Marco Antonio Periban

It seems recently this page has been a little bit forgotten about for a number of reasons, mainly my work on a different site. Though to bring this site back to the public's attention I'll be talking about one of my hot tips for the future, Mexican Super Middleweight Marco Antonio Periban (12-0, 9). Periban is a 26 year old who turned professional in 2008 though has started to race up the rankings after a number of noteworthy wins.

After being a very solid amateur fighter in his native Mexico he would turn professional and score a 3^rd round KO on his debut over fellow debutant Oscar Solis. In fact only one of his first 5 contests would go to a decision and that was his second professional bout when he faced Miguel Zamarripa who managed to survive the 4 rounds the bout was scheduled for. He would quickly run to 6-0 (4) adding by taking the 0 of the then 10-0-1 Richard Vidal by decision and it started to seem as if the Mexican was really one to watch despite being such a novice to the pros.

Periban's early career wasn't all easy work though, he was dropped in his 7^th professional contest by Salomon Rodriguez in the toughest fight of his career. Periban would take a split decision that night and manage to escape with a perfect record though alarm bells were ringing that maybe he wasn't going to be fast tracked as some assumed. In his 8^th bout he would face the very durable Jason Naugler, who had managed to take the explosive David Lemieux the distance. Whilst Naugler's durability weren't an issue his face, which was cut and swelling was and Periban became only the 2^nd man in over 30 fights to stop Naugler in a fight that allowed him to show all the facets to his game.

Since the stoppage win over Naugler we have seen Periban run up 4 more straight wins by KO in the opening 2 rounds. Included in those wins were victories over the durable and tough Darnell Boone and over the then 10-0 Dion Savage.

Periban has been pencilled in to fight on the undercard of Gilberto Keb Baas' WBC Light Flyweight world title fight against Adrian Hernandez though an opponent seems to be rather difficult to find for the rising Mexican star. The rumour is that Periban will be fighting Jose Alberto Clavero (30-7-1) from Argentina who is 5-6-1 in his last 12 bouts and would feel like a rather under-whelming opponent for Periban.

Periban is a very skilled fighter with fast heavy hands and although questions may be about his chin and stamina he's an excellent and exciting addition to the Super Middleweight division and certainly a name to watch out for.

Prospect Review Pt 1

Since this blog was started at the end of March we've seen 12 fighters profiled, with 8 of those having fought since they were featured in this blog. All 8 of those fighters have kept their unbeaten records and moved another step up in the boxing world.

Billy Joe Saunders was the first fighter mentioned in this blog who has fought since. He scored an impressive 2^nd round stoppage over Turkish fighter Turgay Uzun. Uzun had gone in as a tough opponent, his record was an unimpressive 35-15-2 going in but he had only ever been stopped twice in his 52 fights. Those stoppages had dated back to 2002 when he suffered an injury against Michele Orlando and a 2010 TKO against Damian Jonak (currently the WBC's #9 ranked Light Middleweight). A win for Saunders was expected but the stoppage was a bonus even if Uzun did effectively quit. The fight may have been an easy one but Saunders made it look easier than it was to defeat a veteran who has made a career out of surviving.

Frank Warren http://www.youtube.com/user/frankwarren




Rakhim Chakhkiev was the next fighter mentioned just days before his American debut against the experienced Harvey Jolly. Chakhkiev didn't struggle at all with Jolly and showed solid power with both hands as well a good active work rate. Although at times he did look a little wild it seemed more down to over confidence against Jolly who appeared unable to hurt him. The body attack of Chakhkiev was hugely impressive and although he's not a huge Cruiserweight he's powerful and those body shots will always have an effect. The fight was on the under card of Erik Morales v Marcos Maidana and was hugely impressive in scoring a 3^rd round KO.

ShareMMMAnos http://www.youtube.com/user/ShareMMMAnos



Gary Russell Jr was originally meant to be on the Morales v Maidana under-card though that fight fell through and instead of facing Ira Terry as first reported he fought Adolfo Landeros the following Friday. Landeros was sadly not the same quality of test that Terry would have been and Russell dominated the 6 round contest after scoring a knock-down in the opening round. Russell moves to an impressive looking 15-0 (9) and at 22 years old that's fine and they are bringing him through well though hopefully they'll put him in with someone a few steps up from Landeros next time out.


BoxingProspect http://www.youtube.com/user/BoxingProspect


Karl Place moved to 13-0 (8) with a 5^th round TKO over George Watson who had only been stopped once previously (by Stephen Jennings) and had survived 8 torrid rounds against Carl Johanneson back in January. 22 year old Place is being brought along well and given time to move up the rankings with out being in too many risky fights at this point. Unlike Gary Russel (above) the expectations on Place are much smaller and he'll likely remain at British level for a while longer than the ultra talented Russell.

Thomas Dulorme of Puerto Rico has really become a bit of an over night sensation after scoring a knock-out of the year contender against Harrison Cuello on the under-card of Victor Ortiz v Andre Berto. Dulorme, who started his career with a majority decision in 2008 has moved to 11-0 (10) and become a real sensation at Welterweight despite turning professional at Lightweight and now at 21 years old seems to have the world as his oyster. He has been active in 2011 having fought 3 times already and hopefully his time will capitalise on his new found fame by striking whilst the iron is hot. Dulorme has all the markings of a star though really will need to be given tougher tests before we mark him down as Puerto Rico's next great star.

