Plania fells Greer with 2 ‘terrific’ punches
MIKE “Magic” Plania did not need a million punches, only two strong ones, to knock down American Joshua Greer twice on his way to a decisive victory on Wednesday (Philippine time) at the MGM Grand Ballroom in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Those were two terrific punches,” Top Rank Arum told TheManila
Times through an overseas call, referring to the powerful two left hooks that knocked down the World Boxing Organization (WBO) No. 1 ranked Bantamweight pug.
“It was a good fight, and he (Plania) deserved the victory,” said Arum who in an earlier interview said he made the Plania and Greer fight the main event because “the guys throw millions of punches.”
Greer, 26, tried to come back in the last three rounds, unleashing his short punches, but Plania by then was on his way to a majoritydecision win after scoring a knockdown in the first and sixth rounds in their non-title bantamweight 10-round bout organized by the Top Rank’s live non-spectator main event in The Bubble.
Although it looked like he was losing the final three rounds, the 23-year-old General Santos City native just wisely moved out of Greer’s way and threw some counterpunches to seal the win.
Plania became the first ever Filipino to win a boxing match under the “new normal” during the time of the coronavirus pandemic. He improved his win-loss record to 24-1 with 12 knockouts, while Greer fell to 22-2-1 win-loss-draw with 12 knockouts.
Judge Dave Moretti gave a 94-94 score, while the two other judges Tim Cheatham and Patricia Morse Jarman saw Plania the winner with their 9692 and 97-91 scores, respectively. Arum agreed with the judges. “The two knockdowns [by Plania] were counted for 4 points. He lost the last three rounds, so he gave up 1 point. And I thought in the other five rounds, he won three out of the five, so I figured it out that he won by 2 points. I was absolutely right,” Arum added.
Plania stayed the aggressor in the seventh round with long bombs, but Greer did not back down to the challenge despite being outpunched throughout the match.
Plania led CompuBox’s unofficial figures 119-of-451 against 96-of-426 punches overall. Plania had 99 power punches compared to Greer’s 77.
Plania surprised the people around right at the bat with a solid left hook that knocked down Greer with 1:10 to go in the opening round, dictating the tone of the fight.
After being caught in the first round, Greer fought like a true warrior as he pushed Plania on the ropes in the second round although the Filipino came back with another left hook that disrupted Greer’s momentum.
Plania chased Greer in the third round, overwhelming the American with his footwork.
He was solid in the fourth round, firing combinations that rocked Greer and a surprising left hook that hit the WBO No. 1 bantamweight pug anew.
Plania accidentally hit Greer with a low left that stopped the bout for a few seconds in the fifth round.
He scored his second knockdown halfway of the sixth round, hitting Greer with a devastating left hook.