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.