Bradley Saunders

Sometimes it's hard to be excited about a debut, especially when you can't be too sure about whether or not the fight will actually take place or not (such as Egviney Tishchenko's recently cancelled debut) this week however we are incredibly excited about Englishman Bradley Saunders who recently decided to turn professional with Frank Warren. Saunders will be making his debut against journeyman Jason Nesbitt (9-139-3-1, 6) on Friday night on Box Nation on the under-card of Kevin Mitchell's fight with Felix Lora.

What makes it easy to get excited about Saunders is know what's behind the former British amateur standout who really has made an impact on the international stage already. Fighting out of the South Durham ABC Saunders won a national title in 2006. The following year Saunders would win bronze medals at both the World Amateur Championships and the European Union Championships. In 2008 Saunders would be part of the brilliant Olympic team Britain took to Beijing (which included James DeGale, Frankie Gavin, Billy Joe Saunders and David Price), although he failed to medal at the games he did make a quick inpression stopping Ghana's Samuel Kotey Neequaye inside a round.

Whilst many of his Olympic team mates decided to turn professional soon afterwards Saunder stuck to the amateur scene though sadly missed out on the 2009 World Amateur Championships due to a hand injury (broken thumb). After that set back Saunders set his eyes towards the 2012 Olympic games in London though since then his plans have changed and instead Saunders has decided to put Olympic aspiration behind him and prepare for a new career as a professional fighter.

Whilst hopes are high for Saunders on Friday night he is facing a born survivour in Nesbitt who has only been stopped 11 times in a 152 and the last of those stoppages came in 2009 against Gary Sykes (who later went on to win the British super featherweight title). A victory for Saunders is expected though a stoppage would be incredibly impressive.

Yordenis Ugás

On the whole Cuban defectors haven't been hugely in the professional ranks, with only really Yuriorkis Gamboa and Guillermo Rigondeaux making any major waves so far (other than the waves Odlanier Solis makes every time he goes for a swim). Despite this Cuban's have got the potential to turn professional boxing on it's head, the talent from Cuba is amazing with the likes of Erislandy Lara and Yunier Dorticos climbing the ranks quickly. Another man who is worth take a note of is former amateur star Yordenis Ugás (10-0, 5) who may emerge as one of the real top Cuban's.

The 25 year old Ugás is like many of his compatriots, a very well schooled amateur, in fact his accomplishments in the unpaid ranks say it all as he's won World Cup Silver (2005), World Amateur Gold (2005), Central American and Caribbean Games Gold (2006), Pan Am Games Gold (2007) and Olympic Bronze (2008). Like many Cuban amateurs he was incredibly technical and used his skill and natural ability well to cover up what was repeatedly referred to as a shaky chin.

Despite winning the 2009 Cuban National title at Light Welterweight Ugás was overlooked for the World Amateur Championships later that year and elected to defect to the USA to turn professional. Ugás would make his professional debut on July 9th 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia where he defeated fellow debutant Dino Dumonjic over a 4 round shut out. Just 3 later Ugás was out again, this time stopping DeJuan Jackson in just 88 seconds.

In just his third bout Ugás made his television debut and made a swift impact in stopping Marqus Jackson in just 2 rounds on ESPN Friday Night Fights in August 2010 as his handlers kept him busy. Ugás used his chance to show off his ability on television and looked impressive with incredibly fast hands, solid defence and very good shot selection after he settled into the fight. The bout ended in the 2nd round as Ugás piled on the pressure and Jackson repeatedly went to the canvas as Ugás moved to 3-0 (2) and by the end of the year that had become 5-0 (3).

Whilst 2010 had been a busy year for Ugás with 5 fights in around 5 months 2011 wouldn't see him as active though it did see him stepping up to face better competition with the stand out win being over New Yorker Kenny Abril. Like the previous year Ugás would fit in 5 fights as he moved to 10-0 (5) and began to slowly show that he genuine skills to go with his amateur reputation. To start 2012 and really keep the bandwagon moving Ugás will face Esteban Almaraz (10-4, 4) in a bought that will be shown on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights alongside the meeting of Teon Kennedy and Christopher Martin in what appears to be a real cross rounds fight.

Although not strictly speaking a prospect I would like try and give all you fans a heads up that former world title challenger Javier Maciel fights on TYC Sports in Argentina soon after the ESPN2 card finishes. I'm a firm believer that Maciel is a real danger man at Light Middleweight and one to watch out for in the next year or two, so he may be worth staying up and watching.

