Leroy Estrada

After looking at Robert Manzanarez recently it seems only fair to look at another incredibly young fighter, this time Leroy Estrada. Estrada is another of the really young fighters aged just 16 and is fighting out of his native Panama and currently competes in and around the Minimumweight division.

Born in La Chorrera in the south of Panama not much is currently known about the youngsters childhood other than the fact he was born June 16^th 1994 with the full name of Omar Leroy Estrada Avila. As Panama is a country with Spanish naming traditions we can assume his fathers surname to be Estrada and his mothers to to be Avila, though why “Omar” was dropped I'm not sure.

At the moment it seems little is known of his amateur credentials though he would debut as a professional on a Septetember 2010 card set up by Panama's “Premium Boxing Promotions” (which is apparently run by Hector Villarreal, though details are difficult to come by and mostly in Spanish). On that card, which was free admission apparently, Leroy faced fellow debutant Davis Reyes. Estrada would score 2 knockdowns en-route to a 40-34 decision over 4 rounds.

Estrada would return to the ring in November and December of 2010 to add two more wins to his record stopping Jose Angel Montilla (KO3) and out pointing Guatemalan Julio Canastuj (UD4) to end the year 3-0 (1). Since then Estrada has fought just once, a rematch with Julio Canastuj which again saw Estrada winning the decision (UD6) to move to 4-0 (1).

On this coming Friday night Leroy Estrada gets his next bout when he faces Nicaraguan Pedro Reyes (0-1). This should be little more than an elementary win for the young Estrada against a man who hasn't fought in over 2 years though it's not a bad thing to see Estrada treat with kids gloves at this early stage. Hopefully Premium Boxing will bring along the youngster slowly and correctly rather than rush him and put him in bouts where he could end up being hurt.

Sadly I couldn't find much at all in regards to him, though Boxrec did have this image on their site:
http://static.boxrec.com/wiki/a/a1/Leroy_Estrada.001.jpg


Rankings:
Boxrec.com have Estrada at #78 in the world and at #5 in Panama

Carlos “Chocorroncito” Buitrago

Often in boxing it can be easy to get caught up in the hype of a prospect before they prove anything. We try not to but often we get drawn in. It's happened with us all, fighters like James Kirkland, Francisco Bojado and Danny Jacobs have promised the world then failed to deliver. It seems like all of Nicaragua is hoping that Carlos “Chocorroncito” Buitrago will turn out to be much more than just hype.

Born in Mangua in December 1991 Buitrago would take up boxing as a young child and was trained early on by Nicaraguan icon Alexis Arguello. In fact Buitrago would be trained by Arguello until the great man's death just a few short years ago. After a reported 165-7, (48) amateur record Buitrago would turn professional and when he was just 16 years old he would make his debut under the Boxeo Prodesa of Nicaragua promotional team.

Buitrago's debut, a 4 round decision victory over fellow debutant Oscar Lopez occurred in May 2008 and by the end of the year Buitrago had built up a record of 8-0 (6). Both Lopez and Ernesto Castillo, his first 2 opponents had managed to survive the 4 round distance before being stopped in rematches as Buitrago would progress nicely at the early stages of his professional career. The following year would see Buitrago building further on his career and record and by the end of 2009 he had amassed an excellent ledger of 13-0 (10). The most impressive thing though, was that Buitrago had shown more than just the skills but also the heart of a fighter having been dropped for the first time in his career before rallying back and stopping Edgar Jimenez. It was the fight with Jimenez that saw some really start to pay attention as Buitrago won his first title, the WBO Youth Minimumweight title.

