Doug Fischer
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 The Most Exciting Prospects to Watch in ’07
Part one of a two-part feature Doug Fischer (Dec 30, 2006)
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Fifty-five (count ‘em, 55) prospects! I’ve got the names of 55 freakin’ prospects for you to review and commit to memory in this two-part feature of mine. (Tell me I’m not sick in the head; go on, I dare you!)
These aren’t just your run-of-the-mill undefeated young bucks, mind you. The names I’ve painstakingly compiled for you are the game’s most exciting prospects, the KO artists, the brawlers, the heart-and-soul warriors who get up from the canvas and go for the gusto whenever the going gets tough, the hard-nosed pugilists that make you get up out of your seat and yell “Daaaaaamn!” every time (or almost every time) they fight.
I know it’s a lot of names and information for you to digest in one or two sittings, but you’ll thank me for this lengthy two-part list later on in 2007 when three or four of these modern-day gladiators that you’d never heard of until reading these articles get on TV and rock your world with their passion, courage, and determination.
Let me tell you folks, there are more “fan friendly” up-and-comers out there that you currently see on TV. I’m sure a case could be made for 20 or 30 more names to be added to this list. (If I’ve left off a name that you think should be on this list, just let me know and maybe I’ll save ‘em up for a part III in the near future.) And if you think I’m dissing all the slick-boxing prospects out there, don’t start crying just yet, dear purists, I’m planning to come out with a list of the sport’s best young technicians and stylists in early ‘07.
But for now, let’s take a look at the kind of prospects that make you say “Whoa!” I’ve broken them up into three groups – those who are ranked by one or more of the four major world sanctioning organizations (WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO), those who are unranked and novice pros that have less than 11 pro bouts. Part one focuses on the…
THE ALPHABET RANKED
Urbano Antillon (junior lightweight/lightweight, 18-0, with 11 KOs)
Antillon is somehow WBC’s no. 3 and the WBA’s no. 7 ranked lightweight contender, but in reality, the Maywood, California resident is a prospect, a young work in progress as evidenced by his struggles in his three step-up fights to date – hard-fought decisions over Ivan Valle, Adan Hernandez and Fernando Trejo, bouts that more than a few ringside observers believe he lost. But whether Antillon is 18-0 or 15-3, the bottom line is that he’s fun to watch.
He’s a capable boxer when he chooses to be, not particularly special in any one department (speed, power, technique, footwork), but he’s got a ton of heart and his natural inclination is to be a bull in the ring. His Telefutura-televised shoot-out with Jose Luis Soto-Karass and 10-round split-decision over Trejo in ’05 were must-watch fights for fans of all-out action.
However, despite his youth (24) and high alphabet rankings, Antillon must get his career moving in ’07. He only fought once in ’06 (in July) and an operation on his nose to relieve chronic respiratory problems this past August left him on the sidelines for the rest of the year. After a January 19th check-up, he should be cleared to resume sparring and hopefully his promoters (Top Rank) will find him a televised spot on a Telefutura or Vs. show ASAP.
Jonathan Banks (cruiserweight, 13-0, with 10 KOs)
What’s not to like about this Emanuel Steward-trained and managed cruiserweight standout? With Banks, who the WBO ranks no. 8 among 200 pounders, fans are either treated to a blitzkrieg knockout (seven of his 10 KOs were scored in the opening round) or a knock-down-drag-out affair.
In the 24-year-old Detroit native’s first step-up fight this past July, he TWICE got up from first-round knockdowns to rally and stop once-beaten (by Wladimir Klitschko) Cuban fringe contender Eliseo Castillo in the fourth round of an ESPN2-televised thriller.
If there were more fighters like Banks among the cruiserweight ranks the often-ignored division would not be as neglected as it is by fans and the boxing press.
