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
Great post. It's rwally interesting to read about ex-olympic heroes. Since you wrote this, Chakhiev's record has improved, he's now at 10-0 8KOs.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the read.