Joshua Greer Jr. rallies from early knockdown to stop Giovanni Escaner

Featherweight prospect Joshua Greer Jr. wanted to put on a show tonight on ESPN, but had to overcome some early adversity to do it. Eventually, though, Greer broke down Giovanni Escaner to stop him in the 8th round.

Escaner brought a rough style, constantly pressuring Greer and looking to trade shots. Greer was obviously the more athletic fighter in the ring and was showcasing his hand and foot speed early. But then Greer, 24, starting showboating in the fight, and that gave Escaner opportunities to land big shots on him, which he did.

In the third round Escaner forced an exchange at the bell and clipped Greer with a right hand that put him down. Greer got up instantly and complained to the referee that the punch landed after the bell, but it was ruled at the bell and an official knockdown.

But from that point on Greer regained his composure and just let his skills do the talking more than his in-the-ring antics. At that point Greer started landing body shots at a good rate, which he had already been doing in fairness, but he then landed what he called the ‘taser shot’ to Escaner’s solar plexus. That put Escaner down for the count, ending the fight.

Final CompuBox stats had Greer (20-1-1, 12 KOs) landing 150 of 480 total punches (31.3%) while Escaner (19-4, 12 KOs) landed 95 of 434 total punches (21.9%)