Showing posts with label Young. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Young. Show all posts

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

Genesis Servania

The Filipino boxing scene is one of the hottest right now and that's due to the huge number of prospects the country has. In the past I've looked at Milan Melindo, Sylvester Lopez and Froilan Saludar and it's time to add the name of unbeaten rising star Genesis Servania (16-0, 5) to our little ensemble.

Born in 1991 Genesis is one of the "babies" of professional boxing though is a fighter who is almost certainly a star in the making and is already climbing up through the boxrec and IBO top 100 at Super Bantamweight which is a division that Genesis has grown into since his debut back in 2009. In his debut Genesis weighed just 108lbs as he defeated Mike Espanosa (TKO2) and swiftly followed it up with 6 more wins in the next 12 months as he kept busy and kept growing and by the time he stopped Melchor Abcede (KO6) Genesis had become a fully blown Bantamweight.

Genesis had quickly and quietly gone about his business racking up wins against lower tier opposition with out too many problems, though he did struggle against Jun Piacidad winning just a split decision against the more experienced opponent in Genesis' first foray into the 8 round distance. Despite the fact he had been taking out pointing lower level opposition it seemed only a matter of time before until Genesis would have to step up and in 2011 he faced his first name fighter in Gerson Guerrero. Guerrero, a former title contender took an impressive record of 34-8 (26) into the bout against the then 14-0 (5) Servania, despite the difference in experience Servania was too big and too Fresh for his well respected Mexican opponent.

Servania has picked up a solitary win since defeating Guerrero though now finds himself in another test as he faces tough Kenyan Nick Otieno (21-7, 9). Although Otieno isn't a world level boxer he has recently fought for the Commonwealth Bantamweight title against Jamie McDonnell and has also lost to the talented Alexander Bakhtin so he has certainly mixed with a better class of opposition than Servania. Saying that however we would expect the young Filipino to defeat Otieno over the distance.

Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Robert Manzanarez

The sport of boxing currently has a handful of professional fighters who are just 16 years old. These were the youngest fighters I could find, the youngest individual was Robert Manzanarez who was born on December 17th 1994. Now you may be thinking, a 16 year old Mexican, a fighter just starting his career, nothing to be too excited about, right? Well kinda. Mazanarez certainly is just starting his professional career in the scope of things, though he's already the most experienced 16 year old out there. With a record of 10-0 (7) he's not as inexperienced as we perhaps expected when we learnt his date of birth.

Robert was born in Phoenix, Arizona though is now based in the wonderful fighting city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa in Mexico. It was in Los Mochis that a 15 year old Robert would step into the professional ring for the first time. Robert had turned 15 just 3 three months before his debut, an age perhaps too young to be fighting. He would win that night by stopping Jose Rosario Lopez in 32 seconds and just 8 days later he would return to the ring to defeat Julio Carmona in 3 rounds.

Between the start of April 2010 and the end of June that same year Robert hand managed to notch up 5 more wins and had already amassed an impressive record of 7-0 (6). All those opponents he faced, apart from the man he faced on his debut, were making their own debuts though it was still impressive that the youngster was beating them with such ease. Even the man who had made it to the final bell, Ricardo Carrillo, was dropped from a body blow in a white wash decision of 40-35 on all 3 cards.

To end the year Robert would step up his competition slightly and beat the 1-3 Rafael Moreno in 2 rounds before out pointing Omar Martinez over 4 rounds. Before his 16th birthday Robert was 9-0 (7) though then he'd take a break. After 6 months out of action Robert “Tito” Manzanarez would have his next fight and face the 1-4 fighter Luis Angel Hernandez. Against Hernandez we would see the young prospect go 6 rounds en route to winning the decision. This would be the first time Manzanarez would go 6 rounds and even in this fight he would knock down his opponent to take a wide decision (60-51 on one card).

The 5'7” 16 year old has only fought once this year, the victory over Hernandez, though of course as a teenager will almost certainly have other things on his mind. It's very, very unlikely that we'll see him in a meaningful fight any time soon, if ever to be honest, he's too young for us to assume he'll be a star. Though hopefully when he next returns to the ring he'll have decided which weight he's suited at as he's boxed as low as Flyweight and at his heaviest has been over the Super Bantamweight limit. With a record of 10-0 (7) and a total of 28 rounds under his belt he's far from experienced, though as far as 16 year olds go, he's one of the most experienced we'll find in our great sport.

Video thanks to larazabox


Wednesday, 6 April 2011

Karl Place

British boxing is still on a bit of a high, currently the Brits have 4 world champions to celebrate with Amir Khan (WBA Light Welterweight), Carl Froch (WBC Super Middleweight), David Haye (WBA Heavyweight) and Ricky Burns (WBO Super Bantamweight) and a number of high ranked contenders. It’s when we looking to the future that we see just how hot British boxing really is. Not only do we have fighters like John Murray on the verge of world title fights but a lot of young raw talent breaking through. This coming Saturday we see one of the most exciting young British prospects back in action in a major Sky Sports 1 show. Although the main event on “Saturday Fight Night” is Stuart Hall (10-0-1, 6KO’s) defending his British Bantamweight title against John Donnelly (12-1, 3KO’s) it’s the co-feature that really interests me.

22 year old Light Welterweight Karl Place (12-0, 7KO’s) returns to the ring to face George Watson (8-3-2, 1KO). Place is really one of the most exciting young talents in the UK and has shown plenty to be excited about so far. Stood at 5’11” Place has the natural size to fill out into perhaps even a Light Middleweight though for now he’s a tall lanky Light Welterweight with a big future ahead of himself and with VIP Promotions/Steve Wood behind him theirs no reason why he can’t become a big star.

Place debuted as a professional back in October 2008 just weeks after turning 20 and scored a 2nd round stoppage over Chris Kitson. He would follow that up over the proceeding months by beating up some of the best journeymen with points wins over Carl Allen, Johnny Greaves and Baz Carey. Those 3 fights account for 12 rounds of Place’s 40 career rounds to date. After those fights Place would defeat 3 fighters in confidence building victories before getting his most notable name to date, Steve Saville.

Saville was a limited fighter but a tough guy, although he entered on a 3 fight losing streak they had included a loss to Gary McArthur (who entered 11-0) and Frankie Gavin (who was 3-0). Place started the fight terribly and seemed to lack the defensive skill to keep Saville off him, he had his nose in the opening round and appeared to be eating Saville‘s left hand too often. Late in round Place was caught with a big shot and appeared to be wobbled. He came out for the 2nd and appeared to have calmed down as he went about breaking down Saville and beating him to the canvas in the 2nd. Saville had received hard blows to the body and head from Place who learned more in that fight than he had in his previous 7.



Since scoring the victory over Saville Place has fought 4 times, scoring wins over Michael Frontin (TKO5), experienced journeyman Billy Smith (4PTS), Maurycy Gojko (TKO3) and Danny Dontchev (6PTS). With George Watson in the opposite corner on Saturday Place competes in his first fight scheduled for 8 rounds and Watson, despite the losses on his record is a tough fight. To date Watson has only been stopped once, two fights ago by Stephen Jennings (LTKO3) and has since taking the hard hitting Carl Johanneson 8 rounds. A stoppage for place would be hugely impressive, though a win would expected and still impressive for Place.

Video’s courtesy of Frank Maloney’s Youtube channel.
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