UndercarDVR: Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN

Welcome to another installment of UndercarDVR, where we review what you need to see from this week in combat sports. We go fight by fight to see whether it needs to be watched, deleted, or put in fast forward.

Another Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN card paying homage to Friday Night Fights for a weeknight prospect display Thursday night as middleweights Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Ievgen Khytrov looked to climb the ladder against veteran opponents. While wins are not guaranteed in combat sports, both needed to impress on a national showcase. Were they up to snuff?

Get your remotes ready.

Sergiy Derevyanchenko defeated Sam Soliman by second-round TKO in a middleweight bout.

• Impressive delivery of the goods here by Derevyanchenko as he added to the highlight reel while making it an easy night’s work. Soliman was content to walk right into the wood-chipper and Derevyanchenko made him pay for it with a knockdown in the first. Derevyanchenko pinned Soliman into the corner and unloaded with right hands until the left hook found the sleep button. Derevyanchenko moves to second in the IBF middleweight rankings and puts his log into the jam at weight class with many interesting prospective fights incoming. Soliman won’t be hurt too bad by this and will continue to be your game gatekeeper at the class.
• Quick and easy work for Derevyanchenko makes a quick and easy watch for you. An impressive victory where you might want to look at some of the knockdown combos to help fantasy book Derevyanchenko among the very busy middleweight division. Verdict: Watch.

Ievgen Khytrov defeated Paul Mendez by ninth-round TKO in a middleweight bout.

• It wasn’t as quick, but almost as brutal here as Khytrov slowly picked away at Mendez. The volume wore Mendez down until the shots became less peppering and more powerful in the final few rounds. Khytrov likely earned an early stoppage than this. Mendez was too tough for his own good and will be a fine card-opener type if you want stiff competition for guys on the cusp of legitimacy or just a fun scrap. Khytrov did what he was supposed to do here, but he has a few more rungs to climb before we can determine anything about his staying power.
• While definitely just as impressive, it isn’t much to look at until the last few rounds. Even then, it is more brutality than competition. Get a feel for the gameplan of Khytrov in fast forward and keep your finger on the play button for the final few rounds. Verdict: Fast Forward.