Top boxing prospects

As with all sports looking for the next superstar is part of the appeal of being a fan. Spotting that someone special before they reach the level where every one knows them and getting in on the ground level and following their career to the top. Football fans are talking about people like Possebon, tennis fans are talking about Yuki Bhambri and Laura Robson. In Boxing the fans search for the next Mike Tyson or the next Cassius Clay waiting for the next fighter to be that special star.

Currently fight fans have swiftly taken to the destructive Juan Manuel Lopez, a 25 year old Puerto Rican super-Bantamweight who many have followed for as long as they could. To them the rise to becoming the WBO champion was merely obvious when he faced hard punching Daniel Ponce de Leon. He looks the complete article with speed, power, skill and the ability to finish off fighters, that killer instinct. Now Lopez has reached the summit, who'd going to follow in his foot steps.?

With boxing's future under-going some obvious changes, the retirements this year of Oscar De La Hoya and Joe Calzaghe in the past 12 months, likely being the first of many. The likes of Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton, “Sugar” Shane Mosley, Roy Jones Junior, Bernard Hopkins, Glen Johnson, Antonio Tarver, Felix Trinidad and Evander Holyfield all in the twilight years of their careers boxing will again open up to the next generation. Fighters like Kelly Pavlik, Chad Dawson, Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch and Juan Manuel Lopez all reaching the top in the past few years the next generation are why our eyes turn.

At light heavyweight which has a relatively high amount of the older fighters, we have the hard hitting Tavoris Cloud on the verges of a title shot. But the real one to look out for on the world scene is Beibut Shumenov who after just 8 fights (all wins, 6 KO's) is looking like the future long term champion of the division. The Las Vegas based Kazakhstani fighter is by no means particularly young (25) but considering the majority of the divisions top guys are around 40 he definitely has the youth, and with his backers fast tracking him his age won't be a factor. With speed, power, skill and a great technical side, Shumenov may find himself in the position of being too good for people to want to face him soon. Though with wins against Montell Griffin and Byron Mitchell in his first 8 fights suggest the match makers are making the right matches as he starts to pursue a world title.

Matt Korobov is another Eastern European based in the USA, a 2-time world amateur champion the 26 year old Russian was signed by Bob Arum of Top Rank after the 2008 Olympics. The fighter who's aged 26 is looking to take the middleweight division by storm and after just 6 fights is looking technically sound and worryingly accurate. His fast punches that seem to be persistently landing may lack the true KO power (yet he does have 5 KO's in 6 fights) of a Pavlik, he does seem to hit hurtfully enough to make an opponent think twice. Korobov looks like he may not be fast tracked like Shumenov, he will however have a division that lacks depth in the talent department. With continual rumours that the top 2 (Arthur Abraham and Kelly Pavlik) struggling at the weight, Korobov's hand may be forced so that he quickly rises to the division's main fighters.

Another fighter that's thought highly of by the boxing press is the “Golden Child” Daniel Jacobs. A stand out amateur winning 4 New York Golden Gloves as well as 2 National ones among other numerous trophies. He turned professional in 2007 on the undercard of the Ricky Hatton-Floyd Mayweather fight and gave those in attention just a 30 second glimpse of his talent. At 22 and with the backing of Oscar De La Hoya's “Golden Boy Promotions” Jacobs is well on the way with his smooth movement, good looks, complete self confidence and stinging punches he has the world at his fists. Although with 14 KO's in 16 fights it may look like he's a banger but with many of his KO's being against opponents who were over-matched it may only be a matter of time before Daniel faces foes that can walk through his shots. Though at 21 his power will almost certainly get better as he grows, added to the fact he's fighting every month or so he's going to run out of guys who will just fall over and really move on to the level he should be fighting. Currently fighting at Super Middleweight it's possible that Jacobs could make middleweight but will almost certainly grow into a Light Heavyweight.

On the verge of a world title fight “Vicious” Victor Ortiz is by far the most “along” in terms of his career of anyone on this list. The hard hitting right handed south-paw who's become a wrecking ball of a fighter at 140lbs seems to be on a one way ticket to the top. Despite having a loss and a draw on his record, both fights were hugely controversial in the way they were stopped, the loss coming by way of a DQ after what was a terrible decision and the draw coming after a first round clash of heads. Victorious over Carlos Maussa, and Mike Arnaoutis have seen him taking the eye of the fight fans and swiftly rising up the ranks.

