Marco Antonio Periban

It seems recently this page has been a little bit forgotten about for a number of reasons, mainly my work on a different site. Though to bring this site back to the public's attention I'll be talking about one of my hot tips for the future, Mexican Super Middleweight Marco Antonio Periban (12-0, 9). Periban is a 26 year old who turned professional in 2008 though has started to race up the rankings after a number of noteworthy wins.

After being a very solid amateur fighter in his native Mexico he would turn professional and score a 3^rd round KO on his debut over fellow debutant Oscar Solis. In fact only one of his first 5 contests would go to a decision and that was his second professional bout when he faced Miguel Zamarripa who managed to survive the 4 rounds the bout was scheduled for. He would quickly run to 6-0 (4) adding by taking the 0 of the then 10-0-1 Richard Vidal by decision and it started to seem as if the Mexican was really one to watch despite being such a novice to the pros.

Periban's early career wasn't all easy work though, he was dropped in his 7^th professional contest by Salomon Rodriguez in the toughest fight of his career. Periban would take a split decision that night and manage to escape with a perfect record though alarm bells were ringing that maybe he wasn't going to be fast tracked as some assumed. In his 8^th bout he would face the very durable Jason Naugler, who had managed to take the explosive David Lemieux the distance. Whilst Naugler's durability weren't an issue his face, which was cut and swelling was and Periban became only the 2^nd man in over 30 fights to stop Naugler in a fight that allowed him to show all the facets to his game.

Since the stoppage win over Naugler we have seen Periban run up 4 more straight wins by KO in the opening 2 rounds. Included in those wins were victories over the durable and tough Darnell Boone and over the then 10-0 Dion Savage.

Periban has been pencilled in to fight on the undercard of Gilberto Keb Baas' WBC Light Flyweight world title fight against Adrian Hernandez though an opponent seems to be rather difficult to find for the rising Mexican star. The rumour is that Periban will be fighting Jose Alberto Clavero (30-7-1) from Argentina who is 5-6-1 in his last 12 bouts and would feel like a rather under-whelming opponent for Periban.

Periban is a very skilled fighter with fast heavy hands and although questions may be about his chin and stamina he's an excellent and exciting addition to the Super Middleweight division and certainly a name to watch out for.

Prospect Review Pt 1

Since this blog was started at the end of March we've seen 12 fighters profiled, with 8 of those having fought since they were featured in this blog. All 8 of those fighters have kept their unbeaten records and moved another step up in the boxing world.

Billy Joe Saunders was the first fighter mentioned in this blog who has fought since. He scored an impressive 2^nd round stoppage over Turkish fighter Turgay Uzun. Uzun had gone in as a tough opponent, his record was an unimpressive 35-15-2 going in but he had only ever been stopped twice in his 52 fights. Those stoppages had dated back to 2002 when he suffered an injury against Michele Orlando and a 2010 TKO against Damian Jonak (currently the WBC's #9 ranked Light Middleweight). A win for Saunders was expected but the stoppage was a bonus even if Uzun did effectively quit. The fight may have been an easy one but Saunders made it look easier than it was to defeat a veteran who has made a career out of surviving.

Frank Warren http://www.youtube.com/user/frankwarren




Rakhim Chakhkiev was the next fighter mentioned just days before his American debut against the experienced Harvey Jolly. Chakhkiev didn't struggle at all with Jolly and showed solid power with both hands as well a good active work rate. Although at times he did look a little wild it seemed more down to over confidence against Jolly who appeared unable to hurt him. The body attack of Chakhkiev was hugely impressive and although he's not a huge Cruiserweight he's powerful and those body shots will always have an effect. The fight was on the under card of Erik Morales v Marcos Maidana and was hugely impressive in scoring a 3^rd round KO.

ShareMMMAnos http://www.youtube.com/user/ShareMMMAnos



Gary Russell Jr was originally meant to be on the Morales v Maidana under-card though that fight fell through and instead of facing Ira Terry as first reported he fought Adolfo Landeros the following Friday. Landeros was sadly not the same quality of test that Terry would have been and Russell dominated the 6 round contest after scoring a knock-down in the opening round. Russell moves to an impressive looking 15-0 (9) and at 22 years old that's fine and they are bringing him through well though hopefully they'll put him in with someone a few steps up from Landeros next time out.


