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The Bubble Bursts In Las Vegas
Plania Upsets Greer;
DeMarco Schools Santillan, But Suffers Loss
By William Trillo
Photos: Mikey Williams - Top Rank
Earlier in the day at the Las Vegas Sports Books the
money started coming in heavy on the underdog. It
wouldn’t be long before the favorite Super bantamweight
Joshua Greer Jr (22-2 -1, 12 KO’s) would find out why.
In the first round Mike Plania (24-1, 12 KO’s) launched
a left hook that set Greer down before he knew what hit
him. Greer got back up but be certain the bookies had
concerns. Plania remained in control over the next few
rounds as Greer had no answer for the unheralded
challenger.
Round six was a replay of the first round as another
looping left hook sent Greer down with a boom. Plania
was brimming with confidence. He basically owned the
first six rounds of action. Team Greer had reasons for
concern. Maybe it was him who was going to need that
“Night Night” pillow.
Looking for an answer to the puzzle Greer went to Plan
B. Lo and behold it worked. Smothering Plania and not
allowing him to wing those long punches Greer became
remarkably effective with an inside game. In rounds
seven through ten Greer seemed to take control both
physically and mentally. Suddenly the bout was nip and
tuck.
With the bout going the distance it was the judges who
were going to decide the outcome. Having gone down twice
Greer had a huge margin to overcome. The final tallies
read 95-95 even but the two other cards read 96-92 and
97-91 giving Plania the upset victory. And now we know
why late money was coming in on Plania.
“I think Greer underestimated me. He kept saying ‘Night
Night, but tonight, it was magic time. I thought I could
not 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. I wasn’t too tired in the
end, but he made adjustments and I made mine.”
Welterweight Giovani Santillan (26-0, 15 KO’s) was
extremely fortunate to come out with the victory over
Antonio DeMarco (33-9-1, 24 KO’s). Victory or not
Santillan was taken to school by the veteran DeMarco who
out-threw and out-landed Santillan over the course of
the ten round bout. Granted, it’s a notch on the belt
for Santillan but if he doesn’t learn from this fight
it’s going to be a long hard road as he looks to get to
the championship level. Hats off to the crafty veteran
DeMarco who took on the young undefeated prospect and
performed very well.
On the razor thin decision Santillan stated, “I knew it
was a close fight, but I felt like I did enough solid
work in there to pull out the win. 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.”
Welterweight Cameron Krael (17-16-3, 4 KO’s) gave
Bobirzhan Mominov (11-0, 8 KO’s) six rounds of work in
this pre-main event bout. Krael who came in with some 36
professional fights showed his experience by giving the
undefeated punching machine Mominov more than a few
problems. Mominov was in control of the fight but was
far from the touted talent that broadcasters wanted us
to believe. The fight that went to the judges’
scorecards read 57-56 and 58-55 twice.
Middleweight Nikoloz Sekhniashvili (6-0, 4 KO’s) took a
somewhat dull unanimous decision over Isiah Jones (8-2,
3 KO’s) in this six round snoozer. Sekhniashvili came in
as the ballyhooed punching machine but Jones took
everything thrown in his direction and never came close
to going down. In the end Sekhniashvili was given the
unanimous decision victory 59-55 and 60-54 twice.
Heavyweights Hector Perez (7-2, 3 KO’s) and Juan Torres
(5-3-1, 2 KO’s) plodded along in this methodical six
round fill-in bout. The fight that was low on highlights
went to the judges scorecards that saw Perez earn the
victory 60-54 & 59-55 twice.
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