Rey Bautista (junior featherweight, 21-0 with 16 KOs)
The Philippines’ Bautista is an absolute marvel at age 20, an athletic aggressor with fluid moves and KO power in both hands. The WBO’s no. 1 contender in the 122-pound division has the physical tools and the desire to become a world champion, all he lacks is maturity and experience, which he is gaining at an alarming rate. In late ’05 he was dropped en route to a narrow eight-round decision over well-traveled journeyman Gerardo Espinoza, but based on his two fights in ’06 “Boom Boom” is rapidly coming of age as he quickly dispatched of veterans Roberto Bonilla and Giovanni Andrade in frightening fashion.
There are members of Bautista’s team, and even a few folks within his promotional company (Golden Boy Promotions), who believe that he has enough natural talent and innate fierceness to take on and beat dangerous WBO 122-pound titlist Daniel Ponce-DeLeon right now. Fortunately, his trainer Freddie Roach knows there’s no reason to rush the young man and there’s more for him to learn about his craft before he goes for a world title.
John Duddy (middleweight, 18-0, with 15 KOs)
With matinee idol looks, a charming demeanor, a large loyal fan base and a wicked left hook, Ireland’s Duddy is just what the middleweight division, and the sport, needs. However, despite top-10 rankings in the WBA (no. 9) and WBO (no. 8), Duddy is not a contender. A real contender does not go life and death with Yory Boy Campas as Duddy did this past September.
Duddy is a prospect, and to the young man’s credit he’s the first to admit that he has much to learn before challenging the real contenders of the 160-pound division. The good news is that he’s a prospect that delivers excitement when he fights – either quick and conclusive KOs (he has nine first-round KOs among his 15 stoppages, including a 16-0 Lenord Pierre) or give-and-take scraps (as he’s had in his last two bouts, a seven-round stoppage of Freddie Cuevas and the 12-round tilt with Campas, which was one of the best fights of the year).
His promotional company (Irish Ropes Promotions) is looking to put Duddy back in the ring on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day (March 16th) at Madison Square Garden’s Theater, a 5,000-seat room he’s sold out a few times already, and then keep the 27-year-old puncher busy with three or four development fights.
Eddie McLoughlin of Irish Ropes told MaxBoxing’s Steve Kim that Duddy’s bouts in ‘07 will all be “priority fights, something along the lines of B-plus, A-minus type of opponents that will lead up to the A-plus opponents, who are the Jermain Taylors, Arthur Abrahams and Kelly Pavliks of the world." Let’s hope Duddy learns how to duck a few punches before taking on that A-plus crew.
Antonio Escalante (junior featherweight, 14-1, with 9 KOs)
This gutsy boxer-puncher, who exhibits a debilitating body attack, started the year with a 10-round Fight of the Year candidate with Jose Hernandez and ended it with an emphatic two-round KO of usually durable Omar Adorno.
The NABO 122-pound title holder is already ranked no. 3 in the world by the WBO, but at age 21 and with only 15 pro bouts there’s no need to rush him into anything. Escalante fought four times this year and his promoter (Golden Boy Promotions) plans to keep him busy and on national TV in ’07, starting with a January 26th Telefutura-televised, 8 Count Productions-promoted headliner at Cicero Stadium near Chicago, where his war with Hernandez took place.
When the ultra-aggressive Juarez, Mexico native gets his first shot a world title, probably in ’08, we already know he has the right stuff because of the way he got off the canvas and rallied hard against the hardnosed Hernandez, who went on to upset the highly touted Jason Litzau later in the year.
Joel Julio (welterweight, 29-1, with 27 KOs)
What’s Julio doing on a prospect list when he has 30 pro bouts under his belt and fought in a world title eliminator this past July? Well, the power-punching Colombian is only 21 and the way he performed in that eliminator vs. Carlos Quintana let us know that he’s still got a lot to learn. The struggle he had with Cosme Rivera following the Quintana bout confirmed that he’s a work in progress.
