This week we have a world title fight in Ukraine, Joseph Parker, big upsets in Germany and the UK, and much more.
Saturday, December 15th
Dennis Hogan (28-1-1, 7 KOs) UD12 Jamie Weetch (12-3, 5 KOs), junior middleweights & Rohan Murdock (24-1, 17 KOs) UD10 Rolando Wenceslao Mansilla (14-6-1, 6 KOs), super middleweights – Brisbane, Australia
These two bouts aren’t super exciting internationally, but they might be important. Dennis Hogan is an Irish-Australian fringe contender at junior middleweight who has been doing all the right things in terms of collecting and defending minor sanctioning body belts. He is also 3-0 in the US. If he keeps winning, he will get another shot. His one loss came in his one step up against Jack Culcay on the road in Germany for one of those fake WBA belts. Interestingly, Hogan’s draw came in his second pro fight when he was a 5’8″ light heavyweight. He has been wise to come down in weight over the years for sure. Rohan Murdock is a better athlete up at super middleweight than Hogan and the more likely of the two to actually win a world level fight, though I wouldn’t say his odds are super high. Top Rank was positioning him for a while to fight Zurdo Ramirez and brought him stateside once for a card. It didn’t pan out, however, and he is just sort of treading water waiting for anything at this point. Maybe if Zurdo moves up like he says he will then Top Rank will position him as Jesse Hart’s opponent for the vacant belt or something like that.
Ryad Merhy (27-1, 22 KOs) KO4 Samuel Clarkson (21-5, 14 KOs), cruiserweights & Abraham Nova (14-0, 10 KOs) UD10 Brian Pelaez (8-3, 1 KO), junior lightweights – Charleroi, Belgium
Ivory Coast born, Belgium based cruiserweight Ryad Merhy took his first loss in March when he fell to rising Frenchman Arsen Goulamirian in the late rounds of their bout. He still has his talent, however, and remains worth watching for now at 26. I suspect Goulamirian might be a bit better than we realized at the time when we have more to go on. Merhy had a pretty easy time thrashing American mid regional level foe Samuel Clarkson here. Regardless of how Merhey ends up panning out, Abraham Nova definitely remains a prospect of note. The world traveling Caribbean native closed the year with his fifth win. 2019 will likely be the year the still only 24 year old begins to step up. He struggled last time out with the better than expected Sulaiman Segawa, but there were no difficulties to be found here for Nova. He is tentatively penciled in to return to the states in February, potentially on a ShoBox card. I hope that happens.
Samuel Vargas (30-4-2, 14 KOs) v Gabriel Adrian Pereiro (27-1, 23 KOs), junior middleweights & Steve Rolls (19-0, 10 KOs) UD10 KeAndrae Leatherwood (21-6-1, 13 KOs), super middleweights & Dierry Jean (31-2-1, 22 KOs) TKO1 Noe Nunez (18-7-2, 14 KOs), junior welterweights – Toronto, Canada
Samuel Vargas returned home to Canada following his better than expected showing against Amir Khan in September. He didn’t come close to winning or anything, but instead of being blown out the native Colombian dropped the British star early and hurt him again late. That’s a moral victory in my view even if Khan is notoriously easy to wobble. Here Vargas cruised to a comfortable victory over an unbeatean Argentinian with an entirely empty record. Two time Shobox winner Steve Rolls also picked up another win to close the year, as did former fringe contender Dierry Jean as he continues what I guess could be called a comeback. At 34 and 36 respectively, Rolls and Jean need to make a run in 2019 if they are ever going to try do anything positive on the world level.
Sven Fornling (15-1, 7 KOs) UD12 Karo Murat (32-4-1, 21 KOs), super middleweights & Christian Hammer (24-5, 14 KOs) KO5 Michael Wallisch (19-1, 12 KOs), heavyweights & Juergen Braehmer (50-3, 36 KOs) TKO5 Pablo Daniel Zamora (33-17-1, 19 KOs), light heavyweights – Hamburg, Germany
Hello and welcome to fringe relevance, previously unknown Swedish fighter Sven Fornling. This was definitely the upset of the weekend. Karo Murat had proven himself just below world level a few times, but he was solid at ruling the Euro scene at the weight. He also has wins over the likes of Tommy Karpency and Gabriel Campillo. You might also remember him for ending up in a bit of an expected war with Bernard Hopkins years ago now. Murat even very recently scored a notable win over then unbeaten German Olympian Stefan Haertel. This was not his night, though he made it dramatic in the end. Fornling clipped Murat early and put him on the canvas in the very first round. Murat then stormed back to hurt the Swede in return in the second. Unfortunately, shortly after disaster struck as the Armenian fighter suffered an arm injury that limited him the rest of the way. Despite being injured and outboxed for the majority of the fight, Murat still found a huge rally within himself as the one armed fighter floored Forling and nearly pulled out a shocking come from behind finish. It was extremely exciting stuff, but not enough to get the win back. I suspect these two will rematch and a two armed Karo Murat will get his revenge, but we will see. Heavyweight fringe contender Christian Hammer and 40 year old actual super middleweight and light heavyweight contender Juergen Braehmer both returned with soft wins as well. I really hope Braehmer gets in with a top fighter again in 2019 because he has proven his ability to fight at a high level, but age is a serious concern at this point.