Note: Since the original writing of this piece Ortiz lost to Marco Madaina in an enthralling is short contest, Ortiz seemed to show a lack of heart, but others commented that his ability to know when he was beaten by a more mature fighter was commendable. Could perhaps be a bit of a flop, but still worth keepign an eye on.

James Kirkland is another of the Americans who seem to be balls of destruction, arguably a bigger version of Ortiz. Kirkland was another stand out amateur going 134-12 in the unpaid ranks, he turned down an opportunity at the Olympics to earn money for his family. Fighting at light middleweight the southpaw's troubles with the law are likely to be his biggest problems, as he's just missed a big chance on the Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquaio due to the criminal problems. Kirkland's record of 25-0 with 22 KO wins includes a fantastically exciting win over Joel Julio in March of this year.

With the recent influx of Cubans to the professional ranks it's hard to pick one as a prospect. The best of the bunch is Yuriorkis Gamboa who has gone past the level of a prospect due to now being a world champion. While Odlanier Solís seems to be eating his way out of being a Heavyweight prospect, Erislandy Lara just seemed a little too one dimensional as of recently. Leaving us with either the feather fisted late 20 Yan Bartelemí who doesn't seem to quite have what it needs and Guillermo Rigondeaux who is also in his late 20's. So sadly the possibilities of having a Cuban fighter on this list none existent. 

Turning our eyes to Britain where a Trio of fighters are quickly hoping to go to the next level. 
Kell Brook is the first of those who's currently fighting at Welterweight, the 23 year old from Sheffield is currently looking lie one of the Brightest sparks in world boxing due to the improvements made in the last 12 months or so. A classy operator with power and speed to match the confidence and slick ability has seen him get to 19-0 (12 KO's). He may be fighting in the toughest division in boxing right now with the likes of Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Paul Williams, Andre Berto, Luis Collazo and Carlos Quintana also there, but with age on his side, and an almost certain move to the rather barren lands of light middleweight the future promises much for Kell.

Another one making waves over in Britain is often dubbed “The New Calzaghe”, welsh wonder kid Nathan Cleverly, a former gym mate of Calzaghe's is often seen as his natural successor. Though a fight with the very solid and highly rated Danny Macintosh awaits soon, the winner of that will almost certainly have stardom thrust upon on them. With Cleverly you have speed, technique and the Calzaghe work rate and what seems to be newly found power, having only had 1 KO's in his first 6 fights, he's won his last 3 straight by KO. A win against Macintosh could see the 22 year old start on the European class fighters like Nadjib Mohammedi. Although if put against Shumenov the fight would be a painful end to this young man's unbeaten streak as that class is well above Cleverly's current opponents.

The final Brit that should be mention is the heavyweight giant Tyson Fury, who is looking like he's improved every fight so far. The fast and heavy handed 21 year old has yet to be seriously tested despite facing much more experienced and older competition and after just 6 fights he's looking to step up to taking on the English Champion John McDermott in the new few fights. Fury looks probably the best of the three British fighters here though also the youngest and the least experienced. He looks like he needs to find opponents that can step up to his level as so far he's been far and away out classing opponents with relative ease. 
The final one that needs bringing to attention is a fellow heavyweight, that heralds from Russia Denis Boytsov who at 23 has been dubbed the White Tyson by fans. As an amateur he went 115-15 winning 2 Cadet World championships and 1 Junior before turning professional in late 2004. However it wasn't until 2008 when he faced Robert Hawkins and Vinny Maddalone that those journalists outside of Europe had started to take note. Many of his earlier fights were featured on Eurosport in the Europe, who immediately liked his come forward aggressive style that helped him form a solid fan base of admirers. A recent win over Taras Bidenko who had been undefeated in 4 years has suddenly made everyone take note of the raging Russian,. Sadly though back injuries have dogged his progress as an amateur it may be a worry that they could return, so hopefully a step up against the better guys will be forth coming with 25 straight wins (20 KO's) he may still be protected a little bit from the likes of Eddie Chambers. They do need to treat him to a fight with someone like Monte Barrett or Ray Austin that are beatable but well schooled enough to push him,