The heavyweight scene in Britain seems to be rather interesting at the moment, in fact with David Haye mixing it with the world elite, Michael Sprott mixing it with the elite of Europe and a number of exciting prospects coming through Brits have a lot to be excited about. It's odd however that the Best British prospects are all incredibly tall, you have both David Price and Tyson Fury both around 6'8" or 6'9" and then you also have the very interesting Richard Towers who is also 6'8" and lacks hype of the other two men.
Towers, known as the Inferno, is much older than his other British giants at 32 years old and as a result has gone a bit under the radar though talent wise he is well ahead of the other two and has the skills and speed to match his impressive physical presence.
Like a number of notable boxers Tower's (real name Hayles) hasn't always been on the right side of the law, in fact Towers was sentenced to 13 in prison (serving over 6 of them) for kidnap and had had a number of other runs ins with the law as a teenager. Since then however Towers has turned his life around remarkably and matured from being somewhat thuggish into becoming a real model of a person by warning kids off the slippery slope he was once on as well as becoming a real force in the boxing ring.
Towers would make his professional boxing debut after prison and was aged 30 at the time, an advanced age for anyone to start their career, though Towers has gone quietly and efficiently about his new job since 2009. In his debut he defeated the experienced Chris Woollas by decision and did the same over Howard Daley the following month before going on an 8 fight KO streak as the impressive physical specimen showed he had the skill to go with the size.
Although 2010 was a bit of a wasted year in terms of actual action (Towers fought just twice for a combined 3 rounds) 2011 has seen Towers get back on track with 3 fights already and another coming up at the weekend. The most recent of those fights was against Belgian tough-man Ismail Abdoul who took Towers 8 rounds, with Towers pitching a shut out on the referees card.
Towers, currently at 11-0 (8) faces unbeaten Belorussian Yuri Bihoutseu (5-0-1, 5) this coming Saturday at the Ponds Forge Arena in his home city of Sheffield on the undercard of the televised SKY Sports card that also features Gary Buckland v Gary Sykes (British Super Featherweight title fight) and Rendall Munroe v Ryuta Miyagi. I expect Towers to be impressive in defeating the unbeaten power puncher personally, though hopefully Sky will show the highlights.
Towers has both the Ingle gym and Hatton Promotions behind him which are sure to help get the best from him and despite his age he may well be the best bet from the British giants.
Thanks to sheffieldhistory for the video above.
Tuesday 20 September 2011
Andrzej Fonfara
When you think of Polish fighters the first names to come to mind are Tomasz Adamek and Andrew Golota, now ever feel free to add another name, Andrzej Fonfara. Fonfara, from Warsaw is currently based in Chicago and the 23 year old has already made a bit of impact in his new home thanks to a devastating KO earlier this year.
Born in late 1987 Fonfara would make his professional debut as just an 18 year old Welterweight defeating Miroslav Kubik in 2006 by majority decision in Poland. This was followed up by 3 more wins (1 by KO) all coming in the US before he suffered his first loss, losing a 5 round decision to Eberto Medina. By now it seemed obvious that Welterweight wasn't a suitable division for the growing 6'2" Pole who was filling out quickly.
After running up 6 straight wins Fonfara would suffer his second loss, this time being stopped by Derrick Findley in 2 rounds whilst fighting as a Middleweight. This loss was shown on ESPN Friday Night fights and perhaps exposed Fonfara as being a weak chinned having been down twice, though the 21 year old Fonfara was possibly drained at the time and Findley has a reputation as having a solid punch.
Since Fonfara's loss to Findley however he's filled out completely and has started to campaign at Light Heavyweight where he seems to have rounded out into a much better fighter and is unbeaten in his last 9 fights with his last 6 fights ending by KO. Though their is a problem with Fonfara and one that he may be slighted for. In 2009 after a 2nd TKO over Skyler Thompson Fonfara tested positive for illegal substance and that fight was turned into a No Contest. Since then however Fonfara hasn't failed a test and did spend 7 months out of action due to the suspension.
Fonfara may not be on the Light Heavyweight world title scene at the moment though he has won the WBC Youth World light heavyweight and the WBO NABO Light Heavyweight titles and he is climbing the rankings. This Friday Fonfara fights the experienced Jose Spearman in Chicago, a win will help establish Fonfara as a credible prospect.
