Andrzej Wawrzyk

This weekend is a really busy one for boxing fans thanks to a number of noteworthy cards, most obviously the huge Don King card in Missouri. Though the prospect I'm interested in here is a young Polish heavyweight who I have tipped for very, very big things. Andrzej Wawrzyk is 23-0 (10) and at 6'5” he's got the size to be a real force as long as he matures true power that I'm sure he will.

As an amateur Wawrzyk was truly an exceptional youngster in the Super heavyweight division where he won the European juniors and reached the quarter finals of the World juniors both in 2006. Unlike many other top juniors though Wawrzyk turned professional early and was just 19 when he turned to the paid ranks in late 2006.

On his debut Wawrzyk defeated the experienced Ervin Slonka over 4 one-sided rounds and just a week later Wawrzyk would score his first stoppage win by defeating Martin Stensky in the 2^nd round. Although Wawrzyk would have his first real problems in his 3^rd fight when he was dropped he'd get up and manage to just nick the win there against Aliaksandr Mazaleu.

Within a year of being a professional the giant Pole had run up a record of 11-0 (6) and early in 2008 Wawrzyk would pick up his first professional title, the Polish heavyweight title by defeating Marcin Najman in 2 rounds. He would soon add the WBC Youth World heavyweight title by stopping Harry Duiven Jr from the Netherlands (a fighter who took Odlanier Solis 8 rounds). He would defend both of those titles against Tomasz Bonin by a wide 10 round decision and has been on a string of wins against journeymen since then. Included in the names on Wawrzyk's record are the likes of Oleksiy Mazykin, Harvey Jolly, Lee Swaby and Paul Butlin.

This coming Saturday the huge Pole faces veteran German Andreas Sidon (36-10-0-1, 30) in what is another learning fight as opposed to a real test for the young heavyweight prospect. Wawryzk is, at 23 years old, one of the young emerging heavyweights who is worth following for the next few years.

Oliver Flores

Tonight prospect hunters get to see one of the young rising stars of the sport if they can make their way to the Palacio de Deporte in Mexico city as Costa Rican based Nicaraguan teenage Oliver Flores (21-0-1, 15) faces his stiffest test.

Flores, currently fighting out of San Jose, Costa Rica is the son of former fighter Roger Benito Flores and it seems, aged just 19, Oscar has out performed his father. Having debuted way back in 2006 just a month after he turned 15 years old Flores has come a long way and is now ranked in the top 70 at Lightweight by both Boxrec and IBO.

Flores started his career with a number of really simple looking wins against fellow inexperienced fighters do what every young protégé in this sport does. It wasn't until he'd had over a dozen fights that Flores would face a fighter with a winning record when he met the 9-0 Gabriel Dorado of Panama. Flores passed the Dorado test and also picked up his first title, the IBF Latino Super Featherweight title.

Since beating Dorado back in May 2009 Flores has run up 6 wins out of his seven fights, it's the one that he didn't win that is of the most interest. In February 2010 he only managed a draw with Santos Medrano (who entered with a record of 5-3). This result has left a lot to be desired and although Flores has managed to run up a number of wins since then it's perhaps a worry for Flores when he steps up, which he does later today when he faces Abraham Rodriguez (23-10-3, 12).

Whilst Rodriguez doesn't have an impressive record it's mostly due to the awful way he started his career where he went 5-6-2 and has since gone 18-4-1 and managed to win a number of regional titles. Although Flores is “supposed” to win Rodriguez will certainly not be a push over in what should be an interesting bout.

A look forward to this weekend

Although this weekend isn't a huge high profile one for our great sport it is a genuinely busy one so rather than spending the next 30 minutes writing about the next prospect we'll be featuring I'll instead just quickly go around everything we have on.

Friday:
Firstly Thomas Dulorme, the Puerto Rican sensation who was featured very early on in this blog attempts to improve his record from 11-0 (10) when he faces grizzled veteran DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley. Dulorme, aged 21, is seen as the next big thing from Puerto Rico and shot in to the eyes of boxing fans last time out when he scored a tremendous KO over Harrison Cuello. In Corley we find a fighter who is generally a stubborn opponent and although he's now 37 he's only been stopped 4 times in a 55 fight career. Corley now stands at 37-17-1 (22) and gave Marcos Maidana fits when the two met last year.