JFKConspiracy (via sweetboxing)

Carlos Negron, the 6'6” Puerto Rican who turned professional as a skinny cruiserweight just a couple of years ago is now becoming a fully fledged Heavyweight and has extend his record to 12-0 (8) and 2-0 (1) as a Heavyweight. He beat the wonderfully named Emerson Chasing Bear on the Juan Manuel Lopez v Orlando Salido under-card by 4^th round by TKO. Although I've not seen the fight Negron could well be a true force in the division if he continues to develop like many feel he can. He's a huge fighter with a wonderfully athletic build and if he manages to get his jab going his 83” reach will be one of the sports most potent weapons.

Jamie “The Nuisance” Kavanagh made his UK debut on the under-card of Amir Khan v Paul McCloskey and beat regular test case Sid Razak over a 6 round decision. Razak, in his 70^th professional contest fell to 6-64 whilst Kavanagh progressed to 6-0 (2). The 20 year old from Dublin (though based in LA) will be given time to develop his talent and power though he's still a name that needs to be remembered for the future.

John Jackson was one of the last names mentioned by this blog and last night, in Uruguay he extend his record to an impressive 10-0 (9). The son of famed punched Julian Jackson seems to be following in his father's footsteps as a power punching force. Aged just 22 it might be too early to mark him as a future star though the Light Middleweight from the U.S. Virgin Islands is a fighter who must be on the verges of making a US debut after having fought at home, in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

The fighters who haven't fought since this blog went live:
Carlos Ivan Velasquez
Gilberto Ramirez Sanchez
Froilan Saludar
Joe Hanks (fights on 22^nd April against Terrell Nelson)

Joe Hanks

American heavyweights have become a global boxing joke in recent years, the term seems synonymous with “old and faded” or “fat and never was”. A look at the top young American heavyweights include blubber boy Chris Arreola, Eddie “Chubby” Chambers and Chazz “My dads name is what I have” Witherspoon. The older bunch include Evander “How old is he now?” Holyfield, Ray “The Oldman” Austin and Hasim “The Crock” Rahman.

Although it's somewhat difficult to know which heavyweight is going to be a star one of America's best hopes is unbeaten Joe “The Future” Hanks. Hanks has a record that reads 15-0 (10) and is seen as a developing heavyweight who is several years from reaching his prime. As a resultof this he has has so far faced relatively average opponents. This trend seems set to continue in his next fight (where as part of a card televised by ESPN 2 as part of “Friday Night Fights” Terrell Nelson) though he's being given time to learn the ropes and get rounds under his belt.

Hanks turned professional in December 2007 after a solid amateur career in the US but doesn't quite seem to have progressed as many hoped he would have. He deburted by defeating Joseph Rabotte in the 2^nd round then got taken 4 rounds by Corey Winfield, though his first opponent of note came 15 months after his debut when he faced trail horse Alvardo Morales. Morales had scored a draw with Seth Mitchell and had never been stopped prior to facing Hanks, though Hanks needed just 172 seconds to change that. This was followed by several steps up and was highlighted when he beat the then 10-0 Ashanti Jordan by decision. At this point it seemed like Hank's was being pushed as an emerging heavyweight saviour

Hanks' career though wouldn't continue in the same vein. 2010 seemed a mostly wasted year for Hanks who despite fighting 5 times seemed to regularly take one step forward to take 2 steps back. Wins over journeyman Cliff Couser and the once hotly tipped Johnnie White were followed by fights with novice Marcus Dickerson and Villi Bloomfield (who was coming in on 2 straight losses). It seemed as if Hanks' career management flicked between being confident of their man and being unsure of his capabilities.

The fights he has been given have left some fans as unsure on him as his team appear to be. He has shown good but not great power and speed, technically he looks flawed and sometimes as if he is fighting well within himself. Although having a bit of a “Shannon Briggs” look to him he lacks that fight changing power and destructiveness of “The Cannon” and at times looks like a mini Briggs. He stands at around 6'4” and weights 230-240, with an athletic but muscular build, a far cry from so many other American Heavyweights of today. Hanks is now 28 and will have to make a move in the next 12 months if he wants to become a major player in the division. Sadly his up coming fight on Friday is against Terrell Nelson (8-11, with 2 No Decisions and 5KO's). Nelson enters the bout aged 39 and having gone 0-7, 2ND in his last 9 fights (dating back to 2007), hardly the step up that Hanks needs in his career.

Froilan "The Sniper" Saludar

Having recently seen an episode of KOTV I became aware of 22 year old Filipino flyweight Froilan Saludar (11-0-1, 8KO's). Although what KOTV showed of Saludar was limited to a mere 84 seconds it was 84 very impressive seconds for the youngster. Saludar's February fight with Liempetch Sor Veerapol (21-9-1, 14KO's) was shown in full by KOTV and it showed everything to get excited about.

Saludar made his professional debut in late 2009 when he was 20 years old and scored an opening round TKO over fellow debutant Roland Gamolo. In fact Saludar's first 3 contests ended in the opening round. Saludar's run of KO's would end with 3 straight decision wins including a 6 rounder against Ryan Illustrisimo. In his next fight Saludar's record took it's first black with a technical draw against Brian Diano after a clash of heads very early in the fight caused the early end.

Since the technical draw Saludar has really started to progress his career. He would win his first title, the WBO Asia Pacific Youth flyweight title 5 months after the Diano fight by defeating Remuel Obidos in just 146 seconds. The win over Obidos showed the impressive power of Saludar who left Obidos out cold in the centre of the ring face first. (Video below courtesy of MrJerbox10)

Since knocking out Obidos for the WBO Asia Pacific Youth title Saludar has fought twice, defending the title once and then adding the WBO Youth flyweight title when he faced Sor Veerapol. (Video below courtesy of localhawaiian1) in just 84 seconds.

