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MAGIC WINS THE NIGHT, NIGHT: Mike Plania Beats Joshua Greer On June 16 Top Rank Show
You saw another edition of boxing, theater of the unexpected, yet again. The left hooks of Mike Plania stood out mightily in the main events at the MGM Bubble in Las Vegas, on the feature bout of the Tuesday Top Rank card.
The Filipnio Plania scored two knockdowns on the Chicago fighter who craved elevating his status with a showy win on the third Top Rank card with the new pandemic protocol setup.
It says it on his belt-line, “Magic.” And it was, for Plania getting the minor upset win on ESPN. (Mikey Williams photo)
Greer hung in there, and did better work later, but the judges got it right on this ESPN show.
“This win is going to change my life,” said the winner after. “I think Greer underestimated me. He kept saying ‘Night Night, but tonight, it was magic time.”
He spoke on the nastiness of his left hook, and his level of power. “I thought I could knock him out after the knockdown in the first round, but he was tough and adjusted his strategy…I took this fight on only three weeks’ notice, but I had faith in God that I could win.”
We touched on how expectations and assumptions are now and again refuted in the sweet science here, and there ya go, in the main event, the ‘A side' guy thinking he was back on track to get heavy traction moving forward now has to hit the reset button.
Here is the release sent out by Top Rank, with photos by Mikey Williams.
LAS VEGAS (June 16, 2020) — “Magic” Mike Plania had an evening that was nothing short of magical. The Filipino upstart stunned WBO No. 1 bantamweight contender Joshua Greer Jr. via majority decision Tuesday evening from the MGM Grand Conference Center—Grand Ballroom.
Plania (24-1, 12 KOs) knocked down Greer in the first and sixth rounds and prevailed by scores of 94-94, 96-92 and 97-91.
Greer (22-2-1, 12 KOs) came on strong in the late rounds, but Plania's lead was too much for him to overcome.
“This win is going to change my life,” Plania said. “I thought I could knock him out after the knockdown in the first round, but he was tough and adjusted his strategy.
“I took this fight on only three weeks’ notice, but I had faith in God that I could win.”
— Giovani Santillan (26-0, 15 KOs) extended his unbeaten record, but former world champion Antonio DeMarco (33-9-1, 24 KOs) sure didn't make it easy. Santillan, from San Diego, edged DeMarco via 10-round majority decision in the welterweight co-feature (95-95, 96-94 2x). The three judges agreed on only three of the rounds in a fight that some experts had DeMarco pulling out.
“I knew it was a close fight, but I felt like I did enough solid work in there to pull out the win,” Santillan said. “He never hurt me at any point in the fight, but he used his experience in there. He’s a former world champion who has been in there with the best of the best. I want to get back in the ring as soon as possible and use this experience to my advantage.”
— Bobirzhan Mominov (11-0, 8 KOs) outworked noted spoiler Cameron Krael (17-16-3, 4 KOs) to earn a unanimous decision in a six-round junior middleweight bout. Mominov was deducted a point for hitting behind the head in the sixth round. The scores were 57-56 and 58-55 2x.
— In a six-round heavyweight rumble, Hector Perez (7-2, 3 KOs) prevailed via unanimous decision over Juan Torres (5-3-1, 2 KOs). The scores were 60-54 and 59-55 2x.
— Middleweight prospect Nikoloz “The Experiment” Sekhniashvili (6-0, 4 KOs) cruised to a six-round unanimous decision over Detroit native Isiah Jones (8-2, 3 KOs) by scores of 60-54 2x and 59-55.