Julio had five fights this year, going 4-1 (3), and he didn’t learn anything from his knockouts. But the 12-round loss to Quintana and the razor-thin 12-round split nod over Rivera were invaluable learning experiences that should serve the welterweight wunderkind (ranked in the top 10 of all four sanctioning organizations) very well when he is finally ready to challenge for a world title, perhaps at the end of ’07 or sometime in ’08. Until then, let’s hope his promoters (Main Events) can get him as many TV dates as they deem necessary; his KOs are sweet, but he’s a lot of fun to watch in when he’s in a real fight. The Rivera scrap, which saw Julio rally in the late rounds only to be dropped in the final round, was one of the better welterweight battles of the year.
Jason Litzau (featherweight, 20-1, with 18 KOs)
First the bad news: Litzau suffered the first loss of his career by knockout in a fight he was winning in his HBO debut. Now the good news: the eighth-round stoppage the 23-year-old Minnesotan suffered to Jose Hernandez was the most compelling bout televised on this year’s revamped Boxing After Dark series.
Litzau’s knockdown at the end of the first round made hardcore fans jump to the edge of their seats, where they stayed for the next six rounds even though the tall and rangy featherweight speedster was pitching a shutout on the scorecards. Why? Because Litzau, who’s ranked no. 8 at featherweight by the WBO, has all the defensive moves of a lamp post. He lunges on his opponents blazing flashy combinations while his head floats straight up in the air. When he’s not punching, his gloves are at his sides. He’s dangerous (as evidenced by the severely lumped up face of Hernandez after seven rounds) but he’s also vulnerable. But this combination makes for dramatic fights when his competition is solid. Whenever he’s on TV again, hopefully not too far into ’07, we’ll be watching.
Giovanni Lorenzo (middleweight, 22-0, with 14 KOs)
This former amateur standout from the Dominican Republic made a statement this past February when he stopped hard-punching Archak TerMeliksetian (then 15-2) after seven rounds of wild slugging. Lorenzo’s brutal body attack throughout the fight paid dividends by the middle-to-late rounds as TerMeliksetian literally lost his lunch in-between the seventh and eighth stanzas.
The WBC’s no. 7-ranked junior middleweight officially stepped up to the middleweight division (a good idea for a 6-footer who is now 26 years old) in the second half of this year, stopping journeymen Byron Mackie and Jordan Sanchez. Lorenzo is strong-willed pressure fighter, who can also box when he wants to, and appears to be gaining even more power on his punches. There is some talk of him eventually meeting fellow New York City-based middleweight star John Duddy in the near future. To help make that attractive showdown a reality Lorenzo’s management and promoter (Main Events) need to try and get him U.S. television exposure ASAP.
Juan Manuel Lopez (junior featherweight, 14-0, with 12 KOs)
Lopez announced his arrival as top prospect with a spine-tingling third-round knockout of Jose Luis Caro on the undercard of the Morales-Pacquaio rematch this past January. Lopez’s promoter (Bob Arum of Top Rank) fought with HBO’s brass to get his latest Puerto Rican stud on the pay-per-view broadcast (and the feisty old man got this wish). Lopez, who is in the top 10 of the WBO, WBC and WBA’s 122-pound rankings, showed more than power in his knockout of the no-hoper; he exhibited patience, balance, sharp technique and an understanding of distance.
Top Rank fought the heavy handed southpaw six times in ’06 against increasingly more experienced and talented fighters, two of which took “JuanMa” the distance (in eight- and six-round bouts). The rounds of work he got in this year along with another busy schedule in ’07 should help mold the 23-year-old junior featherweight, who was on Puerto Rico’s 2004 Olympic team, into a title threat by the start of ’08.
Raul Martinez (bantamweight, 17-0, with 12 KOs)
One of the brighter prospects to come out of Texas in quite a while, Martinez, a former two-time national amateur champ, had a productive ’06. The bantamweight badass turned heads in January when he overcame a bad cut to stop Colombian prospect Andres Ledesma (then 13-1-1) in the eighth and final round of a Showtime (ShoBox) televised bout. He dropped jaws in the audience with his electrifying one-punch first-round KO of normally durable Alex Becerra on the undercard of a July HBO (Boxing After Dark) broadcast.
