FanPost

Under the Radar Fight Results (Week Ending 10/8/17)

Hello again, BLH people. As always, read on S8C or here. Recs keep the article visible on BLH if you think it is something people should see. Without them, it falls off the first page in a hurry. Enjoy!

-----

Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, my Tuesday column in which I go over all the week’s results in the sport of boxing that I hadn’t already covered in separate articles. This week was nearly non-existent in the United States, but internationally still plenty went down. Here we have some real upsets, former Olympians, a kickboxing legend, and much more to discuss.

On the Radar Results

Eubank destroys Yildirim and advances

Crolla decisions Burns in a good fight

Under the Radar Fight Results

Combat sports legend Tyrone Spong

Saturday, October 7th

Rex Tso (22-0, 13 KOs) TD7 Kohei Kono (33-11-1, 14 KOs), super flyweights – China

Top Chinese prospect Rex Tso and longtime Japanese contender Kohei Kono put on an entertaining show with a really unsatisfying conclusion in Hong Kong. A really bad clash of heads in the second round started a hematoma on Tso’s head that grew and grew until it was too massive to allow Tso to continue in the seventh. Kono was really coming on at this point, but Tso had banked enough rounds to get the technical decision. The Japanese fighter was robbed of some major momentum and maybe the fight, but by the rules of boxing this was handled appropriately. A rematch would be in order here except that the idea is that maybe Tso moves on to challenge Naoya Inoue for his WBO belt.

Firat Arslan (41-8-2, 26 KOs) KO7 Alejandro Emilio Valori (24-13, 17 KOs), heavyweights – Germany

The resident old man of the sport, 47 year old cruiserweight Firat Arslan, took a low level fight up at heavyweight on the Eubank/Yildirim World Boxing Super Series undercard. Arslan has been very active with five fights in the last 16 months, but none have been at world level. The last time he fought at a high level was in 2014 when he nearly lifted the IBF belt off Yoan Pablo Hernandez, ultimately losing by very close split decision. I have to imagine he is looking towards one more shot as he approaches 50.

Stefan Haertel (15-0, 1 KO) MD10 Viktor Polyakov (13-2-1, 6 KOs), super middleweights – Germany

2012 German Olympic quarter finalist Stefan Haertel was nearly defeated by 37 year old 2004 Ukrainian Olympic quarter finalist Viktor Polyakov in Germany. On my card, he should have been too. It has been a while since we have seen a German home cooking decision, but here was a minor one in my view. Haertel has some skill, but the 29 year old just has nothing on his punches to get any respect from his opponents. Polyakov took advantage of not having to worry about what is coming back to accumulate enough points to win, but they didn’t give them to him. I don’t think Haertel can be taken super seriously as a prospect any longer.

Zach Parker (14-0, 10 KOs) UD8 Matingu Kindele (9-7, 3 KOs), light heavyweights – Germany

Emerging British super middleweight contender Zach Parker put the domestic scene on notice with a first round stoppage of Luke Blackledge last month. Here he stayed busy with a record building fight on the World Boxing Super Series undercard. Kindele is actually only the third fighter with a winning record that Parker has beaten, the other two being Blackledge and a 7-6 fighter in his second pro bout. Given how fluky first round stoppages are, any hype for Parker should still be cautious.

Cristian Mijares (58-8-2, 26 KOs) UD10 Jesus Arevalo (25-2-1, 15 KOs), junior lightweights – Mexico

Former long time unified super flyweight titlist Cristian Mijares continues to be a force on the Mexican domestic scene, even all the way up at junior lightweight at 36 years old. Mijares is way too small, too old, and probably just too outgunned to compete at world level at this point, especially above super bantamweight, but he has made a nice second career for himself here staying at home and fighting this level of opponent. Good for him. Hopefully he stays there.

Tyrone Spong (10-0, 10 KOs) KO1 Sergio Ramirez (15-5, 8 KOs), heavyweights – Mexico

Tyrone Spong has been one of the best fighters in the world for a long time now, just not in boxing. The former top pound for pound kickboxer has switched to boxing following a broken leg and he is worth paying attention to. Spong is 32 and probably too old to make the conversion to the top level, but he is absolutely an elite athlete with really good hands. He is a much more legitimate boxer than Conor McGregor based on their comparative styles. Here he picked up his first minor belt. It is a WBC regional trinket that will allow him to start climbing the ladder in that organization.

Mimoune working on Eggington

Mohamed Mimoune (19-2, 2 KOs) UD12 Sam Eggington (21-4, 13 KOs), welterweights – England

Hit the brakes on the Eggington hype train. Little regarded Frenchman Mimoune was able to remind the world how vulnerable Sam Eggington’s somewhat brawling style can be to slick boxing in this fight. After four straight wins including a European title and defeats of Paulie Malignaggi and Frankie Gavin, the 23 year old was on the verge of bursting onto the world scene. This is a massive set back to say the least. Bradley Skeete was able to do the same thing as Mimoune last July too, meaning this was likely no fluke. Mohamed Mimoune is now your European welterweight champion.

Lewis Ritson (13-0, 7 KOs) TKO7 Robbie Barrett (15-3-1, 1 KO), lightweights – England

In a huge British domestic scene coming out party, largely unknown Lewis Ritson thrashed Robbie Barrett en route to claiming his British lightweight title. The 24 year old had only ever really faced one other opponent with a positive record, but it didn’t matter here. He put Barrett down three times before Barrett’s corner waved the fight off. Lewis Ritson went from no one to British titlist overnight here. In the last few hours Eddie Hearn and Matchroom have snatched him up on a promotional deal too.