So far the man known as “The Sniper” has shown fantastic potential, he has lightning fast hands, hurtful power in both hands and true 1 punch KO power. Although he lacks experience having just fought 29 rounds as a professional he's managed to climb up the world rankings and now stands at #5 with the WBO at Flyweight. Stood at 5'5” Froilan Saludar could well be the next big boxing star from the fight crazy Philippines following in the footsteps of Nonito Donaire and Manny Pacquiao.

 

John Jackson, the son of the Hawk

Although most fighters with famous fathers appear poor and average there is one fighter who has a famous father and seems to be going places is 22 year old hard punching John Jackson (9-0, 8), the son of the legendary banger Julian Jackson. John, and older brother Julius (10-0, 6) are both pencilled in to fight on Tuesday in an obscure card in Uruguay though both have been somewhat forgotten fighters in the ranks of “jr's”.

John is a light middleweight fighting in the same division where his father made a name for himself. Julian won the WBA title in the division in 1987 by beating In Chul Baek for the title and John will have that the achievement of his father to aspire too (who would also become the WBC Middleweight champion on 2 separate occasions). Though comparisons to his dad are currently somewhat unfair, so lets look at John for who John is.

Born in January 1989, just 17 months after brother Julian, John made his first major mark on the boxing word by defeating Pan-Am champion Pedro Lima (from Brazil) in an Olympic qualifier prior to the 2008 games in Beijing. Although Jackson was defeated in the 2nd round at the Olympic games the 19 year old had caught the eye of some promoters. A 10-0 loss to eventual bronze medal winner Kim Jung-Joo of South Korea was nothing to be ashamed of.

Rather than remain an amateur John would turn professional and alongside his older brother make his debut on 30th January 2009, just 2 weeks after turning 20. John would beat fellow debutant Alphonso Alexander in the 2nd round to start his career as a professional on a high note. (video of the fight can be found at the bottom of this blog). Despite an obvious blow after the bell to end the opening round the youngster looked rather good, he showed good power in his right hand and hurt Alexander numerous times with shots to the head.

John's first few opponents were incredibly raw novices, his first 4 opponents had a combined 1 fight (a 4 round draw) to their name and Jackson needed just 6 rounds to get rid of all 4 of them. His first opponent with any true experience was Rafael de la Cruz (2-34, 1) an opponent who was there to try and get a few rounds of experience out of the young Jackson. De la Cruz managed to survive into the 3rd round though didn't have enough to stave off the Jackson attack and was stopped like the previous 4 men.

2009 had been an easy year for Jackson, a year for him to get used to the pressures of the professional sport. 2010 was however a whole different ball game, this time Jackson was going to tested. His first bout of the year was against Mexican Alvaro Clinton Ayala who entered with a respectable 19-8 (10) record. Ayala's record although respectable for a 5 fight novice to face did include a 6 fight losing streak going in including 3 by knockout. Jackson would need just 3 rounds to extend his own record to 5-0 (5). This was swiftly followed by a 43 second blow out of the then 6-10 Valerio Marte. To end 2010 Jackson faced the 24 year old 9-0 (5) Manuel Martinez and was taken into the 4th round for the first time in his career. Jackson would keep his KO streak alive by stopping Martinez in the 4th as he extend his KO streak to 8 and his record still stood at a perfect 8-0 (8).

In his only fight of 2011 so far Jackson would be extended the distance for the first time as Carlos Argentinian Andres Araya (7-4 entering) took Jackson to the end of the scheduled 6 round contest. Jackson may not have managed to stop Araya though he had managed to win every round of the fight and proved he could fight for 6 rounds. On Tuesday Jackson faces his stiffest test to date when he meets Brazilian puncher Welson Alves de Oliveira (14-4, 12). Oliveira sports an impressive record “on paper” though his record is somewhat padded and his most notable fight to date was a 3rd round loss to Britain's Denton Vassell in December 2010. A victory for Jackson is expected and the result should be compared directly to that of Vassell who is the current Commonwealth Welterweight champion.

Whether John will ever get close to the achievements of his 3-time, 2 weight world champion father isn't really something that we should concern ourselves with quite yet, the 22 year old still has a lot of developing to do, though we should be more than a little excited about him.

Video courtesy of rockcity45

The Failure of GBP (Golden Boy Prospects)

For the past few years I've been really critical of the way Golden Boy Promotions brings through young and promising prospects. Whilst they have a reputation for being “the fighters promotional company” and have helped stars make more money they've failed to ever create their own star from scratch. Instead of creating stars Golden Boy has either poached fighters who either have a huge following or are already world champions and have seen their own young bunch of fighters fall by the way side.

The company was formed in 2002 by Oscar De La Hoya and some associates including former opponents Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley. Over the following few years they aggressively contracted a number of fighters, generally signing well known names that were seen as bankable stars. They were seen as the company that offered the best for fighters, a move away from being promoted by the slimy businessmen like Bob Arum and Don King and a movement towards fighters having more control of their career.

The company had formed it's self a solid base to build cards from and over the following few years it would ink a series of TV deals, most notably with HBO, the premier network for fighters. Most of Golden Boy's shows are on HBO and inversely most HBO shows are Golden Boy promoted events. As the deals grew the company added a selection of prospects and younger fighters to their well established talent. These prospects however have an uncanny knack of failing to live up to the hype they had received.

In 2007 Golden Boy Promotions had signed Francisco “Panchito” Bojado. Although Bojado's record stood at 16-2 (11) the boxing world still had high hopes for the then 24 year old who had been ESPN's prospect of the year in 2001. Bojado had lost in 2002 to Juan Carlos Rubio and then in 2004 to former world champion Jesse James Leija before taking a hiatus. The hiatus ended in 2007 when he signed for Golden Boy though lasted only 3 fight before Bojado retired once again with an 18-3 (12) record. He retired after losing to Steve Forbes in October 2007 and hasn't been seen in the ring again.