Joseph Parker (25-2, 19 KOs) TKO3 Alexander Flores (17-2-1, 15 KOs), heavyweights & Junior Fa (16-0, 9 KOs) TKO1 Rogelio Omar Rossi (20-7-1, 13 KOs), heavyweights – Christchurch, New Zealand
Recent former heavyweight titleholder Joseph Parker began his comeback this weekend from his two consecutive losses in the UK to Anthony Joshua and very narrowly to Dillian Whyte. Parker has had some issues with punch output in his fights and vowed to be more aggressive here. I guess he was, though I am not sure how much it suits him. Parker was very hittable in this fight as he came forward. That just isn’t who he is naturally as a fighter. Still, he got his finish, but even that didn’t come too cleanly. Parker started the finishing combination with a borderline low blow and he had landed many previously. As Flores lowered his hands to complain, which is on him, the Kiwi star nuked his chin over the top with a right hand. It was just sort of an odd performance all along. There is still reason for hope for Parker even if it wasn’t his performance though. It is in the fact that he is still only 26, which is a baby for the sport’s biggest weight class. I do think people forget that. Fellow New Zealand heavyweight Junior Fa also picked up a quick stoppage win on the show. Fa was the better amateur and holds a win over Parker in those ranks. It remains to be seen how he will pan out in the pro ranks.
Artem Dalakian (18-0, 13 KOs) TKO5 Gregorio Lebron (21-5, 16 KOs), WBA flyweight title & Vladyslav Sirenko (10-0, 9 KOs) KO3 Marcelo Nascimento (18-18, 16 KOs), heavyweights – Kiev, Ukraine
Flyweight titleholder Artem Dalakian made a pretty soft defense of his WBA belt at home in Ukraine, his second in a row both in both senses since winning the belt over Brian Viloria stateside. Dalakian a quality titleholder with a real rough and tumble style that can be both rough and interesting to watch at the same time. He really did a number on Viloria both inside and outside of the rules when he won the belt. Gregorio Lebron was no match in this fight and he is now 0-3 outside of the Dominican Republic where it is notoriously easy to build records. He spent much of this fight on the canvas, actually, usually because of Dalakian’s rough style but by the end because of the titleholder’s sharp right hands from range. The stoppage was abrupt as Lebron seemed fine, but he was never going to win anyway. Also in action was of course a bunch of local Ukrainian prospects. The only one that really stands out as interesting to me is Vladyslav Sirenko. The big man placed 3rd in the always tough Ukrainian national championships in 2014 when he barely would have been 19. He’s no blue chip prospect and didn’t ever really do much internationally, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t worth keeping an eye on going forward.
Diego Ramirez (17-2, 5 KOs) TKO2 Bradley Skeete (28-3, 13 KOs), welterweights – Brentwood, England
It was one thing for Bradley Skeete to get blown out in two by a power punching potential world level player in Spanish contender Kerman Lejarraga in a bout for the European title back in April. To have it happen again against an unknown Argentinian coming off a loss with absolutely no power on his record is another thing entirely. Bradley Skeete is very likely done as a relevant fighter even on the top end of the European and British regional scenes. It was a huge overhand left that flattened him in the second in this one. Skeete was allowed to continue for a bit, but Ramirez didn’t even really need to land anything else. It became clear that the British fighter wasn’t able to defend himself and the fight was stopped.
John Joe Nevin (11-0, 4 KOs) PTS8 Reynaldo Cajina (14-56-5, 10 KOs), lightweights – London, England
For an Irish two time Olympian and 2012 silver medalist, John Joe Nevin has not had the pro career that he would have hoped. It all first went wrong when he was a victim of an attack that left him with two broken legs. While he recovered from that to make a comeback, a series of other injuries have largely kept him inactive since 2015. He fought once in 2016, 2017, and now he will have fought twice in 2018. Nevin isn’t impossible old as he is still 29, but it does feel like quite the long shot that the once promising Irish prospect can ever physically keep it together long enough to work his way to the world level as a professional.
