Video: Plania Sends Greer To The Canvas Twice Before Securing Upset Victory
Mike Plania (24-1, 12 KO) twice sent Joshua Greer Jr (22-2-1, 12 KO) to the canvas in their 10 round 120 lbs catchweight contest, which saw Plania clinch victory via majority decision (94-94, 96-92, 97-91).
The Filipino came into his bout against the WBO’s No.1 ranked bantamweight as the underdog but quickly dispelled any notion that he was there simply to provide Greer with nothing more than a tough test before the Chicago native moved on to more prominent names.
Plania dropped Greer with a savage left hook with just over a minute gone in the fight, before taking control of both center ring and the contest. Greer then spent the bulk of the evening circling Plania, hoping that his opponent would lose patience and open himself up to a counterattack.
It turned out to be a pointless exercise as Plania was more than happy with the distance Greer was keeping. The 23-year-old’s left hand as well as his awkward style caused Greer problems throughout the first two-thirds of the fight, but it wasn’t until he was dropped again in the sixth that the American changed tactics.
Aware that he was well behind on the cards, Greer pushed the action from the seventh onwards, claiming the center ring and forcing Plania to fight off the back foot. It was during this period that Greer did his best work with his aggression creating real problems for Plania. When Greer and his team rewatch this fight, they will likely be asking themselves what would have happened if they had switched tactics a little earlier on.
“This win is going to change my life,” Plania said following the fight. “I took this fight on only three weeks’ notice, but I had faith in God that I could win.”
Plania more than deserved his win and after seizing the opportunity against Greer it will be interesting to see who he fights next , as for Greer he will need to go back to the drawing board, work out what went wrong, and hopefully come back stronger in the near future.
Were you surprised by Plania’s win over Greer?