The story of Bojado isn't the only case where a hotly tipped star of the future suffers a big loss. In 2008 they signed hot property “Vicious” Victor Ortiz. Ortiz held a 21-1-1 (16) with only a controversial disqualification loss and a technical draw marring his record at the time. Ortiz would start his Golden Boy career well by winning his first 3 fights under them to extend his record to 24-1-1 (19) then he was matches with Marcos Maidana. Maidana took a very impressive record of 25-1 (24) into the bout, his only loss had come against Ukrainian Andriy Kotelnik in a WBA Light Welterweight bout and that was a razor thin loss on the cards. Ortiz entered the bout as a heavy favourite though had people seen Maidana almost drop Kotelnik in their bout the confidence may have waned slightly. Although Ortiz started excellently dropping Maidana in the opening round and twice in the 2^nd round though Maidana's power and will broke Ortiz's heart. Ortiz has never looked the same since losing the 6^th round TKO to Maidana in 2009. The viciousness seems to have gone and a recent draw against Lamont Peterson seemed to say it all, Peterson was allowed back into the bout when the Ortiz of old would have beaten him down.

Danny Jacobs had been one of the brightest amateur stars in the US, he had won a number of national tournaments though narrowly missed out on the 2008 Olympics. Instead of waiting for London 2012 Jacobs turned professional aged just 20 and he would run up a KO heavy record beating very abject fighters. He was first really tested by Michael Walker who managed to take Jacobs 8 tough but one sided rounds, a few months later Ishe Smith gave Jacobs a wake up call pushing him all the way in a very close contest. Though Smith lost by cards reading 100-89 and 96-93 (twice) he had given Jacobs his toughest test by a long way and proved that Jacobs needed more seasoning before stepping up a level. Instead of being given seasoning fights Jacobs was given 2 very easy fights and his record had swelled to 20-0 (17) and he had fought just 57 rounds a professional. Instead of getting Jacobs the seasoning fights he needed he was instead pitted against Russian fighter Dmitry Pirog (16-0, (13) at the time). Pirog had had a series of tough learning fights, he had fought 92 rounds as a professional and had learnt more in some of those fights than Jacob had learnt in his entire career. Whilst Pirog was somewhat an unknown to the general boxing fans the hardcore fans had seen enough of him to know he was dangerous and he showed it when he knocked out Jacobs in the 5^th round. Pirog had burst the Jacobs bubble and Danny, who has fought twice since, hasn't been allowed to have a tough fight in his return to the ring. Golden Boy had helped build Jacobs a false sense of security and then saw it burst.

Most recently has been the 2011 mistake if you will. James Kirkland had a reputation both in and out of the ring. Outside of the ring he had mixed with the wrong crowd and had been in legal trouble on several occasions. In the ring James Kirkland had a reputation as one of the most exciting and fun to watch power punchers in the sport. Kirkland was signed to Golden Boy in late 2008 after a falling out with former promoter Gary Shaw, in fact this was one of those cases of “poaching” that I mentioned earlier on. Kirkland was 23-0 (20) at the time of signing for Golden Boy and would raise that to 26-0 (23) before being incarcerated in 2009. Boxing fans waited patiently for him to return to the ring and after his release in late 2010 boxing fans were excited, Kirkland had looked the real deal prior to his prison term when he stopped Joel Julio. A blow out of Ahsandi Gibbs in his return proved little, Gibbs was never at the level needed to test Kirkland. Jhon Berrio was Kirkland's second post release opponent and Berrio shouldn't have been a risk for Kirkland though Berrio appeared to really trouble Kirkland in the opening round before Kirkland stopped him in the 2^nd. The warning signs were there for all to see, Kirkland wasn't ready to fight anyone with any real quality and should instead have been given decent journeymen to fight. Instead of being given the right types Kirkland was thrown in with the talented former world champion (WBA Light Middleweight champion) Nobuhiro Ishida. Ishida would need only 112 seconds to drop Kirkland 3 times and Joe Cortez would wave the fight off.

With the career of Bojado all over, the career of Ortiz hanging by a thread (he meets Andrew Berto in a WBC Welterweight title clash on April 16^th, a loss will see him need to rebuild from scratch), Daniel Jacobs' career in need of rebuilding and James Kirkland at the very start of the rebuilding process question need to be asked as to why Golden Boy can't get it right. Their current young world champions including Amir Khan and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez had seen previous promoters do the leg work and bring them through. Khan had been guided to a world title (WBA Light Welterweight title) by former promoter Frank Warren whilst Alvarez had had Tutico Zabala (from Puerto Rico) promote him for the 2 years prior to him signing with Golden Boy Promotions. Zabala also claim they still have a valid contract with “Canelo” which if it turns out to be true could well scupper his career. Rather similarly Golden Boy recently jumped the gun when they announced they had signed The Filipino Flash Nonito Donaire, who it appears still has a valid contract with Top Rank. Maybe for young, rising stars, Golden Boy looks tempting, though fighters should really think twice before signing anything.

Jamie Kavanagh

20 year old Irishman Jamie “The Nuisance” Kavanagh is one of the sports true super prospects, he's shown all the facets every young rising star needs to show though also combines it with a fantastic team behind him and a reputation to build on. His reputation dates back to his long and storied amateur days in which he ran up an impressive 168-12 record and won a number of national competitions.