Video of Ugás' television debut can be seen below thanks to damit305

Carlos Negron

Last weekend we saw 2 power punching prospects beaten for the first time. Firstly we the very likeable and humble David Lemieux (25-1, 14KO's) lose to the experienced veteran Marco Antonio Rubio (50-5-1, 43KO's) by 7^th round TKO. The fight saw Lemieux's trainer Russ Abner throwing in the towel to protect his charge as the experienced Rubio took charge of the fight and dropped Lemieux. The following night was had James Kirkland (27-1, 24KO's) beaten in a single round by Japanese fighter Nabuhiro Ishida (23-6-2, 8KO's). For boxing prospects these two results should act as a big wake up call.

One man who although still unbeaten has already had a giant wake up call of his own is Carlos Negron (11-0, 7KO's). Negron is one of this weeks Puerto Rican prospects that we are featuring here this week and despite only being 23 has had a wake up call and managed to come through the rough patches of his career so far.

Stood at 6'6” and with a huge 83” wingspan Negron turned professional in 2009 weighing around 180lbs. He was an incredibly tall Cruiserweight and despite being young he looked skinny and physically immature, he really looked like he needed filling out. After 3 opening round KO's to start his career Negron would be dropped by Gevonte Davis, this was the wake up call that Negron perhaps needed. Although he continued to make the 180's it was only a year later that he weighed in around 194 and looked a much better fighter, he had filled out and no longer looked like a somewhat scrawny fighter.

In late 2010 it was announced that Negron was going to be fighting as a heavyweight in future and for his first fight of 2011 he weighed in at 211lbs. Negron would win his heavyweight debut over Willie Herring by decision as he went 8 rounds for the first time. Almost a year previously Negron had weighed just 181lbs (when he defeated Garrett Wilson). Negron fights for the 2^nd time as a heavyweight this coming weekend when he faces Native American heavyweight Emerson Chasing Bear (4-1-2, 3KO's), a loss for Negron is unthinkable though he has already learned the lessons he's needed. No longer will Negron start fights by thinking his power is all he needs, in fact his power as a heavyweight likely won't really appear for several years instead Negron will start to work with his physical advantages, his imposing figure is something that he has to use. His reach should be his key, it's actually longer than that of Wladimir Klitschko and only 2 inches shorter than Nikolay Valuev's.

Negron though isn't all about his short professional career, a career that has only featured 30 rounds. Carlos was also a brilliant amateur. He had won a silver medal in the 2005 Pan-American games and a bronze at the Central American and Caribbean Games the following year. Although he was unimpressive in the 2008 Olympics he was already having a growing reputation and would sign a professional deal very young. His size, skills and youth are all great aspects to one of Puerto Rico's top prospects and a fighter that all fight fans need to be taking note of.

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).

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

Billy Joe Saunders

As well looking at 1 international prospect every week (this week was was of course Carlos Ivan Velasquez) we'll also try to look at 1 UK based prospect, or at very least a fighter fighting the same week as the blog. The weeks second fighter is British youngster Billy Joe Saunders. Saunders, one of Britain's 2008 Olympic team is one of the countries forgotten Olympians, he's been over shadowed by most of the others such as James DeGale and Tony Jeffries, yet has just as much long term promise as anyone.

Saunders is 21 and was the baby of the Olympic team going as just a teenager. Despite being knocked out in the 2^nd round by the Cuban Carlos Banteaux (the eventual silver medal winner). As an amateur he had an impressive record, apparently winning his first 49 fights as a senior including all his fights at the 2007 Commonwealth Boxing Championships. Soon after the Olympics he would sign a professional contract with British boxing supremo Frank Warren and start his rise through the professional ranks.

Upon turning professional it didn't take Saunders long to make an impact. He needed less than 2 rounds to stop Hungarian Attila Molnar in show that also saw James DeGale and Frankie Gavin debut. Since then Saunders has racked up an impressive 7-0 (4) record and looked like an ever maturing fighter. Unlike many former amateurs Saunders isn't the type to be overly patient looking for single shots but has a very complete professional “style” based around aggression, coming forward and looking for the stoppage whether he gets it or not. With his youthful energy he looks exciting coming forward and throwing punches though we all know fine well that he has the technical skills to fall back on and box with if he needs to.

As a professional he has fought 24 rounds already in his career with distance fights against the likes of the tough Alex Spitko, the experienced Lee Noble (who had only been stopped once) and Andy Butlin. Billy Joe has looked impressive and a little hot headed, which at times has added a little bit more excitement and spite to the fight. Although he's still a youngster in terms of being a professional fighter he's shown he's not scared of older men and instead wants them to respect him as he beats them down. A side of him that is brilliant for a fighter.

