Motivated Plania says Greer ‘underestimated’ him

FILE – Joshua Greer, left, protects himself from Mike Plania’s punches during their catchweight fight at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas. Photo from Top Rank

MANILA, Philippines—Joshua Greer Jr. has a penchant of bringing a “night night” pillow before and after fights, but that bit of bravado for him turned out to be the jolt of confidence Mike Plania needed.

Plania accepted to fight Greer on just less than four weeks’ notice, but the unheralded Filipino had no shortage of motivation coming into the fight with that “night night” pillow ultimately becoming his rallying point.

A heavy underdog, Plania (24-1, 12 KOs) proved early on that he was no pushover, dropping Greer (22-2-1, 12 KOs) in the first round before knocking down the American again in the sixth en route to a 10-round majority decision win.

“I think he underestimated me,” said Plania in a report from boxingscene.com. “It gave me more motivation because he kept saying ‘night night.’ But now it’s ‘Magic Time.’”

Plania, dubbed Magic Mike, landed whipping left hooks to Greer’s jaw resulting in the knockdowns, and although the American fought back in the latter frames it wasn’t enough for him to escape the upset.

The win also extended Plania’s winning run to nine matches which was even more impressive since he had to shed off two pounds to meet the 120-pound catchweight.

Greer, meanwhile, saw his 19-fight winning streak that started in 2016 snapped.

Dave Moretti was the only judge to rule it a draw (94-94) while Tim Cheatham and Patricia Morse-Jarman had it 96-92 and 97-91, respectively.

According to CompuBox, Plania landed 99 of 290 power punches, 22 more than Greer, who threw 227.