In 2008 Kavanagh was one of the Irish team at the World Youth Amateur Boxing Championships and won the silver medal in the Light Welterweight division. The team was a very successful one coming 4^th in the medals table with 4 medals (including 1 gold medal-Raymond Moylett, Kavanagh's silver and bronze medals from both David Joe Joyce and Tommy McCarthy).Of those 4 medal winners only Kavanagh has turned professional so far and has been training under the hand of famed trainer Freddie Roach.

Under Roach's guiding hand Kavanagh made his debut in May 2010 and won by stopping William Gare in the 2^nd round of the fight. Unlike most boxers Kavanagh's debut was rather high profile and took place in the world famous Madison Square Garden on the undercard of Amir Khans fight with Paul Malignaggi. This victory was followed by 2 decision wins for Kavanagh over fellow novice professionals as he picked up experience and got solid rounds under his belt. Although he was fighting on undercards that also included fighters like Gary Russell Jr, Frankie Gomez and Jesse Vargas he was always impressing.

To end 2010 Kavanagh would score his 2^nd stoppage win blowing out Jacob Thornton in just 44 seconds on the undercard of Amir Khan's memorable WBA Light Welterweight title defence against Marcos Maidana. He would end the year 4-0 (2) and early in 2011 be crowned Irish Boxing's Prospect of the Year at the National Boxing Awards. He was a young fighter with an ever growing reputation, his sparring sessions were creating further hype and even increasing expectations on the youngster.

So far in 2011 Kavanagh has fought just once out pointing Ramon Flores by scores of 60-54 on all 3 cards. This was the first time Kavanagh had been more than 4 rounds and it was also the lowest weight of Kavanagh's career, weighing well within the Lightweight limit. Next time out Kavanagh faces experienced Sid Razak. Razak brings to the ring a record of 6-62 though is a fighter well known for going the distance having only been stopped 3 times in his career. This will be Kavanagh's first fight outside of the USA where he is based and will take place on the Amir Khan v Paul McCloskey card.

Expect Kavanagh, who turns 21 on the 28^th of May, to be given the fairly ease tests to gain experience at this point of his career, his punching power will grow as he matures and he'll certainly mature into a solid Light Welterweight if not Welterweight. With his 5'8” frame he'll never been a particularly tall fighter though he has shown fantastic shot selection and great hand speed, when he adds the natural power he'll be a force to be reckoned with.

Carlos Negron

Last weekend we saw 2 power punching prospects beaten for the first time. Firstly we the very likeable and humble David Lemieux (25-1, 14KO's) lose to the experienced veteran Marco Antonio Rubio (50-5-1, 43KO's) by 7^th round TKO. The fight saw Lemieux's trainer Russ Abner throwing in the towel to protect his charge as the experienced Rubio took charge of the fight and dropped Lemieux. The following night was had James Kirkland (27-1, 24KO's) beaten in a single round by Japanese fighter Nabuhiro Ishida (23-6-2, 8KO's). For boxing prospects these two results should act as a big wake up call.

One man who although still unbeaten has already had a giant wake up call of his own is Carlos Negron (11-0, 7KO's). Negron is one of this weeks Puerto Rican prospects that we are featuring here this week and despite only being 23 has had a wake up call and managed to come through the rough patches of his career so far.

Stood at 6'6” and with a huge 83” wingspan Negron turned professional in 2009 weighing around 180lbs. He was an incredibly tall Cruiserweight and despite being young he looked skinny and physically immature, he really looked like he needed filling out. After 3 opening round KO's to start his career Negron would be dropped by Gevonte Davis, this was the wake up call that Negron perhaps needed. Although he continued to make the 180's it was only a year later that he weighed in around 194 and looked a much better fighter, he had filled out and no longer looked like a somewhat scrawny fighter.

In late 2010 it was announced that Negron was going to be fighting as a heavyweight in future and for his first fight of 2011 he weighed in at 211lbs. Negron would win his heavyweight debut over Willie Herring by decision as he went 8 rounds for the first time. Almost a year previously Negron had weighed just 181lbs (when he defeated Garrett Wilson). Negron fights for the 2^nd time as a heavyweight this coming weekend when he faces Native American heavyweight Emerson Chasing Bear (4-1-2, 3KO's), a loss for Negron is unthinkable though he has already learned the lessons he's needed. No longer will Negron start fights by thinking his power is all he needs, in fact his power as a heavyweight likely won't really appear for several years instead Negron will start to work with his physical advantages, his imposing figure is something that he has to use. His reach should be his key, it's actually longer than that of Wladimir Klitschko and only 2 inches shorter than Nikolay Valuev's.

Negron though isn't all about his short professional career, a career that has only featured 30 rounds. Carlos was also a brilliant amateur. He had won a silver medal in the 2005 Pan-American games and a bronze at the Central American and Caribbean Games the following year. Although he was unimpressive in the 2008 Olympics he was already having a growing reputation and would sign a professional deal very young. His size, skills and youth are all great aspects to one of Puerto Rico's top prospects and a fighter that all fight fans need to be taking note of.

Thomas Dulorme

Puerto Rico is a country with a very rich history of fantastic boxers. Though out the ages the country has given us some of the greatest fighters ever. We've had Carlos Ortiz, Felix “Tito” Trinidad, Wilfredo Gomez, Cocoa Kid, Jose Torres, Esteban De Jesus, Wilfred Benitez, Sixto Escobar and a host of others. Though looking towards the future and not the past the country has some sensational rising stars. We've already looked at Carlos Ivan Velasquez, though this week we'll be looking at other top Puerto Rican prospects that are likely to become big names in the sport of boxing.

