Nicholas Walters

When it comes to well hidden boxing prospects few have been as well hidden as Jamaican power puncher Nicholas “The Axeman” Walters, a Featherweight who seems like he's heading to the top. Originally of Jamaica Walters has been based in Panama for much of his career and as a result he's been relatively difficult to watch unless you're a really hardcore fan, however if you made the effort to watch him you were richly rewarded. With an aggressive mindset, thunderous power and a fighters attitude Walters has rarely been a boring fighter to watch since turning professional and running up a record of 19-0 (16).

As an amateur Walters made his name competing for Jamaica in a number of international competitions and ran up a record of 49-11. Included in Walters' amateur achievements was a Bronze medal at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games (where future world champion Yuriorkis Gamboa also won a Bronze medal).

Walters made his professional debut in August 2008 when he out pointed Esteban Ramos and by the end of the year Walters was 7-0 (5). Although Walters had run up a good record he had shown signs of being vulnerable and was dropped in his bout with Alejandro Corrales before fighting back to take a wide decision over a 6 round bout.

Whilst 2008 was a good year for Walters who had been busy and showing signs of improvement he had not really faced anyone notable and after 5 wins in 2009 to move his record to 12-0 (10) his handlers felt it was time to give him his first test. Walters' would face Carlos Manuel Reyes (who was then 13-0) in December 2009 in a bout for the vacant WBA Fedelatin featherweight title. The bout with Reyes proved to be by far the toughest of Walters' career but also the most impressive as he fought much of the bout with a damaged hand relying heavily on his under-rated boxing skills. Despite being dropped in round 7 Walters would take a wide decision over the 11 rounds to move to 13-0 (10).

After giving the hand ample time to recover Walters would return to the ring in April 2010 and defeat Alexander Alonso via a 6^th round TKO. Walters would then add 3 more stoppage wins later in the year (defending his WBA Fedelatin featherweight title on two occasions) to move to 17-0 (14) and have a secure WBA ranking. Despite the huge support he had back in the land of his birth it wasn't until June 2011 that Walters would go back and fight in front of a “home crowd”. Walters would travel to Kingston to defend his WBA Fedelatin featherweight title against Argel Salinas, sadly for the Jamaican fans the fight lasted less than two rounds as “Axe man” forced a quick stoppage.

In his most recent fight Walters put on an explosive showing against the experienced Irving Berry which included Berry being knocked out of the ring in the second round before being stopped in round 6. This fight can be seen in it's entirety in the two videos below (thanks to SuperBoxingVideos).

Although no date has been set for Nicholas Walters' next fight I'd be expecting the highly rated Featherweight to be stepping in with another credible opponent as he looks to secure a world title fight in the foreseeable future.

Javier Fortuna

Once up a time Joan Guzman was seen as a possible pound-for-pound great with amazing speed, respectable power and boxing skills that matched the very elite...then we found out that he couldn't control his weight as he grew heavier, failed to make weight and eventually faded into obscurity. Guzman was the last fighter from the Dominican Republic that really got boxing fans excited until now thanks to 21 year old prospect Javier Fortuna (17-0-0-1, 13).

Featherweight prospect Fortuna started boxing when he was 11 and become one of the top amateurs stars in the Dominican Republic winning a number of medals at the junior level of the sport. Javier however had no intention of staying an amateur for too long and turned to the paid ranks aged just 17. In Fortuna's debut he stopped Ricardo Johnson in the opening round and then ran up 4 more KO's (including one over the experienced Luis Sosa) before going 4 rounds with Carlos Diaz on a card in the US Virgin Islands that also featured John Jackson.

After running his record to 10-0 (8) Fortuna would step up to face former world title challenger Francisco Lorenzo in a 9 round bout. This bout ended prematurely as a clash of heads resulted in a 1 round No Contest after just 106 seconds. Although this left a minor mark on Fortuna's record it showed that his handlers had enough belief in him to at least put up a tough bout with Lorenzo. A month after the No Contest Fortuna stopped the over matched Cristian Martinez inside a round. Soon after the Martinez fight Fortuna traveled to Mexico and faced Gregorio Torres in a tough and close fight that Fortuna narrowly won.

