Evgeniy Tishchenko

Sometimes this blog can be genuinely hard to research for especially when fighters have yet to make their professional debut. Sometime your can get lucky due to a lot of information about their amateur exploits other times  you can really struggle to find the necessary information to make a fully fledged piece for the site. When it comes to Evgeniy Tishchenko, this is one of the most sketchy profiles you're likely to see here sadly though it seems like I'm one of the very few trying to put the pieces together (at least as far as English language blogs go).

What we do know about Tishchenko is that the giant Russian stands around 6'5 and at just 20 years old he interests us a lot with out even making his professional debut. From his amateur past it's quite difficult to be too sure about him. We know he competed in the Russian 2011 National Amateur Championships, he lost in the Semi Final there to Nikita Ivanov (who went on to win Silver) Also in 2011 Tishchenko beat Alexey Sevostyanov in the final of the Governor Cup in Saint Petersburg. We are also pretty sure he won the 2009 European Youth Championships and beat Cezary Samelko in the final, we also think he won the Russian Youth Championships (or the equivalent) the same year, all at 81KG.

Basically from what we can find is that he was a pretty good amateur. Whilst he didn't make a big name for himself in the seniors, he didn't stay there for long enough to really establish himself (and in Russia with a number of top names it's likely he decided not to wait around). Instead Tihschenko has run off to Germany where he will be making his professional debut tonight as he faces the Ukrainian veteran Ihor Pylypenko (3-11-1). Pylypenko has faced Valery Brudov (twice), Grigory Drozd and Rakhim Chakhkiev. A win for Tishchenko is expected though it's going to be interesting to see how he settles into the professional ranks.

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