BoxingProspect http://www.youtube.com/user/BoxingProspect


Karl Place moved to 13-0 (8) with a 5^th round TKO over George Watson who had only been stopped once previously (by Stephen Jennings) and had survived 8 torrid rounds against Carl Johanneson back in January. 22 year old Place is being brought along well and given time to move up the rankings with out being in too many risky fights at this point. Unlike Gary Russel (above) the expectations on Place are much smaller and he'll likely remain at British level for a while longer than the ultra talented Russell.

Thomas Dulorme of Puerto Rico has really become a bit of an over night sensation after scoring a knock-out of the year contender against Harrison Cuello on the under-card of Victor Ortiz v Andre Berto. Dulorme, who started his career with a majority decision in 2008 has moved to 11-0 (10) and become a real sensation at Welterweight despite turning professional at Lightweight and now at 21 years old seems to have the world as his oyster. He has been active in 2011 having fought 3 times already and hopefully his time will capitalise on his new found fame by striking whilst the iron is hot. Dulorme has all the markings of a star though really will need to be given tougher tests before we mark him down as Puerto Rico's next great star.

JFKConspiracy (via sweetboxing)

Carlos Negron, the 6'6” Puerto Rican who turned professional as a skinny cruiserweight just a couple of years ago is now becoming a fully fledged Heavyweight and has extend his record to 12-0 (8) and 2-0 (1) as a Heavyweight. He beat the wonderfully named Emerson Chasing Bear on the Juan Manuel Lopez v Orlando Salido under-card by 4^th round by TKO. Although I've not seen the fight Negron could well be a true force in the division if he continues to develop like many feel he can. He's a huge fighter with a wonderfully athletic build and if he manages to get his jab going his 83” reach will be one of the sports most potent weapons.

Jamie “The Nuisance” Kavanagh made his UK debut on the under-card of Amir Khan v Paul McCloskey and beat regular test case Sid Razak over a 6 round decision. Razak, in his 70^th professional contest fell to 6-64 whilst Kavanagh progressed to 6-0 (2). The 20 year old from Dublin (though based in LA) will be given time to develop his talent and power though he's still a name that needs to be remembered for the future.

John Jackson was one of the last names mentioned by this blog and last night, in Uruguay he extend his record to an impressive 10-0 (9). The son of famed punched Julian Jackson seems to be following in his father's footsteps as a power punching force. Aged just 22 it might be too early to mark him as a future star though the Light Middleweight from the U.S. Virgin Islands is a fighter who must be on the verges of making a US debut after having fought at home, in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

The fighters who haven't fought since this blog went live:
Carlos Ivan Velasquez
Gilberto Ramirez Sanchez
Froilan Saludar
Joe Hanks (fights on 22^nd April against Terrell Nelson)

Joe Hanks

American heavyweights have become a global boxing joke in recent years, the term seems synonymous with “old and faded” or “fat and never was”. A look at the top young American heavyweights include blubber boy Chris Arreola, Eddie “Chubby” Chambers and Chazz “My dads name is what I have” Witherspoon. The older bunch include Evander “How old is he now?” Holyfield, Ray “The Oldman” Austin and Hasim “The Crock” Rahman.

Although it's somewhat difficult to know which heavyweight is going to be a star one of America's best hopes is unbeaten Joe “The Future” Hanks. Hanks has a record that reads 15-0 (10) and is seen as a developing heavyweight who is several years from reaching his prime. As a resultof this he has has so far faced relatively average opponents. This trend seems set to continue in his next fight (where as part of a card televised by ESPN 2 as part of “Friday Night Fights” Terrell Nelson) though he's being given time to learn the ropes and get rounds under his belt.

