – Puerto Rico
23 year old two time Puerto Rican Olympian is the only man from that beautiful island to have ever represented his country twice in the Olympics. As a teenager Cintron was one win away from a medal in Londong before falling to current World Boxing Super Series season two participant Mikhail Aloyan. It was then a pretty big disappointment when Javier lost his first fight in Rio. Nevertheless, he now persists as a pro and is considered a real prospect in Puerto Rico. He’s already main eventing shows, for example. This one was also notable for Cintron dropping down to super flyweight where he figures to have a size advantage and where there is also a good deal of money currently. He didn’t look drained at the weight at all and fought well for going ten rounds for the first time, though Melendez, who badly bled out of his nose for all but the first minute or so of the fight, didn’t make him work all that much.
Thomas Oosthuizen (28-1-2, 16 KOs) MD12 Thabiso Mchunu (19-5, 12 KOs), Kempton Park – South Africa
Tall, lanky Thomas Oosthuizen had long been contender a light heavyweight fringe contender ever since drawing with Isaac Chilemba at home in South Africa back in 2010, but despite a brief American run a couple years later nothing ever really came of it. Recent years of his career have been compromised by substance abuse issues that cost him bigger fights too and the floor soundly fell out from under him in May when Oosthuizen was thoroughly dominated by fringe contender Igor Milkahlkin. That seemed like rock bottom and I wrote him off then. Most did before that even, but shortly after that some jail time spent for drug related issues certainly seemed the nail in the coffin. A funny thing happened here though. Oosthuizen moved up to cruiserweight and picked up what I’d consider the best win of his career over Thabiso Mchunu. Just like that, I’m going to have to rank the 30 year old in the S8C Top 25 at cruiserweight because he earned his way in. The hopefully rehabbed man controlled the fight early before tiring badly in the second half. He didn’t look good down the stretch, but Oosthuizen survived and had banked just enough rounds to get the fight on two cards. Reportedly another all South African showdown with Keyvin Lerena is up next. That’s an even bigger opportunity for what could be the sport’s biggest and least likely redemption story of 2018.
Sirimongkol Singwancha (96-4, 61 KOs) KO2 Muhammad Nsubuga (0-7-1), light heavyweights – Pathum Thayni, Thailand
Sirimongkol Singwancha has one of my favorite boxrecs of all time. Congrats to him on getting his 100th win here too. The 41 year old won a bantamweight belt 21 years ago in 1997 and is still going, defending it twice at home before losing it in Japan all in the same year at 19-20 years old. Five years and a whole lot of low level fights later, Singwancha got a title three weight classes up at junior lightweight in 2002 in Japan. He defended it once, also in Japan, before coming stateside for the first time and losing it to Jesus Chavez. He even won a lightweight eliminator in 2005 by stoppage televised on an HBO PPV undercard, but that shot never actually came. Strangely, nothing ever really came again for him. He barely left Thailand since 2005. Why? Well, I can’t say for sure, but when I google his name and look for stuff around that time, I do find that he was “scandalized” by some nude photos. Then in 2009 he was jailed on drug charges which all but tanks visa chances internationally without some solid connections. Yet, he fought on. He still fights on. He keeps winning too, albeit at that hyper active and low Thai level that characterizes the nation’s boxing scene. Singwancha was unbeaten from that 2003 loss to Jesus Chavez all the way until this year when he finally lost to top prospect Azizbek Abdugofurov all the way up at junior middleweight. And speaking of weight, look at this one! All I am going on is boxrec here, but apparently this was for Thailand’s Light Heavyweight title. Not only is this man a legit two weight world titleholder who had three weight classes in between those reigns, but he has now apparently fought from 118 up to 175 if boxrec can be believed here. And I want to believe. I do.