Firstly we are looking at the younger of this weeks prospects, Thomas Dulorme. Dulorme is an unbeaten 21 year old Welterweight prospect currently promoted by Gary Shaw Productions. He turned professional in late 2008 and defeated David Rodriguez by a razor thin majority decision. Since then Thomas has matured very well and gone from being a fighter who seemed able to make lightweight into a full out welterweight, adding power and confidence to his ultra quick hands and exceptional boxing ability.

In an interview with Boxing Asylum's Ben Weisman Dulorme admitted he had started boxing when he was just 8 years old, it shows in his fighting that he has a very wise head and his 13 years of learn so far have helped him to develop. Not only does Dulorme look relaxed and calm in the ring due to his years fighting but he also has a head that shows the experience, he's not, as his record shows, a 10 fight novice he's instead a veteran of the amateur game.

After struggling with Rodriguez in his debut Dulorme has strung together 9 straight stoppage wins. Although his first few fights were low key affairs in his native Puerto Rico he now seems to be blossoming into a fine fighter as he steps up the level of his opponents. Having already fought twice this year he has stepped up the level of opponents and seems to be cruising. His most recent victory was against Guillermo Valdes (TKO2) and was by far his most high profile fight. On the same night countryman Miguel Angel Cotto stopped Ricardo Mayorga in the MGM Dulorme was in the Foxwoods Resort Casino making up the undercard of the Sergio Martinez v Serhiy Dzinziruk fight. Whilst Cotto struggled against the tough Nicaraguan Dulorme cruised through Valdes.

 

Although it's too early to start saying that Dulorme will take over when Cotto retires, he's already being compared Cotto for the crisp sharpness on his shots, especially his jab and again like Cotto he shows that he can really dig to the body. His heavy fast hands will help him at this level to just cruise against opponents and we'll have to hope that 2011 sees Dulorme getting some serious development fights.

Video thanks to Yalter777

Karl Place

British boxing is still on a bit of a high, currently the Brits have 4 world champions to celebrate with Amir Khan (WBA Light Welterweight), Carl Froch (WBC Super Middleweight), David Haye (WBA Heavyweight) and Ricky Burns (WBO Super Bantamweight) and a number of high ranked contenders. It’s when we looking to the future that we see just how hot British boxing really is. Not only do we have fighters like John Murray on the verge of world title fights but a lot of young raw talent breaking through. This coming Saturday we see one of the most exciting young British prospects back in action in a major Sky Sports 1 show. Although the main event on “Saturday Fight Night” is Stuart Hall (10-0-1, 6KO’s) defending his British Bantamweight title against John Donnelly (12-1, 3KO’s) it’s the co-feature that really interests me.

22 year old Light Welterweight Karl Place (12-0, 7KO’s) returns to the ring to face George Watson (8-3-2, 1KO). Place is really one of the most exciting young talents in the UK and has shown plenty to be excited about so far. Stood at 5’11” Place has the natural size to fill out into perhaps even a Light Middleweight though for now he’s a tall lanky Light Welterweight with a big future ahead of himself and with VIP Promotions/Steve Wood behind him theirs no reason why he can’t become a big star.

Place debuted as a professional back in October 2008 just weeks after turning 20 and scored a 2nd round stoppage over Chris Kitson. He would follow that up over the proceeding months by beating up some of the best journeymen with points wins over Carl Allen, Johnny Greaves and Baz Carey. Those 3 fights account for 12 rounds of Place’s 40 career rounds to date. After those fights Place would defeat 3 fighters in confidence building victories before getting his most notable name to date, Steve Saville.

Saville was a limited fighter but a tough guy, although he entered on a 3 fight losing streak they had included a loss to Gary McArthur (who entered 11-0) and Frankie Gavin (who was 3-0). Place started the fight terribly and seemed to lack the defensive skill to keep Saville off him, he had his nose in the opening round and appeared to be eating Saville‘s left hand too often. Late in round Place was caught with a big shot and appeared to be wobbled. He came out for the 2nd and appeared to have calmed down as he went about breaking down Saville and beating him to the canvas in the 2nd. Saville had received hard blows to the body and head from Place who learned more in that fight than he had in his previous 7.



Since scoring the victory over Saville Place has fought 4 times, scoring wins over Michael Frontin (TKO5), experienced journeyman Billy Smith (4PTS), Maurycy Gojko (TKO3) and Danny Dontchev (6PTS). With George Watson in the opposite corner on Saturday Place competes in his first fight scheduled for 8 rounds and Watson, despite the losses on his record is a tough fight. To date Watson has only been stopped once, two fights ago by Stephen Jennings (LTKO3) and has since taking the hard hitting Carl Johanneson 8 rounds. A stoppage for place would be hugely impressive, though a win would expected and still impressive for Place.

Video’s courtesy of Frank Maloney’s Youtube channel.

Gary Russell Jr

One of the names on the under-card of Maidana v Morales that seems to have been some what forgotten about is one of the USA’s most skilled prospects around. “Mr” Gary Russell Jr (14-0, 9KO’s). Currently based in Maryland the skilled youngster is still only 22 but seems headed to the top of the sport and is starting to take those big steps up in the boxing world that every fighter needs to make at some point.

Russell was one of the top young amateurs in the USA after picking up the sport at a young age he progressed well and ran up well in excess of 160 wins. He would win several amateur championships including the Junior Olympics (2004) Golden Gloves (2005), U.S. Championships (2005, 2006) and a Bronze medal at the 2007 World Amateur Championships. Though he missed out on making a shot at the 2008 Olympics when he collapsed prior to the weigh in.