Like Tyson Fury, Saunders is from travelling stock and has the fighting blood running through his veins. His father was an amateur whilst his mothers grandfather was the great Absolom Beeney, a legendary bare knuckle fighter. With this sort of pedigree and his Romany gypsy blood there should be no worries about Saunders knowing how to handle himself when the going gets tough. He'll have been brought up in a tough environment and often looks much older than his actual age. Amazingly as a fighter he's also been a traveller, each of his 7 fights have taken place in different areas, although 2 were in London, he's also fought in Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Belfast and Birmingham.

Saunders fights against 52 fight veteran Turgay Uzun from Turkey on the undercard of John Murray's fight with Karim El Ouazghari. Saunders is facing a tough hard punching fighter who has only been stopped twice and holds 22 KO's in 35 wins. Though Uzun should be a relatively safe test as he is a substantially smaller man and was making Welterweight last year when he took on World title challenger Rafal Jackiewicz (and went the 8 round distance). A win is expected of Saunders though a genuine stoppage win will be very impressive.

Carlos Ivan Velasquez

I would like to welcome you to the new boxing prospects blog, a blog that continues the work I used to do for Ringnews24.com under the title of “Prospect Scotting”. Due to a series of changes in life and work this blog is effectively taking over from what was, for some of last year, a weekly column talking about a prospect. Unlike last years column however these prospects don't need to have a fight lined up but need to just be a solid, talent prospect. To start this off we'll be looking at a very promising Puerto Rican fighter called Carlos Ivan Velasquez .

Carlos Ivan Velasquez is 26 years old and is unbeaten as a professional in 13 fights with 11 wins by KO. So far he has fought for 39 rounds as a professional with no fights having gone beyond 6 rounds, though has past solid tests already in his short career. Velasquez was a top amateur (more about that later) prior to turning professional in 2007. In his debut he defeated Stephan Arnold in 86 seconds whilst his twin brother and fellow prospect Juan Carlos Velasquez (currently 10-1, 5KO's as a professional) defeated Manuel Angulo over the 4 round disance.

Carlos Ivan would progress quickly as a professional having only 3 fights to ease himself into the professional ranks before facing substantially more experienced fighters. He would stop the tough experienced David Maund, who was difficult to stop despite being a “career loser” (he took a 4-13 record to the ring having been stopped only twice) and face several similar type of opponents. Carlos would prove to be too good for these types of tough men who are expected to test the stamina of prospects. It wasn't until Velasquez fought Manuel Sarabia that the Puerto Rican would hear the final bell. Sarabia had been stopped several times previously though his record going in was 16-24-9 with 11 stoppage losses he was a tough fighter. Sarabia had taken Mickey Garcia the 6 round distance, ending an 8 fight KO streak from the Oxnard man and would go on to take Abner Mares 6 rounds after Velaquez fought him.

Along side Sarabia as men to last the schedule is Juan Nazario (who entered 6-1-1). Nazario recently proved his toughness by going up to Light Welterweight to face Russian Khabib Allakhverdiev and last the distance. Since beating Nazario Velasquez' stock has been on the rise with impressive victories coming in his last two fights. Firstly was the stoppage of Ira Terry (who was 24-2 at the time and had never been stopped). Terry was bullied around by a faster, stronger heavier man in Velasquez who just dominated his opponent and stopped him as shown in the video below. In his last fight Velasquez had 5 round, easy on the eye war with Eduardo Arcos showed that Valeasquez can trade, bang, box and wear opponents down.

As a professional boxrec.com rank Velasquez as the 73^rd best Super Featherweight in the world, and the 5^th best from Puerto Rico (behind former world champion Roman Martinez, the capable Daniel Jimenez, Martinez's next opponent the unbeaten Luis Cruz and the 2 time title contender Mario Santiago). The IBO's computer ranking system rank him at 43^rd in the world at Featherweight, a division that he has never actually made as a professional. He is the 2^nd highest ranked Puerto Rican at the weight according to the IBO who rank Luis Cruz at 38^th in the world at featherweight.

As well as being a promising professional Velasquez was a very good amateur. He went to the 2004 Athens Olympics as a 20 year old Featherweight and was unlucky to go out to to Edvaldo Oliveira in the round of 32 (on countback of a 43-43 draw). Although the excellent Aleksei Tishchenko would take the gold (and would have almost certainly beaten Velasquez had the two met) Velasquez would prove how good he was over the following years. His stand out amateur highlight was winning gold at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games in Cartagena, Colombia. On his route to gold he would defeat Marlon Almagro, Ronald de la Rosa (in the final) and the excellent Yuriorkis Gamboa in the Semi Final. Gamboa had won Flyweight gold in the 2004 Olympics is one of the most talented Featherweights in the world today having won both the WBA and IBF titles as a professional.

Velasquez is certainly one of the most promising and exciting young Puerto Ricans prospects around at the moment and hopefully 2011 will see him building on a great 2010.