Hanks turned professional in December 2007 after a solid amateur career in the US but doesn't quite seem to have progressed as many hoped he would have. He deburted by defeating Joseph Rabotte in the 2^nd round then got taken 4 rounds by Corey Winfield, though his first opponent of note came 15 months after his debut when he faced trail horse Alvardo Morales. Morales had scored a draw with Seth Mitchell and had never been stopped prior to facing Hanks, though Hanks needed just 172 seconds to change that. This was followed by several steps up and was highlighted when he beat the then 10-0 Ashanti Jordan by decision. At this point it seemed like Hank's was being pushed as an emerging heavyweight saviour

Hanks' career though wouldn't continue in the same vein. 2010 seemed a mostly wasted year for Hanks who despite fighting 5 times seemed to regularly take one step forward to take 2 steps back. Wins over journeyman Cliff Couser and the once hotly tipped Johnnie White were followed by fights with novice Marcus Dickerson and Villi Bloomfield (who was coming in on 2 straight losses). It seemed as if Hanks' career management flicked between being confident of their man and being unsure of his capabilities.

The fights he has been given have left some fans as unsure on him as his team appear to be. He has shown good but not great power and speed, technically he looks flawed and sometimes as if he is fighting well within himself. Although having a bit of a “Shannon Briggs” look to him he lacks that fight changing power and destructiveness of “The Cannon” and at times looks like a mini Briggs. He stands at around 6'4” and weights 230-240, with an athletic but muscular build, a far cry from so many other American Heavyweights of today. Hanks is now 28 and will have to make a move in the next 12 months if he wants to become a major player in the division. Sadly his up coming fight on Friday is against Terrell Nelson (8-11, with 2 No Decisions and 5KO's). Nelson enters the bout aged 39 and having gone 0-7, 2ND in his last 9 fights (dating back to 2007), hardly the step up that Hanks needs in his career.

Froilan "The Sniper" Saludar

Having recently seen an episode of KOTV I became aware of 22 year old Filipino flyweight Froilan Saludar (11-0-1, 8KO's). Although what KOTV showed of Saludar was limited to a mere 84 seconds it was 84 very impressive seconds for the youngster. Saludar's February fight with Liempetch Sor Veerapol (21-9-1, 14KO's) was shown in full by KOTV and it showed everything to get excited about.

Saludar made his professional debut in late 2009 when he was 20 years old and scored an opening round TKO over fellow debutant Roland Gamolo. In fact Saludar's first 3 contests ended in the opening round. Saludar's run of KO's would end with 3 straight decision wins including a 6 rounder against Ryan Illustrisimo. In his next fight Saludar's record took it's first black with a technical draw against Brian Diano after a clash of heads very early in the fight caused the early end.

Since the technical draw Saludar has really started to progress his career. He would win his first title, the WBO Asia Pacific Youth flyweight title 5 months after the Diano fight by defeating Remuel Obidos in just 146 seconds. The win over Obidos showed the impressive power of Saludar who left Obidos out cold in the centre of the ring face first. (Video below courtesy of MrJerbox10)

Since knocking out Obidos for the WBO Asia Pacific Youth title Saludar has fought twice, defending the title once and then adding the WBO Youth flyweight title when he faced Sor Veerapol. (Video below courtesy of localhawaiian1) in just 84 seconds.

So far the man known as “The Sniper” has shown fantastic potential, he has lightning fast hands, hurtful power in both hands and true 1 punch KO power. Although he lacks experience having just fought 29 rounds as a professional he's managed to climb up the world rankings and now stands at #5 with the WBO at Flyweight. Stood at 5'5” Froilan Saludar could well be the next big boxing star from the fight crazy Philippines following in the footsteps of Nonito Donaire and Manny Pacquiao.

 

John Jackson, the son of the Hawk

Although most fighters with famous fathers appear poor and average there is one fighter who has a famous father and seems to be going places is 22 year old hard punching John Jackson (9-0, 8), the son of the legendary banger Julian Jackson. John, and older brother Julius (10-0, 6) are both pencilled in to fight on Tuesday in an obscure card in Uruguay though both have been somewhat forgotten fighters in the ranks of “jr's”.

John is a light middleweight fighting in the same division where his father made a name for himself. Julian won the WBA title in the division in 1987 by beating In Chul Baek for the title and John will have that the achievement of his father to aspire too (who would also become the WBC Middleweight champion on 2 separate occasions). Though comparisons to his dad are currently somewhat unfair, so lets look at John for who John is.