Having seen his Olympic dreams crumble Russell would turn professional and make his debut in January 2009 on an episode of ShoBox: The Next Generation. He would stop Antonio Reyes in the 3rd round and follow it up with a handful of wins through out 2009 as he started to adapt to the professional scene. By the end of 2010 Russell Jr was starting to face substantially tougher opponents and gone were the inexperienced professionals that he had been allowed to face to get into the sport.

Stoppage wins against veterans Carlos Diaz, Mauricio Pastrana and the previously never stopped Rodrigo Aranda were hugely impressive for Russell. Russell showed not only was he maturing and genuinely able to throw hurtful shots but land to both the body and head. The key to Russell Jr though wasn’t his power but his lightning quick southpaw jab which comes from a wonderfully balanced stance. As well as the lightning jabs he can throw the hooks and crosses with the same alarming speed. He appears to be confident and is being pushed well by Golden Boy Promotions, hopefully they’ll continue to step him up in levels over his next few fights.





So far in 2011 Russell Jr has fought once beating Feider Viloria who entered the ring with a 23-7-1 record. Russell dropped Viloria in the 5th round before winning a 7th round technical decision in his longest fight to date. His upcoming fight on the Maidana v Morales fight sees him facing Ira Terry (24-4, 14KO’s). Terry is with out a win since December 2009 though lost in April 2010 to Carlos Ivan Velasquez in 4 rounds. Of course Carlos Ivan Velasquez was featured in the opening post of this blog, this gives us a chance to compare how the Puerto Rican and how Russell compare.

Stood at 5’5” and with a 61” reach Russell isn’t big for a featherweight though he is lightning fast and seems to be maturing into a fighter with a solid punch on him. The Featherweight division does seem to be one of the most promising in the world today with the likes of Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez dominating it. Though with American talent including Mickey Garcia, Robert Marroquin and Abraham Lopez all along with Russell the Americans could well become the divisions dominant force one day.



Videos courtesy of Youtube user Boxing Prospect (not confused with an actual link to this blog with the same name).

Rakhim Chakhkiev

When doing this prospect blog I find it difficult to know just where to draw the cut off point on age or fights. When does a fight stop being a prospect and becomes a true contender or challenger? I'm still not sure but 28 year old Russian Cruiserweight Rakhim Chakhkiev (9-0, 7KO's) manages to make this blog and could well be the best Cruiserweight prospect in the world (and the sport does have quite a few of them).

Chakhkiev was featured last year in the original “Prospect Scotting” blog (and featured on Ringnews24.com) by then the Russian was 5-0 (5) though has moved on considerably since then. The hype behind Chakhkiev was based originally on his amateur success. As an amateur he had won Olympic gold in 2008 and World Amateur Championship silver medal in 2007, both in the Heavyweight division. He had beaten fighters like Osmay Acosta, Clemente Russo and Roman Romanchuk in the amateurs though had a pretty professional looking style that made the transition seem like a logical one and a year after the Olympics he started on the a charge through the professional ranks.

Chakhkiev would start his career with a victory over Tayar Mehmed in October 2009 as he went on a busy schedule of 5 fights in a little over 6 months winning them all by stoppage. The most impressive of those wins was an excellent showing against the experienced Rene Huebner. Although the fight ended early due to Huebner being injured The Russian novice showed enough to alert the hardcore fans to skills and the potential of Chakhkiev as a professional.

Chakhkiev would take a 2 month break before returning on the undercard of Firat Arslan's challenge for the WBA Interim Cruiserweight title against Steve Herelius. Chakhkiev would defeat Lukasz Rusiewicz on that night over 6 rounds, the first time Chakhkiev had been taken the distance as a professional. After another 4 month break from the ring he would return to defeat Chris Thomas and then get taken 8 rounds by Lukasz Rusiewicz (the longest of any Chakhkiev fight to date).

After a 2010 that saw the Russian fighter going 5-0 (3) the momentum seems likely to continue. Having beaten Alex Mogylewski by TKO1 in March he returns to the ring on Saturday by facing experienced American Harvey Jolly. Jolly's record of 11-16-1-1 includes wins over several other unbeaten fighters in recent years including Cuban Umberto Savigne and Nicholas Iannuzzi. Chakhkiev's fight against Jolly will be his first fight outside of Germany and will feature as part of the under card of Marcos Maidana's fight with Erik Morales.

If you are interested in the Cruiserweight prospects some other names you may like to note down are listed below:

Krzysztof Glowacki-12-0 (7), 24 year old from Poland

Tomasz Hutkowski 20-0-2 (14), 24 year old from Poland

Matty Askin 10-0 (6), 22 year old from England

Brad Pitt 7-0 (5), 29 year old from Australia

Thabiso Mchunu 8-0 (6) 22 year old from South Africa

Jeremiah Graziano 14-0 (13) 24 year old from the US

Yunier Dorticos 12-0 (12), 25 year old Cuban

Mateusz Masternak 22-0 (16), 23 year old from Poland

Lateef Kayode 16-0 (14), 28 year old from Nigeria (based in the US)

Alexander Frenkel 23-0 (18), 26 year old from Germany

Gilberto Ramirez Sanchez

Mexican fighters are probably the most fascinating group of boxers out there at the moment. If you wish to just stereotype they are true warriors, they battle until they can't fight on and they often enjoy a good scrap. Although a few more skilled than that, such as current IBF Lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez who prefers to fight on the move with accurate counters and slippery movement, the majority prefer to fight than to box. Though one youngster who can box or bang and is very much one to watch is Gilberto Ramírez Sánchez.

Sanchez aged just 19 looks set to follow in the footsteps of so many other fighters from Mexico and go from being almost unheard of to reaching the top of the boxing tree. He has already sparred with a world champion (the then WBA Light Middleweight champion Rigoberto “Español” Alvarez, older brother of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez) and has already started to gain some form of notoriety as a hard punching youngster.