In December 2010 Fortuna made his US debut when he faced the unbeaten Victor Valenzuela in New York and stopped him in 70 vicious and wild seconds (in a fight that can be seen in the video at the bottom of this blog post). The impact of Fortuna was instant and 3 months later Fortuna would return to the US to face Derrick Wilson in a fight for the WBC Youth Intercontinental title. Despite Wilson being very game he was dropped several times en route to being iced late in the 8th round.

Since beating Wilson Fortuna has added 3 more wins to his record including a 10 round decision win over Hugo Orlando Gomez (the first time Fortuna had been taken 10 rounds) and now prepares for his next big step up as he faces the tough and experienced Miguel Roman (37-8, 28) on the undercard of Marco Antonio Rubio v Matt Vanda. A win over the former world title contender showed see Fortuna well on his way to a world title fight of his own in the next 12 months.

Interestingly Fortuna's nickname of "El Abejon" translates as "The Drone".

Video below is thanks to reverseapachemaster1 and as mentioned above shows Fortuna's win over Victor Valenzuela.

Gary Russell Jr

One of the names on the under-card of Maidana v Morales that seems to have been some what forgotten about is one of the USA’s most skilled prospects around. “Mr” Gary Russell Jr (14-0, 9KO’s). Currently based in Maryland the skilled youngster is still only 22 but seems headed to the top of the sport and is starting to take those big steps up in the boxing world that every fighter needs to make at some point.

Russell was one of the top young amateurs in the USA after picking up the sport at a young age he progressed well and ran up well in excess of 160 wins. He would win several amateur championships including the Junior Olympics (2004) Golden Gloves (2005), U.S. Championships (2005, 2006) and a Bronze medal at the 2007 World Amateur Championships. Though he missed out on making a shot at the 2008 Olympics when he collapsed prior to the weigh in.

Having seen his Olympic dreams crumble Russell would turn professional and make his debut in January 2009 on an episode of ShoBox: The Next Generation. He would stop Antonio Reyes in the 3rd round and follow it up with a handful of wins through out 2009 as he started to adapt to the professional scene. By the end of 2010 Russell Jr was starting to face substantially tougher opponents and gone were the inexperienced professionals that he had been allowed to face to get into the sport.

Stoppage wins against veterans Carlos Diaz, Mauricio Pastrana and the previously never stopped Rodrigo Aranda were hugely impressive for Russell. Russell showed not only was he maturing and genuinely able to throw hurtful shots but land to both the body and head. The key to Russell Jr though wasn’t his power but his lightning quick southpaw jab which comes from a wonderfully balanced stance. As well as the lightning jabs he can throw the hooks and crosses with the same alarming speed. He appears to be confident and is being pushed well by Golden Boy Promotions, hopefully they’ll continue to step him up in levels over his next few fights.





So far in 2011 Russell Jr has fought once beating Feider Viloria who entered the ring with a 23-7-1 record. Russell dropped Viloria in the 5th round before winning a 7th round technical decision in his longest fight to date. His upcoming fight on the Maidana v Morales fight sees him facing Ira Terry (24-4, 14KO’s). Terry is with out a win since December 2009 though lost in April 2010 to Carlos Ivan Velasquez in 4 rounds. Of course Carlos Ivan Velasquez was featured in the opening post of this blog, this gives us a chance to compare how the Puerto Rican and how Russell compare.

Stood at 5’5” and with a 61” reach Russell isn’t big for a featherweight though he is lightning fast and seems to be maturing into a fighter with a solid punch on him. The Featherweight division does seem to be one of the most promising in the world today with the likes of Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez dominating it. Though with American talent including Mickey Garcia, Robert Marroquin and Abraham Lopez all along with Russell the Americans could well become the divisions dominant force one day.



Videos courtesy of Youtube user Boxing Prospect (not confused with an actual link to this blog with the same name).