Gavin McDonnell (18-1-2, 5 KOs) KO1 Jozsef Ajtai (19-9, 12 KOs), featherweights – England

Gavin McDonnell lost a world title bid to Rey Vargas back in February. Here he had his second fight back, a second low level win too. Ajtai of Hungary had previously been used as an opponent for the likes of Andrew Selby, Zou Shiming, and Khalid Yafai. All three beat him without concern. He had lost four of five coming into this fight well below the level of those men too and is probably worse than his record indicates. This is just a confidence and record building minor payday for McDonnell.

Conor Benn

Conor Benn (9-0, 7 KOs) TKO1 Nathan Clarke (5-2-1, 1 KO), welterweights – England

Son of British legend Nigel Benn, 21 year old Conor picked up another stoppage win here. The new Benn didn’t have much of an amateur career and is largely learning on the job, but he is clearly a plus athlete with some real potential for growth. Next he is expected to make his American debut on the undercard of Matchroom USA’s promotional debut in November headlined by Danny Jacobs.

Andrew Selby (10-0, 5 KOs) UD12 Maximino Flores (23-4-1, 16 KOs), flyweights – England

Main eventing his own card, British flyweight prospect and former Olympian Andrew Selby won a WBC title eliminator here against Mexican fringe contender Maximino Flores. The WBC flyweight belt is currently held by the crude but ultra powerful Japanese fighter Daigo Higa and his perfect knockout record. Higa has a defense in two weeks, but should he retain he and Selby would make for a truly fascinating stylistic matchup between the boxer and the puncher. That is a fight that I could get behind.

Friday, October 6th

Carlos Manuel Portillo (19-0, 15 KOs) KO3 Czar Amonsot (34-4-3, 22 KOs), junior welterweights – Australia

Much like Mimoune and Ritson above, Paraguay’s Carlos Manuel Portillo really launched himself from nothing this week. Czar Amonsot hadn’t fought on world level since his 2007 loss to Michael Katsidsis left him with a brain bleed that has limited where he can fight, but he also hadn’t lost since that night a decade ago. The Paraguayan and his power punching record swatted that fact away in three. It is hard to get a real read on this, but put Portillo on your radar for sure.

Sam Sexton (24-3, 9 KOs) UD12 Gary Cornish (24-2, 12 KOs), heavyweights – Scotland

Sam Sexton picked up the British heavyweight title here. That has always been a notable regional belt so here I am noting it. Neither of these guys is even really close to a contender at heavyweight though.

Christian Gonzalez (18-1, 15 KOs) UD8 Gamaliel Diaz (40-18-3, 19 KOs), lightweights & Edgar Valerio (12-0, 7 KOs) KO2 Martin Cardona (22-9, 14 KOs), featherweights – California

This was another typical LA Fight Club card presented by Golden Boy on Estrella TV. Gonzalez was a minor prospect and to a point still is, but he got stopped early a couple fights ago and is trying to rebuild. He is still only 21 at least. 23 year old Edgar Valerio has now fought his last five fights on this series. Neither is a super prospect, but they both have a major promoter backing them and both show some potential.

Thursday, October 5th

Vaughn Alexander (11-0, 8 KOs) TKO7 Elvin Ayala (29-10-1, 13 KOs), middleweights – Connecticut

Back in 2004, now 31 year old Vaughn Alexander was a major Top Rank welterweight prospect expected to reach a real level of stardom. Eleven years in prison for armed robbery and assault put an end to that. Now a year back in the sport, Alexander is 6-0 as an old middleweight prospect. Stopping Alaya is a minor notch in his belt as well as the only other men to do so have been big punchers in Curtis Stevens, Arthur Abraham, and David Lemieux. He does have some good years left since he went away so young, but Vaughn Alexander is looking at a very narrow window to make something of himself. He is Devon Alexander’s older brother.

Can Xu

Tuesday, October 3rd

Can Xu (13-2, 1 KO) RTD7 Nehomar Cermeno (26-7-1, 15 KOs), featherweights – China

It is time to formally stick a fork in Nehomar Cermeno. The 37 year old Venezuelan former secondary WBA title holder has now retired on his stool in consecutive fights. This time he gave Chinese domestic level fighter Can Xu his first stoppage win in the process. 23 year old Xu started 3-2, but has since won ten straight, mostly against guys with positive records and the last eight for minor WBA titles too. This win is certainly going to put him in WBA title contention as that organization has had Cermeno in their title picture for nearly a decade now. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in a WBA title fight, especially since the organization recognizes three supposed world champions at the weight right now that he could be matched with.

Monday, October 3rd

Satoshi Shimizu (4-0, 4 KOs) TKO5 Sa Myung Noh (11-4, 4 KOs), featherweights – Japan

Japanese 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Satoshi Shimizu picked up the OPBF featherweight strap here in only his fourth professional fight, a most impressive thing to do. The OPBF belts are basically the Asian-Australian equivalent of the European titles. Aready 31, Shimizu’s team says they want to get him a world title shot in 2018. While it is increasingly business as usual for Japanese promoters to get their guys world titles very early in their career, they also do this basically exclusively at the lowest three weight classes in the sport. Up at featherweight, I suspect they will find it very difficult to get Shimizu a world title fight given that the belts are held by Leo Santa Cruz/Abner Mares, Gary Russell Jr, Lee Selby, and Oscar Valdez.

FanPosts are user-created content written by community members of Bad Left Hook, and are generally not the work of our editors. Please do not source FanPosts as the work of Bad Left Hook.