Buitrago had just turned 18 and won his first title though was already being compared to stable mate Roman Gonzalez, a fighter who was at the time a world champion. He was being lauded over due to his handspeed, jab, and what seemed like natural born skill. He was rising up the computer ranking systems and yet it was 2010 that really saw him rising through the general rankings. He would add 4 more wins in 2010 and be pushed into longer fights, he was forced to go 8 rounds and soon afterwards 9 rounds. During 2010 he would add to his title collection by winning the WBA Fedecentro Minimumweight title, this title helping him gain a world ranking with the WBA. It was whilst defending this title that he would also suffer his first “set back”, a 2 round no contest after a clash of heads with Eddy Castro.

Buitrago has fought just once in 2011 stopping Eddy Castro in 2 rounds to undo-the dirty mark on his record and move to 18-0-0-1 (13). Though perhaps more telling than his record and trinkets are the views of the men he has been sparring with. Both Roman Gonzalez (WBA Light Flyweight and former Minimumweight champion) and Juan Palacios (WBA interim Minimumweight champion) have sparred with Buitrago and said that he's improving, Gonzalez jokingly saying he's moving up a weight before Buitrago beats him up. Sparring with these sorts of top fighters will only see Buitrago improving and with Prodesa behind him he'll almost certainly be moved towards a world title fight in the next few years.

Although only 19 years old Buitrago is ranked extremely highly by all the organisations. He is the WBO #2 , WBA #8, IBF #15 and WBC #22 ranked fighter at Minimumweight. Although the WBO have rated him a little bit too highly the IBF and WBC seem pretty fair, he's around the top 20 in the world and given another few years he should be in and around the title holders on merit, not just the hype that some have given him. The supremely talented fighter who has a technical style with fast hands and movement had started to give his more experienced sparring partners difficulties and yet is still a kid. As he grows the power will come and although questions do still remain over his chin and stamina they are likely to be answered when he steps up. For now though he's one of boxing's true prospects and a fighter we should all keep an eye on.

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 17^th 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 16^th 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

Daniel "Bad Boy" Rosas

Young Mexican fighters seem to be the rising part of the sport. At the moment Mexico have more “World Champions” than any other country and it seems with the likes of Marco Antonio Periban, Gilberto Ramirez Sanchez and Julio Ceja they will be dominating for the foreseeable future. Despite the fact so many young Mexicans are making their mark it's impossible to know which will become the biggest success story, though another name to add to the huge list is Daniel Rosas.

Rosas was born in 1989 and is currently aged 21 though the past few years have been really stop start in regards to his boxing career. He debuted way back in November 2007 though only racked up 4 fights prior to 2010. Whilst he had won all 4 bouts 3 of them in the opening round, it wasn't a great start for a Mexican teenager who are typically kept incredibly active.

Something happened in 2010 that really kick started Rosas' career and in just his 5^th professional bout he would win the WBC Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) super flyweight title by stopping the then 7-0-1 Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr in 2 rounds. This would be the first title for Rosas though almost certainly won't be the last.

Since beating Sanchez Jr back in February of last year Rosas has been on a run of impressive victories beating far more experienced fighters in a run of form that has seen him being mentioned as a real star for the future. It's been his last 3 fights that have really been the most impressive. In November of last year he faced the then 21-5 Mario Macias in a bout that really proved Rosas was a special talent. Rosas would have to pick himself off the canvas before scoring a decision victory and dropping Macias twice in 8 rounds. It was the first time Rosas had had to go beyond 4 rounds and it was also the first time he had been down and yet he managed to past the test.

To end 2010 Rosas would face the 18-0 Felipe Orucuta. Orucuta was older, more experienced and naturally bigger. The two men would meet in a competitive bout though Rosas would manage to take the decision by the narrowest of margins, with scores of 95-94 (twice) and 96-94 all favouring Rosas. This result really made some folks sit up and take note, it was a stand out fight between two prospects and really a result that looks better now than it did at the time. Orucuta has since gone on to stop Julio David Roque Ler, who has famously taken top fighters the schedule including Jorge Arce and Alexander Munoz.

