Reviewing Joshua Greer Jr.'s most recent fights, it seemed Mike Plania was in position to score the first major upset of boxing's return from the coronavirus pandemic in Tuesday's 120-pound catchweight main event in Las Vegas. It took two knockdowns and a several rounds of clear dominance, and in the end, Plania was indeed able to shock the boxing world with a majority decision victory over the No. 1-ranked WBO bantamweight contender.
Greer, who had looked very hittable in his two most recent outings against Nikolai Potapov and Antonio Nieves with the former performance especially sticking out as problematic, was down in Round 1 after a sweeping Plania left hook. He was able to rise from the canvas and fight on, however. Plania's previous attempt to step up in competition was a 2018 loss to Juan Carlos Payano where he also scored an early knockdown, so it was far from a sure thing he would be able to capitalize on the big left hand.
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Greer remained gun-shy for the majority of the fight, and was dropped by another looping left in the sixth round. He would turn up his offensive output in the late rounds in an effort for the rebound victory, but Plania appeared to have stockpiled enough points through his early dominance to survive the attempts by Greer to pull off the comeback.
Two huge knockdowns set the tone, and Mike Plania pulls off the upset behind a vicious lead left hand 😮
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 17, 2020
Plania moves up the Bantamweight ladder via Majority Decision over Joshua Greer Jr. #GreerPlania pic.twitter.com/G7nR0Z7o8T
Ultimately, Greer wasn't able to cut off the ring effectively enough to deal with the aggression and pace of Plania, and the fight ended up in the hands of the judges. One judge, Dave Moretti, turned in an inexplicable 94-94 scorecard. But Tim Cheatham and Patricia Morse Jarman turned in scores of 96-92 and 97-91, respectively, giving Plania the majority decision victory.
Plania's loss to Payano came in 2018, but he was still young in his career and seemed to have grown in his ability to lock down the course of a fight. Now, months after turning 23, he has a promising future in the bantamweight division. Greer, who was ranked No. 1 by the WBO, No. 2 by the IBF and No. 8 by the WBC, will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how his career has been derailed over his three most recent fights.
While the big upset win could put Plania in position for a shot at a world title, the Filipino slugger was humble in addressing his future after his big win. "I'm always ready. But I will wait for my managers for the fight," he said.