With a record of 16-0 (14) you could easily assume the 19 year old southpaw has been facing soft touch after soft touch. His record of a mere 43 rounds does suggest that his fights haven't been long gruelling tough affairs. Though below the raw numbers his opponents have been surprisingly solid so far. Since debuting as just an 18 year old back in 2009 Sanchez has faced opponents with a combined record of 123-65-6. Although he has faced several debutants and “career losers” his most recent opponents have been impressive enough fighters in their own right and have included:

Christian Solano (22-19-4 upon entering)-Solano had beaten British fighter John O'Donnell, he had taken Julio Cesar Chavez Jr 10 rounds and Saul Roman the same distance.

The, then unbeaten Rogelio Medina (23-0)

And veteran Antonio Arras (21-9)

Against Medina Sanchez picked up his first title as a professional by winning the vacant WBC Youth World middleweight title. This entitled Sanchez to a WBC ranking (though he is still outside of the top 40 after checking at with the organisation) though his most notable ranking is the #13 ranking he has with the NABO. The independent rankings of the IBO and Boxrec.com place Sanchez at #76 at Middleweight (IBO) and #41 at Middleweight (Boxrec.com) though the rankings hardly matter at this point.

From sources found on the web about Sanchez it's no wonder he is being matched as a professional. He is according to an article on “notifight.com” he was a “national champion and three-time junior national champion elite” as an amateur. Though as a professional those skills haven't really been required. Instead his exceptional power, thunderous aggression and ability to land hard clean shots to both head and body have helped “Zurdo De Oro” create a bit of a buzz.

Fighting out of Sinaloa, Mexico Sanchez will have plenty around him that know the business inside out. Sinaloa is of course the state that contains Los Mochis (think Fernando Montiel) and Culiacán (Julio Cesar Chavez). If Sanchez can emulate either of those two he'll become a name to be remembered, though as a Mexican middleweight/Super Middleweight he'll also have something going for him. Although Marco Antonio Periban is a Mexican Super Middleweight who may end up competing for a world title by the end of 2012 Sanchez, at just 19, will easily out grow the Middleweight division and could easily end up as high at Light Heavyweight. Imagine a Mexican 3 weight champion taking belts at Middleweight, Super Middleweight and Light Heavyweight, that really is the potential of young Gilberto Ramírez Sánchez.

Since his debut he has shown fast heavy hands, a patience far beyond his time and an ability to pick the right shots at the right time. The combination of these traits could very easily see him becoming of the modern Mexican greats.

Sources:
Notifight.com

Video below thanks to ZapariBoxing

Billy Joe Saunders

As well looking at 1 international prospect every week (this week was was of course Carlos Ivan Velasquez) we'll also try to look at 1 UK based prospect, or at very least a fighter fighting the same week as the blog. The weeks second fighter is British youngster Billy Joe Saunders. Saunders, one of Britain's 2008 Olympic team is one of the countries forgotten Olympians, he's been over shadowed by most of the others such as James DeGale and Tony Jeffries, yet has just as much long term promise as anyone.

Saunders is 21 and was the baby of the Olympic team going as just a teenager. Despite being knocked out in the 2^nd round by the Cuban Carlos Banteaux (the eventual silver medal winner). As an amateur he had an impressive record, apparently winning his first 49 fights as a senior including all his fights at the 2007 Commonwealth Boxing Championships. Soon after the Olympics he would sign a professional contract with British boxing supremo Frank Warren and start his rise through the professional ranks.

Upon turning professional it didn't take Saunders long to make an impact. He needed less than 2 rounds to stop Hungarian Attila Molnar in show that also saw James DeGale and Frankie Gavin debut. Since then Saunders has racked up an impressive 7-0 (4) record and looked like an ever maturing fighter. Unlike many former amateurs Saunders isn't the type to be overly patient looking for single shots but has a very complete professional “style” based around aggression, coming forward and looking for the stoppage whether he gets it or not. With his youthful energy he looks exciting coming forward and throwing punches though we all know fine well that he has the technical skills to fall back on and box with if he needs to.

As a professional he has fought 24 rounds already in his career with distance fights against the likes of the tough Alex Spitko, the experienced Lee Noble (who had only been stopped once) and Andy Butlin. Billy Joe has looked impressive and a little hot headed, which at times has added a little bit more excitement and spite to the fight. Although he's still a youngster in terms of being a professional fighter he's shown he's not scared of older men and instead wants them to respect him as he beats them down. A side of him that is brilliant for a fighter.

Like Tyson Fury, Saunders is from travelling stock and has the fighting blood running through his veins. His father was an amateur whilst his mothers grandfather was the great Absolom Beeney, a legendary bare knuckle fighter. With this sort of pedigree and his Romany gypsy blood there should be no worries about Saunders knowing how to handle himself when the going gets tough. He'll have been brought up in a tough environment and often looks much older than his actual age. Amazingly as a fighter he's also been a traveller, each of his 7 fights have taken place in different areas, although 2 were in London, he's also fought in Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Belfast and Birmingham.

Saunders fights against 52 fight veteran Turgay Uzun from Turkey on the undercard of John Murray's fight with Karim El Ouazghari. Saunders is facing a tough hard punching fighter who has only been stopped twice and holds 22 KO's in 35 wins. Though Uzun should be a relatively safe test as he is a substantially smaller man and was making Welterweight last year when he took on World title challenger Rafal Jackiewicz (and went the 8 round distance). A win is expected of Saunders though a genuine stoppage win will be very impressive.