This week we have Fabian Maidana being upset, Cowboy-Watts II, and more.
Saturday, January 13th
Ryan Karl (16-2, 10 KOs) TKO5 Kevin Watts (12-4, 5 KOs), junior welterweights – Los Angeles, California
“Cowboy” Ryan Karl got revenge on fellow lower level PBC staple Kevin Watts in the very same round the Watts stopped him in nine months ago. Unfortunately, this one didn’t make air on the FS1 telecast even though it was listed as the swing bout for the main card portion of the broadcast. That’s a shame because by all accounts their first go around was a barn burner that didn’t make TV either. I imagine this one was fun too, but that is all I can do, imagine. The trilogy bout would make a fine PBC on FS1 opener if they are interested in booking it. Also I have said it time and time again, but Premier Boxing Champions needs to get with the times and have some sort of outlet for the earlier fights. Virtually every other promoter (which is what PBC is no matter what anyone says) has an outlet to show every single fight on their card now.
Jaider Parra (33-2-1, 21 KOs) UD10 Fabian Maidana (16-1, 12 KOs), junior welterweights & Jonathan Jose Eniz (23-11-1, 9 KOs) UD10 Cesar Cuenca (48-3, 2 KOs), junior welterweights – Mar del Plata, Argentina
Saturday night brought a pair of major upsets to Argentina. Fabian Maidana, brother to Marcos, has been riding high off his step up wins over former contenders Johan Perez and Andres Klimov, the latter of which was his most recent fight and second in a row on a PBC show stateside. Fabian looked like he might be in line for a promotional push in 2019, but first he returned home for his bout against Venezuelan former title challenger Jaider Parra on what was his older brother’s first card as a lead promoter. It didn’t go well. Fabian looked listless in there and seemed especially lost after something happened to his eye in the fifth round. Parra had previously only lost to Johan Perez and Takashi Uchiyama and came into this fight on a nearly five year, eleven fight unbeaten streak so he is probably a little better than we realized, but this is still a major setback for the newer Maidana. Powerless recent former titleholder Rene Cuenca also was upset on the show. He was facing a pure journeyman so on one hand it was a more shocking upset than the main event even, but that isn’t the whole picture. Cuenca is now 37 and hadn’t fought in almost three years. Plus, he was one of the weakest titleholders in recent memory.
Friday, January 11th
Meiirim Nursultanov (10-0, 8 KOs) KO2 Ramon Aguinaga (13-2, 9 KOs), super middleweights & Madiyar Ashkeyev (11-0, 6 KOs) UD10 Luis Hernandez (16-7, 9 KOs), junior middleweights – Santa Ynez, California
A pair of well regarded Kazakh prospects I have understood to be promoted by Main Events headlined a non-Duva promoted show on the west coast Friday night. Of the two super middleweight Meiirim Nursultanov seems the much stronger prospect. For one, age matters and he is 25 versus Ashkeyev being 30 already. Even more importantly, however, is his superior athleticism and obvious high levels of power in there. Both seem to be technically competent fighters at least at this level, but I just don’t think Ashkeyev has what it takes as an athlete to be a top player at junior middleweight. He’s not a bad prospect by any means either though and got the main event here. He also did well to survive a little drama when he was caught cold and buzzed a bit in the opening round. Nursultanov had no trouble in his bout.
Saturday, January 5th
Giemel Magramo (23-1, 19 KOs) TKO10 Wenfeng Ge (11-1, 6 KOs), flyweights – Suzhou, China
I remember saying a while back that even though he is a longshot still, if someone were to win a belt from China right now it would be Wenfeng Ge. He’ll have to give up the title of least long shot now that he was upset via late stoppage at home ten days ago. Ge, who should be noted is nearly deaf and has overcome a ton to even get this far, was being positioned by his team for the opportunity in late 2019. It won’t come now that Filipino power puncher Giemel Magramo has stopped him. The fight wasn’t some late comeback due to fatigue or anything like that either. The Chinese contender had his moments and wasn’t completely outclassed, but it was Magramo landing the harder blows more consistently throughout the contest. He was the faster fighter and the harder puncher. Ge’s heart was huge, but he couldn’t overcome the physical disadvantages. The fight was stopped in between rounds ten and eleven as it had become increasingly one sided and Wenfeng’s face was an absolute mess.