Lamont Roach (18-0-1, 7 KOs) UD10 Alberto Mercado (15-2-1, 3 KOs), junior lightweights & Bilal Akkawy (19-0-1, 15 KOs) TKO7 Victor Fonseca (17-9-1, 14 KOs), super middleweights & Yves Ulysse Jr (17-1, 9 KOs) UD8 Maximilliano Becerra (16-3-2, 8 KOs), junior welterweights – New York, New York
Even the deeper undercard of Canelo-Fielding this weekend had three interesting names. Golden Boy prospect Lamont Roach Jr boxed well against Alberto Mercado, but I don’t know if he can really succeed at world level. Though he deserved the win instead of the draw he got, Roach’s struggles with a faded version of a never that great Orlando Cruz not too long ago are a major red flag. He just doesn’t really excel anywhere even on a middling level. Roach is kind of quick, but not notably so. He punches decently in combination, but he doesn’t let his hands go enough. Lamont has next to no power and while his reflexes are above average, they aren’t enough to make up for his technical limitations defensively. I unfortunately just don’t see it for him at the top of the sport. Bilal Akkawy of Australia does excel in one thing, however. That is power. The kid is crude and not a good fighter overall, but he can punch and sometimes that will be enough. French-Canadian prospect Yves Ulysse Jr is the most promising of the three in my view even though he has a loss. Though the fight was exciting and competitive, I thought Ulysse cleanly outboxed Steve Claggett only to get shafted on the cards. He’s a skilled fighter. At 30, it is time to step him up in 2019.
Friday, December 14th
Erik Bazinyan (22-0, 17 KOs) TKO5 Adrian Luna Flores (21-6-1, 13 KOs), super middleweights & Sadriddin Akhmedov (6-0, 6 KOs) TKO1 Eliud Melendez Rocha (14-11-2, 7 KOs), junior middleweights – Edmonton, Canada
Armenian born French-Canadian prospect Erik Bazinyan picked up a win in Edmonton this weekend. The 23 year old is in a bit of a holding pattern in which he keeps fighting the same level of competition and getting more or less the same result each time out. I am ready to see him step up another level. Domestically Ryan Ford would be an interesting test, but really there are any number of possibilities internationally. More exciting is 20 year old Kazakh prospect Sadriddin Akhmedov. As a teenager the junior middleweight was arguably the top junior amateur in the world. He skipped the full amateur scene in favor of the pro game and will accordingly be brought up slowly in all likelihood, but he is still definitely a name to know. There is world’s of potential in the pro game for Akhmedov.
Shohjahon Ergashev (15-0, 14 KOs) KO1 Nazareno Gaston Ruiz (32-18, 11 KOs), welterweights – Olimp, Russia
I can’t do Shohjahon Ergashev justice with words. You just have to Youtube him. It is all so over the top and ridiculous. He literally just sprints out and hurts these overmatched opponents within the first moments of the fight. The Russian TV broadcast I watched for this one didn’t even have the graphics off the screen in time to see Ruiz being hurt in the opening seconds. Other fights have been hardly any different. Ergashev also destroyed a promising American in Sonny Frederickson with ease stateside too so there is some level of real legitimacy here. The problem is that he is just so boldly reckless and arrogant that I just don’t know what will happen when someone tries to slickly box him and he struggles to land. If he can deal with that, the kid is going to be a superstar. If he can’t, then he will flame out before world level. I don’t have the answer yet. Sign me up to see him fight every time out either way though. Again, just type Shohjahon Ergashev into Youtube and behold. You won’t regret it.
Joshua Greer Jr (19-1-1, 11 KOs) RTD7 Daniel Lozano (15-6, 11 KOs), bantamweights & Jamel Herring (19-2, 10 KOs) UD8 Adeilson Dos Santos (19-6, 15 KOs), lightweights & Gabriel Flores Jr (11-0, 5 KOs) UD6 Edward Kakembo (10-6, 3 KOs), lightweights – Corpus Christi, Texas
Joshua “Don’t Blink” Greer’s performance here was sort of wasted on the preliminary section of Top Rank’s ESPN+ card on Friday night. He should have been on the main show instead of Arnold Barboza. Greer put on a dynamic performance against a solid opponent and made Lozano’s corner pull the plug on him after Greer dropped him in the seventh. The 24 year old also has a really big, likely to be polarizing personality with his antics and general arrogance as well. Top Rank would do well to feature him more prominently going forward. Also in action was US Marine and failed PBC prospect Jamel Herring is trying to find a second life under Top Rank banners. Jamel is a decent boxer at the right level, but he isn’t suddenly going to become a world level guy over night. The talent just isn’t there. I’m really not sure why Arum and company brought him on to be honest. Teenage prospect Gabriel Flores Jr, a fighter signed up when he was only 16, picked up another win as well. Flores had a lot of hype due to the unusual age he was signed at and it will be a long time before we learn whether or not it was ever deserved. He hasn’t been too impressive yet, but Flores is, again, also still a teenager.