Born in January 1989, just 17 months after brother Julian, John made his first major mark on the boxing word by defeating Pan-Am champion Pedro Lima (from Brazil) in an Olympic qualifier prior to the 2008 games in Beijing. Although Jackson was defeated in the 2nd round at the Olympic games the 19 year old had caught the eye of some promoters. A 10-0 loss to eventual bronze medal winner Kim Jung-Joo of South Korea was nothing to be ashamed of.

Rather than remain an amateur John would turn professional and alongside his older brother make his debut on 30th January 2009, just 2 weeks after turning 20. John would beat fellow debutant Alphonso Alexander in the 2nd round to start his career as a professional on a high note. (video of the fight can be found at the bottom of this blog). Despite an obvious blow after the bell to end the opening round the youngster looked rather good, he showed good power in his right hand and hurt Alexander numerous times with shots to the head.

John's first few opponents were incredibly raw novices, his first 4 opponents had a combined 1 fight (a 4 round draw) to their name and Jackson needed just 6 rounds to get rid of all 4 of them. His first opponent with any true experience was Rafael de la Cruz (2-34, 1) an opponent who was there to try and get a few rounds of experience out of the young Jackson. De la Cruz managed to survive into the 3rd round though didn't have enough to stave off the Jackson attack and was stopped like the previous 4 men.

2009 had been an easy year for Jackson, a year for him to get used to the pressures of the professional sport. 2010 was however a whole different ball game, this time Jackson was going to tested. His first bout of the year was against Mexican Alvaro Clinton Ayala who entered with a respectable 19-8 (10) record. Ayala's record although respectable for a 5 fight novice to face did include a 6 fight losing streak going in including 3 by knockout. Jackson would need just 3 rounds to extend his own record to 5-0 (5). This was swiftly followed by a 43 second blow out of the then 6-10 Valerio Marte. To end 2010 Jackson faced the 24 year old 9-0 (5) Manuel Martinez and was taken into the 4th round for the first time in his career. Jackson would keep his KO streak alive by stopping Martinez in the 4th as he extend his KO streak to 8 and his record still stood at a perfect 8-0 (8).

In his only fight of 2011 so far Jackson would be extended the distance for the first time as Carlos Argentinian Andres Araya (7-4 entering) took Jackson to the end of the scheduled 6 round contest. Jackson may not have managed to stop Araya though he had managed to win every round of the fight and proved he could fight for 6 rounds. On Tuesday Jackson faces his stiffest test to date when he meets Brazilian puncher Welson Alves de Oliveira (14-4, 12). Oliveira sports an impressive record “on paper” though his record is somewhat padded and his most notable fight to date was a 3rd round loss to Britain's Denton Vassell in December 2010. A victory for Jackson is expected and the result should be compared directly to that of Vassell who is the current Commonwealth Welterweight champion.

Whether John will ever get close to the achievements of his 3-time, 2 weight world champion father isn't really something that we should concern ourselves with quite yet, the 22 year old still has a lot of developing to do, though we should be more than a little excited about him.

Video courtesy of rockcity45

The Failure of GBP (Golden Boy Prospects)

For the past few years I've been really critical of the way Golden Boy Promotions brings through young and promising prospects. Whilst they have a reputation for being “the fighters promotional company” and have helped stars make more money they've failed to ever create their own star from scratch. Instead of creating stars Golden Boy has either poached fighters who either have a huge following or are already world champions and have seen their own young bunch of fighters fall by the way side.

The company was formed in 2002 by Oscar De La Hoya and some associates including former opponents Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley. Over the following few years they aggressively contracted a number of fighters, generally signing well known names that were seen as bankable stars. They were seen as the company that offered the best for fighters, a move away from being promoted by the slimy businessmen like Bob Arum and Don King and a movement towards fighters having more control of their career.

The company had formed it's self a solid base to build cards from and over the following few years it would ink a series of TV deals, most notably with HBO, the premier network for fighters. Most of Golden Boy's shows are on HBO and inversely most HBO shows are Golden Boy promoted events. As the deals grew the company added a selection of prospects and younger fighters to their well established talent. These prospects however have an uncanny knack of failing to live up to the hype they had received.