Although it would be a huge surprise to see Dulorme lose, this promises to be his first real test and not one that he'll walk through. Corley, although beaten badly by Lucas Martin Matthysse in January, has done the distance with the likes of Maidana, Zab Judah, Randall Bailey, Floyd Mayweather, Junior Witter and Devon Alexander. A stoppage for Dulorme puts him in alongside the likes of Matthysse, Miguel Angel Cotto, Freddy Hernandez and Jose Alfaro (a lesser group group admittedly).

Other prospects in action include Fidel Maldonado Jr (10-0, 9) a Cameron Dunkin managed Lightweight who is facing his toughest test to date when he faces Eddie Ramirez in a Golden Boy Promotions show. Although Maldonado has been dropped as a professional he is still young and a fighter who is improving as he fills out his body. Though the show of the night is the Showtime triple header.

On the Showtime card we are treated to heavy punching Cruiserweight Lateef Kayode (16-0, 14) facing recent world title challenger Matt Godfrey (20-2, 10). This is the main event and sees Kayode step out of the prospect bracket into the contender one though the card has 2 other very interesting bouts which have genuine prospects facing off on it. We have talented Archie Ray Marquez (12-0, 8) facing Art Hovhannesyan (13-0-1, 7) is what promises to be a telling fight more than a major one. The fight likely won't have tremendous fireworks though the winner will find themselves stepping up the rankings. A few weights down exciting power puncher Chris Avalos (18-1, 15) faces Russian Khabir Suleymanov (11-0, 5). Whilst Avalos is expected to win we have seen his flaws in recent bouts with Chris Martin toying with him when the two faced off last year and a talented fighter can take advantage of Avalos' flaws.

Away from the prospect scene we have an interesting WBA Interim title fight down at Flyweight where relatively unknown Jean Piero Perez (18-3-1, 13) faces off against former Light Flyweight interim champion Juan Carlos Revecco (26-1, 15). The bout will be the first defence for Perez who won the title last year by beating Jesus Jimenez, though other than that little is really known about the champion.

Saturday:
Although Friday is packed to the rafters in terms of action, prospects and notable fights. Puerto Rican's seem to be the flavour of the day with Jonathon Gonzalez (13,0, 13) facing off against the tough Richard Gutierrez (26-6-1-1, 16). Gutierrez has only been stopped 3 times in 34 fights though 2 of those have come in his previous 2 fights. On the same card Luis Orlando Del Valle (12-0, 10) faces Vietnamese Dat Nguyen (17-1, 6) in a fight that is genuinely an enthralling contest with both guys looking to establish their own names in the sport.

21 year old Middleweight/Super Middleweight prospect Dominic Wade (11-0, 8) looks to add to his growing reputation by facing off against Juan Astorga (15-6-1, 10) in what could be a short but sweet 6 rounder.

The biggest prospect fight of the weekend however takes place in England and sees Olympic bronze medal winner David Price (10-0, 8) facing off against Tom Dallas (15-0, 11). This heavyweight clash will almost certainly over-shadow the British flyweight title fight between Paul Edwards (8-0, 2) and Chris Edwards (15-14-3, 4). Dallas goes into the bout after an incredibly poor showing with Zack Page whilst Price managed to impressively bang out Raphael Butler inside a round on his last showing, so this will be a fight with Dallas looking for redemption.

Again we have title fights, this time we have two pretty interesting bouts one in Mexico that really is interesting and one in Argentina that I feel will be a little bit one-sided. The Mexican one sees the new WBA Light Middleweight champion Austin “No Doubt” Trout (22-0, 13) defending his title against grizzled veteran David “The Destroyer” Lopez (40-12, 23). Trout starts at a 1/5 favourite though I cannot help but feel that the bookies have gotten this one very, very wrong. Lopez is on a long unbeaten and has been beating a number of top fighters on his route to a world title fight that takes place in Mexico, Lopez's homeland. Trout is in for a very, very difficult time.

The other title fight of the night sees unbeaten Argentinian Omar Andres Narvaez (34-0-2, 19) defending the WBO Super Flyweight title against William Urina (17-1, 14). I love watching Narvaez there is something really appealing about his style and although he lacks power he's a fun one to watch, though this fight really doesn't do anything for me. Narvaez is incredibly talented, a capable fighter who should be mixing it with the best in the division though has found himself in with Urina who isn't really even near to the same level as Narvaez.

Sorry for being “behind” on this blog, I've had a visitor and not really been working as much as I should have for the past 2 weeks.