The 24-year-old San Antonio native, who is ranked no. 8 by the WBA, fought five times this year, is a technically sound boxer with heavy hands, a debilitating body attack, and warrior’s heart. He is mature for his age and will only get better with experience, which he gained a little bit by going 10 rounds in both his last two bouts of ’06 – a 10th-round TKO of Colombian vet LlidoJulio and 10-round decision over well-traveled Mexican jouneyman Arturo Estrada. Martinez was down in the first round of the Julio bout, which was televised on the Vs. network, but gamely got up to methodically pound his hard-headed foe until the referee had seen enough. The adversity and rounds he experienced in ’06 will go a long way in establishing him as one of America’s best bantamweights (or 115 pounders) by the end of ’07.
Anthony Peterson (lightweight, 21-0, with 15 KOs)
This 21-year-old lightweight boxer-puncher is a delight to watch. Naturally aggressive, Peterson, a first alternate for the 2004 U.S. Olympic team, systematically goes about breaking his opponents down with smart pressure, a sharp jab and crisp combinations. Peterson seizes the opportunity to score a knockout only when it presents itself and seldom jeopardizing his punching technique while in pursuit of the stoppage.
He fought seven times in ’06, scoring three consecutive stoppages in impressive fashion before going the full 12 vs. Adan Hernandez in capturing the NABO title, which presumably is the reason the WBO ranks him as high as no. 4 in the world at 135 pounds.
Peterson’s manager Shelly Finkel knows better. While Finkel is happy his young fighter is already in the top five of one of the four major sanctioning organizations, he has no plans to guide Peterson to a world title fight by the end of ‘07. He’s happy to continue to develop the Washington, DC native and get more TV exposure for this fan friendly prospect.
Peterson is scheduled to appear on the first Friday Night Fights broadcast of ’07 (January 5th) against Juan Humberto Garza (who holds an untested 28-2 record). The ESPN2-televised fight will be the first of many fights in ’07, according to Finkel, who adds that he would like Peterson to collect a few other North American belts (such as the NABF and/or NABA titles) and gain top 10 rankings in the other sanctioning organizations in the New Year.
Giovanni Segura (flyweight, 16-0-1, with 12 KOs) no. 10 WBA 112)
A late-comer to the sport who did not start boxing until age 19 (and barely had 20 amateur fights) Segura has come a long way in four years. In fact, he’s come a long way since the end of last year when he had to get up from a first-round knockdown to edge out Southern Cali rival Benji Garcia via eight-round split decision. This year, Segura, the WBA’s no. 10 flyweight and a Telefutura staple, went from being a one-dimensional puncher to a thoughtful switch-hitting slugger who can go the distance if necessary.
Segura’s first two bouts of the year were first-round KOs (including an impressive stoppage of Francisco Arce, Jorge’s younger brother who had a 20-2-1 record at the time), his next two were three and four-round stoppages of more experienced pugs, but it was his fifth bout of ’06 that let boxing observers know that he has a future in the tough and under-exposed 112-pound division. This past September Segura dominated 12-1 (9) Carlos Tamara, whose only loss was a 12-round split decision to former title challenger Gerardo Verde. Segura fought an aggressive but focused fight against the Miami-based Colombian and has positioned himself for true contender status in ’07.
If he continues to improve next year the way he has this year, he could be ready for a significant step-up in competition by mid-to-late ’07; perhaps an aging, faded but still-respected former champ like Rosendo Alvarez, or an experienced and dangerous young contender like Diosdado Gabi? Who knows? Hopefully, whenever Segura’s next step occurs it will be televised because the 24-year-old southpaw delivers drama and excitement almost every time he fights.
[In part two of this feature, I’ll list the most exciting un-ranked and novice prospects in game, a diverse group that includes blue-chipper Andre Berto, UK sensation Amir Khan, talented-but-never-televised light heavyweight Tarvoris Cloud, under-hyped Brooklynite “Mean” Joe Greene, and Chicago fan favorite Don “Da Bomb” George, among many others.]
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E-Mail Doug Fischer at dougie@maxboxing.com
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