Rosas has only fought once in 2011 though he would score an incredibly impressive stoppage against David Gaspar who had only previously been stopped by world challenger Carlos Rueda. Sadly though Rosas seems to be wasting more time and after having a fabulous 2010 he's running the risk of losing his momentum if he only fights every 5 months. Amazingly there was talk of Rosas facing Fernando Montiel though thankfully that talk doesn't seem to have come fruition as that would still be a step too far for the youngster.

Daniel “Bad Boy” Rosas as he is known now stands at 10-0 (7) as a professional. Currently he is ranked #38 at Super Bantamweight by Boxrec.com, #45 by the IBO at at Bantamweight but most impressively #15 at Bantamweight by the WBC. He's certainly a fighter on the up, though can he continue his rise? Only time will tell.

 Video below thanks to taverarichard It's of Rosas fight with Gabriel Aguillon, and although the stoppage is poor it's the best quality video of the young Bad Boy.

Sadam Ali

When it comes to rising American fighters, those in the know really are big on one young man, Sadam Ali. Known as “The World Kid” the 22 year old from Brooklyn seems to have been one of the quiet but improving fighters who people have perhaps forgotten about since his failure at the 2008 Olympic games. At the Olympics he would face talented Romanian Georgian Popescu who would thoroughly out point the young Ali though it was a learning experience. It would end Ali's amateur career which had seen him winning a number of competitions including 2 Golden Gloves championships.

After the Olympics Ali would turn professional and by the end of 2009 Ali was 4-0 (2) having stopped Ricky Thompson in his opening bout in just 102 seconds. Through 2010 Ali would add another 7 wins as he seemed to stand head and shoulders against the fighters he was facing. Although a win over Costa Rican Lenin Arroyo was impressive (Arroyo is a a veteran who had been durable though does seem to have faded in recent years) it seems like Ali was still a fighter playing in the low gears.

After 4 months out of the ring Ali started his 2011 and stopped Javier Perez on the Tomasz Adamek v Kevin McBride under card with a brilliant KO. Ali will return to the ring this coming Friday night at the same venue of the Adamek v McBride card (The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey) to face John Revish. Revish who is 10-3-2 (8) is another fighter that we'd expect Ali to beat with out too many problems and hopefully then move on to facing much better opponents as at the moment Ali is simply not being tested.

The super sharp, accurate puncher is so far not being forced to really show what he has and is getting away with winning whilst fighting on cruise control. We'd all love to see him in with someone who can force something else form him, though it could be a while before we see him in such a fight. Fighting in the talent heavy Welterweight division isn't going to help though he's young and will grow into a full blown Welterweight or even a Light Middleweight. He's one to keep an eye on and his fight with Revish will be a great chance to see just how good he is.

Sylvester Lopez

You won't often see a fighter with a record of 15-3-1 (11) being called a great prospect but Sylvester Lopez is a rare exception to the rule. The 23 year old Filipino could easily have been 16-2-1 (12) had a referee not made an awful call against him late last year in a fight that will be explained later on.

Sylvester (also spelt Silvester) Lopez made his professional debut in 2006 when he was 18 years old and he would beat Joey Balmes over a 4 decision. This was followed by 3 more wins as the youngster climbed to 4-0 (2) as nobody opponents in his homeland before suffering 2 losses and a draw in his following 3 fights to fall to 4-2-1 (2). He was then 20 years old and hadn't seemed to settle into a boxing weight, he had dropped from 114lbs in his debut to 103lbs 8 months later and it seemed to take the bad results to get him to fight in a division he was comfortable and strong in, it appeared that weight was going to be the Super Flyweight (115lbs) division).

