Boxing Recaps: Upsets Added Spice to a Crowded Weekend Docket

By Arne K. Lang

There were no megafights on the third weekend of October, unless one counts the WBC cruiserweight title tilt in Liverpool between Tony Bellew and B.J. Flores, but there was plenty of action around the globe. And the first result to hit the wires provided a major surprise. At the Silverdome Basketball Stadium in Launceston, Tasmania, Renold Quinlan demolished Daniel Geale, stopping him in the second round.

The son of an indigenous Australian father and a Fijian mother, Quinlan had only 11 fights under his belt, of which he won 10. In Daniel Geale, he was meeting a former world middleweight champion who was a veteran of eight world title fights. Making matters more daunting for him, Geale would be fighting in his hometown and would have the crowd in his corner.

Quinlan was unfazed. In the second round, he splattered Geale against the ropes with a vicious left-right combination. When Geale regained his footing, he was in no shape to continue. That was all she wrote.  After being knocked out in three of his last four fights – by Gennady Golovkin, Miguel Cotto, and now the unheralded Quinlan – the 35-year-old Geale would be wise to heed those pushing him to retire.

OTHER FRIDAY RESULTS

In Hamburg, Germany, Noel Gevor advanced to 22-0 (10) with a 12-round split decision over once-beaten Scotsman Stephen Simmons. The win likely pushes Gevor into a match with new WBO cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. On the undercard, Noel’s younger brother Abel Gevor, a light heavyweight, improved to 12-0 with a unanimous 8-round decision over Alexander Hagen.

At the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, undefeated welterweight Mike Reed improved to 20-0 (12) with a 6^th round stoppage of Aaron Herrera. Reed, a 23-year-old southpaw, is a former National Golden Gloves champion. Herrera is 29-6-1, but has yet to win in five tries outside his native Mexico.

In the co-feature, Tevin Farmer (23-4-1) continued his steady ascent up the lightweight ladder with an 8-round unanimous decision over Nicaraguan southpaw Orlando Rizo (19-8). Farmer has won 16 straight.

At the Sportsman’s Lodge in Los Angeles, lightweight Jose Felix (35-1-1), a former world title challenger, had a predictably easy go with Alan Herrera, stopping his Mexican countryman in the third stanza. Herrera is 33-9, but has lost five of his last six.

There was a mild surprise on the undercard when Egid Kavaliauskas was forced to dig deep to turn away Cameron Krael. A Lithuanian who trains in Oxnard, California, Kavaliauskas entered the 8-round welterweight contest sporting a 14-0 (12) record. Krael was 8-11-2. But Krael landed the two best punches of the fight and, although he lost the decision (77-75 x 3), he succeeded in knocking Kavaliauskas down a notch in the hierarchy of hot prospects.

SATURDAY

Tony Bellew’s demolition of P.J. Flores before his home fans at Liverpool’s Echo Arena has been well-documented, not merely the fight itself (Bellew KO 3), but the fireworks afterward when Bellew got in the face of David Haye who was ringside with the broadcasting team. Bellew has been calling out Haye, a former sparring partner, since winning the WBC cruiserweight title in May. Haye, who outgrew the cruiserweight division eight years ago, will be the bigger man by about 25 pounds if the match comes to fruition.

In the chief undercard match of the 12-bout card, Luke Campbell (pictured) advanced to 15-1 (11) with a fourth round stoppage of Liverpool veteran Derry Mathews. As noted by writer Miguel Iturrate in his recap yesterday, this was the same Derry Mathews who gave undefeated WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan a world of trouble in a losing effort at this venue in March. A series of hard left hooks to the body by Campbell marked the beginning of the end for Mathews who was competing in his 51^st pro fight. Campbell, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist, looks poised to challenge Flanagan or one of the other lightweight belt-holders.

In Hamburg, Germany, Hamburg resident Christian Hammer (aka Christian Ciokan) scored a big upset when he turned away previously undefeated Erkan Teper via split decision to win the WBO version of the European heavyweight title. The 34-year-old Teper, whose career has been shadowed by doping allegations, was 16-0 heading in and as high as a 10/1 favorite in man-to-man betting. It was the third straight win for the Romania-born Hammer and his 13^th win in his last 14 tries, a run interrupted by a one-sided setback at the hands of Tyson Fury.

On the undercard, rising heavyweight contender Adrian Granat improved to 14-0 (13) with a sixth round stoppage of chubby Franz Rill who declined to 13-2. A 6’7 ½” Swede, the 25-year-old Granat is a trained accountant but doesn’t fight like one. He has sparred with the likes of Wladimir Klitschko, Dillian Whyte, and Christian Hammer. The Granat-Rill contest was scheduled for 12 rounds with a minor IBF belt at stake.

In Frederikshavin, Denmark, Dennis Ceylan claimed the vacant European featherweight title with a 12-round split decision over Ryan Walsh. Ceylan (18-0-1), who represented Denmark in the 2012 Olympics, was moving up in class against Walsh (21-2-1) whose twin brother Liam is the mandatory challenger to IBF 130-pound champion Jose Pedraza. Two-and-a-half inches taller than his English adversary, Ceylan deployed his jab effectively. The bout aired in Great Britain on the BoxNation subscription channel.

In Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, local product Brandon Brewer (20-0-1) kept his unbeaten record intact with a third round stoppage of 37-year-old Brazilian journeyman Anderson Clayton. Brewer decked Clayton in the third round with a hard shot to the temple and then polished him off with a barrage of punches that forced the referee to intercede. Brewer competes at 154 pounds, as does fellow Canadian Brandon Cook (17-0) who is potentially his next opponent.

In the Iztapalapa borough of Mexico City, former WBO world bantamweight champion Tomoki Kameda (32-2) rebounded from the first two losses of his career (both against Jamie McDonnell) by blasting out late sub Edgar Martinez in the opening round. This was Kameda’s first fight in Mexico since 2012. One of three fighting brothers from Tokyo, Kameda began his pro career here, hence his nickname “El Mexicanito.”  On the undercard, long-reigning WBA World female minimumweight champion Anabel Ortiz successfully defended her title with a unanimous 10-round decision over Venezuela’s Debora Rengifo. The bouts aired in the United States on the beIN sports network.

Finally, a crowd of 2,314 turned out at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas, to see local fan favorite Jennifer Han successfully defend her IBF World female featherweight title with a workmanlike 10-round unanimous decision over 35-fight veteran Liliana Martinez of the Dominican Republic.  The 33-year-old Korean-American Han, a college graduate with an extensive kickboxing background, is one of the most well-known personalities in the Texas border town. She is trained by Louis Burke whose brief pro career was punctuated by two hard-fought wins over Freddie Roach.