In 2007 Golden Boy Promotions had signed Francisco “Panchito” Bojado. Although Bojado's record stood at 16-2 (11) the boxing world still had high hopes for the then 24 year old who had been ESPN's prospect of the year in 2001. Bojado had lost in 2002 to Juan Carlos Rubio and then in 2004 to former world champion Jesse James Leija before taking a hiatus. The hiatus ended in 2007 when he signed for Golden Boy though lasted only 3 fight before Bojado retired once again with an 18-3 (12) record. He retired after losing to Steve Forbes in October 2007 and hasn't been seen in the ring again.

The story of Bojado isn't the only case where a hotly tipped star of the future suffers a big loss. In 2008 they signed hot property “Vicious” Victor Ortiz. Ortiz held a 21-1-1 (16) with only a controversial disqualification loss and a technical draw marring his record at the time. Ortiz would start his Golden Boy career well by winning his first 3 fights under them to extend his record to 24-1-1 (19) then he was matches with Marcos Maidana. Maidana took a very impressive record of 25-1 (24) into the bout, his only loss had come against Ukrainian Andriy Kotelnik in a WBA Light Welterweight bout and that was a razor thin loss on the cards. Ortiz entered the bout as a heavy favourite though had people seen Maidana almost drop Kotelnik in their bout the confidence may have waned slightly. Although Ortiz started excellently dropping Maidana in the opening round and twice in the 2^nd round though Maidana's power and will broke Ortiz's heart. Ortiz has never looked the same since losing the 6^th round TKO to Maidana in 2009. The viciousness seems to have gone and a recent draw against Lamont Peterson seemed to say it all, Peterson was allowed back into the bout when the Ortiz of old would have beaten him down.

Danny Jacobs had been one of the brightest amateur stars in the US, he had won a number of national tournaments though narrowly missed out on the 2008 Olympics. Instead of waiting for London 2012 Jacobs turned professional aged just 20 and he would run up a KO heavy record beating very abject fighters. He was first really tested by Michael Walker who managed to take Jacobs 8 tough but one sided rounds, a few months later Ishe Smith gave Jacobs a wake up call pushing him all the way in a very close contest. Though Smith lost by cards reading 100-89 and 96-93 (twice) he had given Jacobs his toughest test by a long way and proved that Jacobs needed more seasoning before stepping up a level. Instead of being given seasoning fights Jacobs was given 2 very easy fights and his record had swelled to 20-0 (17) and he had fought just 57 rounds a professional. Instead of getting Jacobs the seasoning fights he needed he was instead pitted against Russian fighter Dmitry Pirog (16-0, (13) at the time). Pirog had had a series of tough learning fights, he had fought 92 rounds as a professional and had learnt more in some of those fights than Jacob had learnt in his entire career. Whilst Pirog was somewhat an unknown to the general boxing fans the hardcore fans had seen enough of him to know he was dangerous and he showed it when he knocked out Jacobs in the 5^th round. Pirog had burst the Jacobs bubble and Danny, who has fought twice since, hasn't been allowed to have a tough fight in his return to the ring. Golden Boy had helped build Jacobs a false sense of security and then saw it burst.

Most recently has been the 2011 mistake if you will. James Kirkland had a reputation both in and out of the ring. Outside of the ring he had mixed with the wrong crowd and had been in legal trouble on several occasions. In the ring James Kirkland had a reputation as one of the most exciting and fun to watch power punchers in the sport. Kirkland was signed to Golden Boy in late 2008 after a falling out with former promoter Gary Shaw, in fact this was one of those cases of “poaching” that I mentioned earlier on. Kirkland was 23-0 (20) at the time of signing for Golden Boy and would raise that to 26-0 (23) before being incarcerated in 2009. Boxing fans waited patiently for him to return to the ring and after his release in late 2010 boxing fans were excited, Kirkland had looked the real deal prior to his prison term when he stopped Joel Julio. A blow out of Ahsandi Gibbs in his return proved little, Gibbs was never at the level needed to test Kirkland. Jhon Berrio was Kirkland's second post release opponent and Berrio shouldn't have been a risk for Kirkland though Berrio appeared to really trouble Kirkland in the opening round before Kirkland stopped him in the 2^nd. The warning signs were there for all to see, Kirkland wasn't ready to fight anyone with any real quality and should instead have been given decent journeymen to fight. Instead of being given the right types Kirkland was thrown in with the talented former world champion (WBA Light Middleweight champion) Nobuhiro Ishida. Ishida would need only 112 seconds to drop Kirkland 3 times and Joe Cortez would wave the fight off.