The video below shows Fonfara's victory over Anthony Russell earlier this year (thanks to poltvchicago)
Born in late 1987 Fonfara would make his professional debut as just an 18 year old Welterweight defeating Miroslav Kubik in 2006 by majority decision in Poland. This was followed up by 3 more wins (1 by KO) all coming in the US before he suffered his first loss, losing a 5 round decision to Eberto Medina. By now it seemed obvious that Welterweight wasn't a suitable division for the growing 6'2" Pole who was filling out quickly.
After running up 6 straight wins Fonfara would suffer his second loss, this time being stopped by Derrick Findley in 2 rounds whilst fighting as a Middleweight. This loss was shown on ESPN Friday Night fights and perhaps exposed Fonfara as being a weak chinned having been down twice, though the 21 year old Fonfara was possibly drained at the time and Findley has a reputation as having a solid punch.
Since Fonfara's loss to Findley however he's filled out completely and has started to campaign at Light Heavyweight where he seems to have rounded out into a much better fighter and is unbeaten in his last 9 fights with his last 6 fights ending by KO. Though their is a problem with Fonfara and one that he may be slighted for. In 2009 after a 2nd TKO over Skyler Thompson Fonfara tested positive for illegal substance and that fight was turned into a No Contest. Since then however Fonfara hasn't failed a test and did spend 7 months out of action due to the suspension.
Fonfara may not be on the Light Heavyweight world title scene at the moment though he has won the WBC Youth World light heavyweight and the WBO NABO Light Heavyweight titles and he is climbing the rankings. This Friday Fonfara fights the experienced Jose Spearman in Chicago, a win will help establish Fonfara as a credible prospect.
The video below shows Fonfara's victory over Anthony Russell earlier this year (thanks to poltvchicago)
Friday 9 September 2011
Wale Omotoso
It's not often that an Australian based boxer gets much hype on this site but Australian based Nigerian Wale Omotoso (18-0, 16) deserves his mention amongst the elite prospects.
Stood at 5'10" the powerfully built Welterweight debuted as a 21 year old back in 2006 though his career took quite some time to really get going. Despite stopping Singyok Sor Seesunt (TKO2) in September 2006 it would be 13 months later before Wale would fight again (stopping Ariel Omongos in 152 seconds). During 2008 however Wale was a busy boy and racked up 8 wins (6 by KO). Despite being dragged 10 rounds in his fight against Samuel Colomban, Wale would pick up the Australian Welterweight title and make his first real mark on the boxing public.
If 2008 was Wale's busy year 2009 was his real break out year and despite "only" 4 fights in the year. As Wale would score a very notable scalp as he stopped Emanuel Augustus in 9 rounds and picked up the OPBF welterweight title by defeating Hwan-Young Park of South Korea. The following year Wale added 3 more wins including stopping the known Juan Alberto Godoy of Argentina.
Wale is making his US debut tomorrow night on the Yuriorkis Gamboa v Daniel Ponce De Leon undercard where he faces experienced veteran Calvin Odom (15-10, 11). Whilst Omotoso is expected to win the bout it is the start of a new chapter in his career and hopefully we will see him regularly in the US.
Known as "Lucky Boy" Wale is seen by those down under as their top boxing prospect to have been fighting in Australia in a very long time and is one that the world should start paying attention to.
Stood at 5'10" the powerfully built Welterweight debuted as a 21 year old back in 2006 though his career took quite some time to really get going. Despite stopping Singyok Sor Seesunt (TKO2) in September 2006 it would be 13 months later before Wale would fight again (stopping Ariel Omongos in 152 seconds). During 2008 however Wale was a busy boy and racked up 8 wins (6 by KO). Despite being dragged 10 rounds in his fight against Samuel Colomban, Wale would pick up the Australian Welterweight title and make his first real mark on the boxing public.
If 2008 was Wale's busy year 2009 was his real break out year and despite "only" 4 fights in the year. As Wale would score a very notable scalp as he stopped Emanuel Augustus in 9 rounds and picked up the OPBF welterweight title by defeating Hwan-Young Park of South Korea. The following year Wale added 3 more wins including stopping the known Juan Alberto Godoy of Argentina.
Wale is making his US debut tomorrow night on the Yuriorkis Gamboa v Daniel Ponce De Leon undercard where he faces experienced veteran Calvin Odom (15-10, 11). Whilst Omotoso is expected to win the bout it is the start of a new chapter in his career and hopefully we will see him regularly in the US.
Known as "Lucky Boy" Wale is seen by those down under as their top boxing prospect to have been fighting in Australia in a very long time and is one that the world should start paying attention to.
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