Scott Quigg the prospect of the week...tough week too

Where do we start this week...well lets look at the past. Wins for Mike Jones (in controversial fashion I admit, the stoppage blow was certainly south of the border), John Molina (stopping the arrogant and outspoken Henry Lundy), Carlos Negron and McJoe Arroyo means that it was a good weekend for prospects mentioned in this column. Antwone Smith however did lose, citing illness as an excuse before the bout, I have no sympathy there and the once touted Verquan Kimbrough has now lost 3 of his last 4 and has only 1 win in his last 6.

So this week...Jesus we have a busy week as decent prospects seem to be fighting more than established talent. It was due to this that it was almost impossible to pick a single fighter to be the prospect of the week, though after pulling names from a hat I've decided to go for a fighter I've not yet written about. 21 year old English Super Bantamweight Scott Quigg seems to be one of the most highly thought of young British fighters and with good reason.

Born in 1988 in the North West of England Quigg would pick up Thai boxing as a youngster before turning to traditional western Boxing aged 15. It was due to his background in Thai boxing that he didn't have a prolonged time in the amateur ranks, in fact he only fought 12 amateur bouts (winning 10 of those) before deciding to turn over and become a professional. Sparring with Pro's seemed to show that the professional game, based more on aggression was suited to Scott than the amateur sport where accurate single “scoring” shots are the key. On his professional debut in 2007 as a relative raw 18 year old beating Gary Sheil over 6 rounds.

Over the following year and a half Quigg would improve his skill whilst beating various low tier opponents and top flight domestic journeymen like Delroy Spencer before being signed up by Hatton Promotions, the company headed by Ricky Hatton. An impressive KO of Sumaila Badu being the deal maker for Hatton and showed that Quigg had become a solid all rounder with power, speed and a very solid professional style for someone so young and inexperienced. By then Scott was just 20 and with just 10 fights experience yet had managed to impress many who had seen him.

With the backing of Hatton and the team behind him Scott has remained busy managing 8 fights in 18 months. Though many of those opponents were nothing to great he had been doing what was needed to dominate them, experienced professionals were being made to look like the amateurs whilst novices were being blown out early. Though it's been the last few fights that Quigg has been especially impressive, blowing out 3 European imports that were expected to extend Quigg the schedule. A 6th round stoppage of Yuriy Voronin, a former European title contender in November of 2009 has been followed by first round stoppages of Nikita Lukin (who had never been stopped previously in 29 fights) and Andrey Kostin (who hadn't been stopped in 6 years) impressed everyone who saw them. Notably the victory over Kostin was amongst the first fights in Quigg's hometown of Bury in 13 years after he helped over turn a ban.

Quigg, now with a record of 18-0 (12) is scheduled to face Gavin Reid in a British super-bantamweight title eliminator. On current form Quigg should secure a relatively easy victory on a fight that is likely to be shown (in highlights at least) on Sky Sports 1 as part of the support for “Friday Fight Night” main event between Matthew Hatton and Yuriy Nuzhnenko. A victory will see Quigg in line for a fight for his first professional title and the first big step to the top.

I'd like to end this with something Phillipe Fondu said in a recent issue of Boxing Monthly "Scott Quigg is the best prospect in Britain by far". From the European mega agent Fondu, thats high praise indeed, though it's worth noting Fondu is the agent for both Yuriy Voronin and Nikita Lukin.

Sources:
http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=391424&cat=boxer
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/more-sport/2010/05/30/quick-fire-quigg-115875-22296371/
http://www.brandhatton.com/VideoProfile/9/.aspx
http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/BN08/detail.asp?id=1526
Boxing Monthly (July 2010)