With the career of Bojado all over, the career of Ortiz hanging by a thread (he meets Andrew Berto in a WBC Welterweight title clash on April 16^th, a loss will see him need to rebuild from scratch), Daniel Jacobs' career in need of rebuilding and James Kirkland at the very start of the rebuilding process question need to be asked as to why Golden Boy can't get it right. Their current young world champions including Amir Khan and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez had seen previous promoters do the leg work and bring them through. Khan had been guided to a world title (WBA Light Welterweight title) by former promoter Frank Warren whilst Alvarez had had Tutico Zabala (from Puerto Rico) promote him for the 2 years prior to him signing with Golden Boy Promotions. Zabala also claim they still have a valid contract with “Canelo” which if it turns out to be true could well scupper his career. Rather similarly Golden Boy recently jumped the gun when they announced they had signed The Filipino Flash Nonito Donaire, who it appears still has a valid contract with Top Rank. Maybe for young, rising stars, Golden Boy looks tempting, though fighters should really think twice before signing anything.

Jamie Kavanagh

20 year old Irishman Jamie “The Nuisance” Kavanagh is one of the sports true super prospects, he's shown all the facets every young rising star needs to show though also combines it with a fantastic team behind him and a reputation to build on. His reputation dates back to his long and storied amateur days in which he ran up an impressive 168-12 record and won a number of national competitions.

In 2008 Kavanagh was one of the Irish team at the World Youth Amateur Boxing Championships and won the silver medal in the Light Welterweight division. The team was a very successful one coming 4^th in the medals table with 4 medals (including 1 gold medal-Raymond Moylett, Kavanagh's silver and bronze medals from both David Joe Joyce and Tommy McCarthy).Of those 4 medal winners only Kavanagh has turned professional so far and has been training under the hand of famed trainer Freddie Roach.

Under Roach's guiding hand Kavanagh made his debut in May 2010 and won by stopping William Gare in the 2^nd round of the fight. Unlike most boxers Kavanagh's debut was rather high profile and took place in the world famous Madison Square Garden on the undercard of Amir Khans fight with Paul Malignaggi. This victory was followed by 2 decision wins for Kavanagh over fellow novice professionals as he picked up experience and got solid rounds under his belt. Although he was fighting on undercards that also included fighters like Gary Russell Jr, Frankie Gomez and Jesse Vargas he was always impressing.

To end 2010 Kavanagh would score his 2^nd stoppage win blowing out Jacob Thornton in just 44 seconds on the undercard of Amir Khan's memorable WBA Light Welterweight title defence against Marcos Maidana. He would end the year 4-0 (2) and early in 2011 be crowned Irish Boxing's Prospect of the Year at the National Boxing Awards. He was a young fighter with an ever growing reputation, his sparring sessions were creating further hype and even increasing expectations on the youngster.

So far in 2011 Kavanagh has fought just once out pointing Ramon Flores by scores of 60-54 on all 3 cards. This was the first time Kavanagh had been more than 4 rounds and it was also the lowest weight of Kavanagh's career, weighing well within the Lightweight limit. Next time out Kavanagh faces experienced Sid Razak. Razak brings to the ring a record of 6-62 though is a fighter well known for going the distance having only been stopped 3 times in his career. This will be Kavanagh's first fight outside of the USA where he is based and will take place on the Amir Khan v Paul McCloskey card.

Expect Kavanagh, who turns 21 on the 28^th of May, to be given the fairly ease tests to gain experience at this point of his career, his punching power will grow as he matures and he'll certainly mature into a solid Light Welterweight if not Welterweight. With his 5'8” frame he'll never been a particularly tall fighter though he has shown fantastic shot selection and great hand speed, when he adds the natural power he'll be a force to be reckoned with.