Top Rank in 'The Bubble' - Mike Plania upsets Joshua Greer

It was week #2 of Top Rank Boxing’s summer series that saw the Las Vegas based promotional powerhouse back at its semi-permanent work site in the Grand Ballroom at the MGM Grand Conference Centre in Las Vegas, Nevada. Top Rank is back, in a big way, that will see Bob Arum’s company putting on 3 shows this week taking them to 5 shows in 14 days. To say they are busy and providing lots of live boxing for fight-hungry fans would be a huge understatement. Fighters are working again, fans are loving it and once again fight fans saw some good action.

Main Event

In a bit of a surprise, bantamweight “Magic” Mike Plania (24-1, 12 KO’s) was impressive in picking up a MD 10 over world rated Joshua “Don’t Blink” Greer Jr. (22-2-1, 12 KO’s). Plania deposited Greer on the canvas in round one and dropped him again in round 6. A game and undaunted Greer came on later in the fight, but he was a day late and a dollar short on the clock – simply too little, too late. One judge had it even at 94-94 but was overruled by the other two who came in at 96-92 and 97-91. This was a great win for Plania and a frustrating setback for Greer who had a buzz going on about him after a strong 2019 and was probably in line for a title shot later this year with a win.

Undercard Action

Undefeated welterweight Giovani Santillan (26-0, 15 KO’s) remained unbeaten after he took a questionable (and unpopular) MD 10 over former WBC lightweight world champion Antonio “Tony” DeMarco (33-9-1, 24 KO’s). Santillan squeaked by DeMarco by scores of 95-95, 96-94, 96-94 in a fight that DeMarco appeared to be the busier fighter who seemed to be applying effective pressure from the opening bell. This was a big (name) win for Santillan who is based out of San Diego but built a following after a long, undefeated run fighting in Ontario, California. For DeMarco, who has lost 3 in a row (and 6 of his last 8) it was a frustrating loss. However, it should be noted that the combined record of the last 6 fighters DeMarco lost to is 133-0-1. While it was another “L” for DeMarco, he gave a strong showing and it should lead to some more good fights in the future.

Kazakhstan’s unbeaten super welterweight Bobirzhan Mominov (11-0, 8 KO’s) pounded out a UD 6 over rugged Hawaiian opponent Cameron Krael (17-16-3, 4 KO’s).

Puerto Rico’s heavyweight Hector Perez (7-2, 3 KO’s) bested Texan Juan Torres (5-3-1, 2 KO’s) by UD 6.

Sherman Oaks, California-residing super middleweight Nikoloz Sekhniashvili (6-0, 4 KO’s) stayed unbeaten as he had no problem with Detroit’s Isiah Jones (8-2, 3 KO’s) winning a UD 6.

Top Rank Boxing returns to ‘The Bubble’ in the MGM Grand on Thursday night on ESPN and then is in Mexico City Saturday night.