Ryan Garcia (16-0, 13 KOs) MD10 Carlos Morales (17-3-3, 6 KOs), junior lightweights & Neeco Macias (17-0, 10 KOs) RTD6 Marvin Cabrera (8-1, 6 KOs), junior middleweights & Patrick Teixeira (29-1, 22 KOs) UD8 Nathaniel Gallimore (20-3-1, 17 KOs), junior middleweights & Sergey Lubkovich (9-0, 7 KOs) RTD2 Juan Ruiz (21-3, 13 KOs), welterweights – Indio, California
Of all the cards of 2018, this is one of the ones that went strongest against my expectations. First, I thought Ryan Garcia would dominate and stop Carlos Morales, but that certainly did not happen. The 20 year old emerging star started the fight strong as expected. When he tired late, however, his technical flaws reared their head in a big way. He was hurt by a jab in the eighth and battered badly over the last few rounds. I had him still winning 96-94 thanks to his early work though. This should be a big learning experience for how the highly marketable young fighter focuses his training and is matched over the next couple years. Remember, he’s only 20 still. That wasn’t the only surprise either. I completely wrote off Neeco Macias as an opponent with an empty record for Mexican Olympian Marvin Cabrera to pick up a win against. Well his record was empty, but that’s all I got right. Macias controlled every minute of the fight behind a simply ungodly volume of punches. He reportedly approached 200 punches in a couple rounds. I’ve never seen anything like it. Cabrera was entirely overwhelmed and his corner pulled him from the fight before the sixth round. He was badly hurt and nearly stopped in the fifth right before that. That isn’t all either. Patrick Teixera, who was soundly thrashed by Curtis Stevens the last time Golden Boy tried to feature him, cleanly outboxed Nathaniel Gallimore on the show too. Gallimore has good wins over Jeison Rosario and Justin DeLoach. He damn near also beat top contender J-Rock Williams last time out too, yet he was hurt in the second round and was never really competitive in this fight. I would never have picked that result. At least Russian welterweight prospect Sergey Lubkovich, an alternated to Holyfield’s and the WBC’s ongoing welterweight tournament, picked up his expected win. What a strange card that unfortunately probably got lost on Facebook Watch, a service I didn’t even know existed until recently.
Friday, August 31st
Blake Caparello (28-3-1, 12 KOs) TKO3 Lance Bryant (12-4, 5 KOs), cruiserweights – Melbourne, Australia
Blake Caparello has become a power puncher, even up at cruiserweight. The Australian fringe contender has come up short against Sergey Kovalev, Andre Dirrell, and Isaac Chilemba, but he has won consistently on the regional level in increasing style. Six of his twelve finishes have come in his last six wins and he also officially put down both Kovalev and Dirrell in those defeats. Last time out Trent Broadhurst was a very weak recent former title challenger and Caparello put him out in the very first round. Here he made the big jump up to cruiserweight for the first time and walloped his club fighter foe in three as he took a soft touch to adjust to the weight. Caparello is never going to win on the world level in all likelihood, but he still has had an interesting career to follow basically since he first appeared as an opponent on the international scene.
Melvin Lopez (16-0, 10 KOs) UD10 Jose Maria Cardenas (16-3, 13 KOs), bantamweights & Tyrone Spong (12-0, 12 KOs) KO1 Santander Silgado (28-6, 22 KOs), heavyweights – West Palm Beach, Florida
Popular but somewhat controversial Nicaraguan prospect Melvin Lopez headlined in his second fight in the US with a wide and easy ten round decision win. He’s a talented fighter who has shown he can resonate with the fans by drawing good crowds in Panama, so it makes sense that a small American promoter would bring him over and pay to take a chance. Weight has been an issue though. It has been driving a bit of controversy in his home nation. Since turning pro in 2015, Lopez has needed to move from 108, to 112, to 115, and now to 118. Some of that can certainly be attributed to aging as Lopez is only 20, but discipline has reportedly been the real problem. Also in action was kickboxing legend Tyrone Spong. I am going to start printing some Free Sprong t-shirts pretty soon here too. Can we please see him in against a fringe contender, at least? The 33 year old is one of the greats in recent combat sport history. He stepped away from kickboxing after shattering his leg on a blocked kick a few years ago and is now mostly boxing with a little MMA here and there. Tyrone is a spectacular athlete who is set in who he is as a fighter at this point. If his boxing skills are close enough and he can compensate with his athletic abilities, great. If not, he isn’t likely to get much more technical from a pure boxing standpoint in his mid 30s. Come on Matchroom, PBC, anyone. Put him in a fight against someone we know so we can find out. I’m extremely curious.
Wednesday, August 29th
Wanheng Menayothin (51-0, 18 KOs) UD12 Pedro Taduran (12-2, 9 KOs), WBC minimumweight title – Nakhon Sawa, Thailand
Step aside everyone, we have a new Greatest of All Time. Floyd Mayweather Jr’s record of retiring as a champion at 50-0 has fallen already to this 51-0 minumweight champ. That’s technically true, anyway, but it is more of a punchline. Menathoyin, also known as Chayaphon Moonsri depending where you read, built a typical Thai record full of absolutely nothing of note on his way to winning his belt. Even in winning and defending the WBC title, there really isn’t anyone of note for him to fight in the usually aimless division. He still takes nothing six round fights in between defense too, further building a record largely on smoke and mirrors. It’s fun to poke at Floyd’s record falling since he has built a bit of a brand around it and it isn’t all that meaningful in truth though. Even with the issues some have with opponents Mayweather didn’t fight along the way, however, there is no comparison between his 50-0 and Menathoin’s entirely empty 51-0.
