By Ian S Palmer
Joshua “Don’t Blink” Greer Jr of Chicago, Illinois takes on Mike Plania of the Philippines this Tuesday, June 16th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The 10-round bantamweight tilt can be seen live in the USA on ESPN and ESPN Deportes and on TSN in Canada. Greer last fought in October when he beat Antonio Nieves by 10-round unanimous decision to retain his WBC Continental Americas and WBO NABO Bantamweight Crowns. Plania has been out of action since December when he beat Giovanni Gutierrez by 10-round unanimous decision.
The 26-year-old Greer climbs through the ropes with an impressive mark of 22-1-1 with 12 Kos. He turned pro in 2015 and has boxed 133 rounds since. Greer stands 5-feet-4-inches tall with a 66-inch reach and has average power with a current knockout ratio of 50 per cent. His lone defeat was a a four-round majority decision against in 2015 in his fifth pro fight. His draw came in his fourth outing when he faced Mario Ayala.
Greer hasn’t faced much stiff opposition along the way with wins over the likes of Nikolai Potapov, Giovanni Escaner, Daniel Lozano, Giovanni Delgado, Glenn Dezern, Leroy Davila and James Smith. He owns a decent chin but was dropped in the third round by Escaner before stopping him five rounds later.
As for Plania, he’s just 23 years old and his record is close to Greer’s as he’s 23-1 with 12 Kos. He’s boxed 122 rounds since turning pro in 2014 and also has a 50 per cent knockout ratio. He’s just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with an unlisted reach so has a 1.5-inch edge in height on Greer. The lone blemish on his record came at the hands of Juan Carlos Payano by 10-round unanimous decision in 2018.
Plania enjoyed a fine amateur career with a gold medal in the junior division at the 2013 PLDT-ABAP National Boxing Championships in the Philippines and a gold at the 2013 Philippine National Games. He also represented his homeland in 2013 at the AIBA Junior World Boxing Championships in Ukraine.
Since turning pro, Plania has won the vacant WBF International Bantamweight Title in 2016, the vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council Silver Super Bantamweight Crown and the vacant IBF North American Super Bantamweight Title, which he won in his last outing against Gutierrez. Plania’s only recognizable opponent to most fans is the defeat to Payano, which was for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Bantamweight Title. He did manage to drop Payano in the third round though.
Prediction……
Greer has won 19 straight bouts and is the WBO’s top contender while Plania’s won eight in a row. This is a very even matchup. Greer has arguably more power to g along with his hand speed, footwork and defence. Plania needs to make sure he doesn’t leave himself open for counter punches when he tries to land his power shots. I can see this being a close contest with Greer coming out on top but a draw isn’t out of the question.