In just his 12^th bout Lopez would win the WBC International Super Flyweight title stopping the then unbeaten South Korean Jong-Nam Park for the title. Lopez would defend this title 2-times in total over 15 months as well as winning 3-none title fights. The title fight wins are the interesting results and probably the best sign of just how good Lopez actually is. The first defence came against Katsumi Makiyama, a fighter who had previously been in with Chatchai Sasakul and Medgoen Singsurat, Lopez managed to beat Makiyama in the 5^th round of an incredibly 1-sided affair. The second defence however came against the very experienced Thai Wandee Singwancha. Singwancha had been in more than 70 fights and had won more than 60 having had reigns as the WBC interim champion at Minimumweight and Light Flyweight. Lopez would stop Singwancha in the second round in an excellent performance.

Lopez had run up a record of 14-2-1 (10) though had only ever been fighting in the Philippines. In his first bout outside of his homeland he would travel to Mexico to face Rising Mexican Juan Jose Montes in a WBC title Eliminator. Montes entered the bout with a record of 18-1 (12) and a reputation as being a fighter on the rise. Montes would score an early knockdown on Lopez though Lopez mounted a spirited comeback and would open up a nasty cut over the eye of Montes from hard accurate punches. Montes kept touching his head as if to indicate that it was caused by a clash of heads though footage seems to show it was from a punch. The referee decided at the end of the 3^rd round that it was caused by a clash of heads and as a result Lopez was deducted a point due to the WBC's rules. The cut would late end the fight in the fifth round and Montes took the win by technical decision, had the cut have been ruled to have come from a punch Lopez would have won by a TKO.

Since the controversial loss to Montes Lopez has fought once defeating Noel Sungahid and on this coming Saturday Lopez returns to the ring to face Everardo Morales. Morales has a record of 34-16-2-1(23) in a career that has seen him facing the likes of Koki Kameda, Tomas Rojas and Hugo Fidel Cazares so a win for Lopez will have him in good company.

Lopez isn't the best young fighter from the Philippines though he is one worth making a note of already.

Kubrat Pulev

We are all calling for former great Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield to retire from the sport of boxing, though on his up coming card in Denmark where Holyfield faces Brian Nielsen we have one of the hottest rising Heavyweight prospects, Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev. Pulev was a former elite amateur competing on the international scene and being involved in World championships and Olympics before turning professional. Kubrat would continue as an amateur for almost a full year after a very unimpressive 2008 Olympics.

On Pulev's debut he would stop Florian Benke in September 2009 and ended the year 4-0 (2) after adding wins over Serdar Uysal, Gbenga Oloukun and Zack Page. It seemed as if Pulev was going to be active and just need a few years to really establish himself as a premier heavyweight. 2010 started the same way, he stopped former world title challenger Matt Skelton in January and by May 2010 Pulev's record stood at a brilliant 8-0 (5). All of this was achieved in less than 9 months as a professional.

Sadly his career has slowed down substantially since then despite having added good rounds against good heavyweights. In fact his wins have included one time American hopeful Dominick Guinn, Olympic bronze medal winner Paolo Vidoz and also Yaroslav Zavorotnyi (a less impressive victory). He has amassed a solid looking record of 11-0 (5) and has several noteworthy names on his record already, he has shown a good jab and technical skills and although he's not lightning quick or mega powerful the man known “The Cobra” has been winning.

His bout on the Holyfield undercard sees him facing American fighter Derric Rossy who enters with a 25-3 record. Rossy is experienced and has mixed with the likes of Eddie Chambers and Ray Mercer though I can't help but feel that Rossy doesn't bring anything new to the ring that we've not seen already from Pulev's opponents. Rather than staying at this level of opponent what Pulev's management should perhaps do it try and keep pushing him, try and get an opponent like Alexander Dimitrenko who is ranked in the top 15 or so.

Pulev stands around 6'4” and appears to perhaps carry a little bit of extra weight, in fact he'd probably work best in the low 230's instead he's been above and around 247 a weight that really is unnecessary for him. If he can get into shape, and I don't even mean the prime Holyfield ripped to the nines shape, then he'd been a real potential challenger, but instead the soon to be 30 year old seems to have a party boy reputation that could destroy, or at very least, slow his progression to a world title fight.