Filipino bantamweight Mike Plania (24-1, 12 KOs) won a majority decision over Joshua Greer Jr. (22-2-1, 12 KOs) of Chicago Tuesday night at the "Bubble" at MGM Grand in Las Vegas in the ESPN main event. The Filipino was too much for Greer as he scored two knockdowns and applied pressure in route to the decision win.
Plania got it started as he dropped Greer with a left hook halfway through in the opening round. The Filipino pressured in the second looking to cut the ring as Greer kept his distance and moved around, Plana landed another left hook late in the round. Stalking in the third, Plania once again landed the left hook as Greer boxed and stood away. The left hook appeared to bother Greer as Plania once again connected in the fourth, Greer seemed jittery as Plania was composed. At the halfway mark in the fifth round Plania began to go the body and landed a low blow on Greer as referee Tony Weeks issued a warning.
Halfway through in the sixth Plania appeared very confident attacking and in the closing seconds of the round the left hook found its mark once again as Greer hit the canvas. The second half of the fight in the seventh round Greer showed some flash as Plania was on the receiving end of the combinations but continued to go forward. Late in the fight Greer let his hands go and pressured as Plania was on the run staying away. The tenth and final round saw Plania stay away as Greer continued to apply to pressure but it was too late as the judges scored the bout 97-91, 96-92, and 94-94. San Diego's Giovani Santillan (26-0, 15 KOs) won a hard fought majority decision over former world champion Antonio DeMarco (33-9-1, 24 KOs) of Tijuana, Mexico in the welterweight co feature bout. Santillan edged out the hard nose veteran in what was a definite learning experience for Santillan.
The southpaw DeMarco connected with the first big shot of the night landing a solid straight left, Santillan returned the favor as he landed a hard left hook. The pace picked up in round two for Santillan as he worked the jab and followed up with solid shots backing DeMarco to the ropes. Fighting on the inside in the third, DeMarco got the better of connecting Santillan with some body shots. The fast paced continued in the fourth as DeMarco began to close the distance and fight on the inside making the prospect Santillan work. In the fifth, DeMarco applied the pressure as Santillan circled and jabbed boxing away late in the round the veteran landed solidly to close the round.
Halfway through in the sixth, Santillan mixed in some combinations but that didn't faze the former champion. DeMarco responded with some solid uppercuts busting Santillan's nose to close the round. DeMarco continued to stay inside and rough up Santillan in the seventh as the experience began to show. Late in the fight Santillan showed flash letting his hands go staying busy as DeMarco stalked. In the end the judges scored the bout 96-94, 96-94, and 95-95.
Super welterweight Borbhizav Mominov (11-0, 8 KOs) of Kazakhstan pounded away for six rounds as Cameron Krael (17-16-3, 4 KOs) of Las Vegas showed his toughness in going the distance. Attacking from the opening bell Mominov came out firing big shots snapping Krael's head with a few left hooks. Displaying his heavy hands, a right hand by Mominov got Krael's attention, the Kazakh kept firing away with big punches. The big punches kept coming in the third round as Mominov landed a solid right hand that hurt Krael. Credit to Krael as he was taking some big shots mixing it up with Mominov.
Going to the body in the fifth, Mominov opened up Krael upstairs as the Kazakh landed a huge left hook. Mominov came out attacking in the sixth and suffered a cut on his left eye, then he was deducted a point but was not affected by the deduction working his way to a decision as the judges scored the fight 58-55, 58-55, 57-56.
Super middleweight Nikoloz Sekhniashvili (6-0, 4 KOs) of Georgia, was dominant in a winning an impressive unanimous decision over Isiah Jones (8-2, 3 KOs) of Detroit. Sekhiniasvilli pressured throughout the fight backing Jones and connecting with solid punches in route to a six round decision win.Judges scores were 60-54, 60-54, and 59-55.
Heavyweight Hector Perez (7-2, 3 KOs) of Puerto Rico won a unanimous decision over Juan Torres (5-3-1, 2 KOs) of Cypress, Texas. It was a very slow paced fight as Torres and Perez. In the fifth round Perez landed a low blow as Torres took time to recover. Despite the low blow, Perez was able to control the fight in going the distance six rounds as the judges scored the bout 60-54, 59-55, and 59-55.
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