So at the start of the week I said it was a busy week for prospects, and have mentioned the excellent Lateef “Power” Kayode, who fights today (Friday) an Willie “Big Bang” Casey, though a host of other prospects are fighting so lets have a brief look at those.
Prenice Brewer is someone I've written about for helium recently and now it seems like he's ready to go 10 rounds for the first time in 17 fights. Brewer is 16-0-1 as a professional having debuted way back in 2006 as a fresh faced 18 year old though what singles him out as one to watch is his amateur background which saw winning the 2005 National Golden Gloves (125lbs) as just a 17 year old. Having drawn his debut he's now on a 16 fight winning streak and promoted by “Rumble Time Promotions” (who also promote Deandre Latimore). Brewer faces Patrick Lopez (19-2 with 11KO's) from Venezuela in a significant step up in class. Although the fights meant to be a 10 round test for Prenice, his lack of punch could see him in trouble against a tough and experienced opponent. The step up maybe a bit too far for now, though Prenice is skilled and slick and more skilled than Lopez. A great test and a good example of intelligent match making, in a sink or swim fight.
As fans will learn I'm a big fan of the Cruiserweight division, I've done several pieces on Cruisers for this column in the past few months (Kayode, Rakhim Chakhkiev, Carlos Negron all got a full entry and Matty Askin got a solid mention) and here's another. Jeremiah Graziano (12-0 all wins by KO with 10 of those in the opening round and 2 in the 2nd round) looks to make it 13 in a row. At 23 he's a young fighter and has been a pro for less than 2 years and only picked up the sport in '06 where he was a solid and exciting to watch amateur. Known as “Whyson” (White Tyson) the Kansas native has been shown to be all out aggression so far and it almost cost him against Josh Harris (Graziano was put down very early before stopping Harris soon afterwards). For fight 13 Graziano is facing by far his stiffest test to date in Jose Luis Herrera (16-7 with all wins by KO and 6 of his losses also, by KO). If one thing is sure is that this one won't be going the scheduled 8 rounds. Kayode has previously stopped Herrera so this will allow us to see how good the two are compared to each other. Graziano headlines a card in Kansas where he seems to have a large local following.
One I'm personally interested in is Jermell Charlo a Golden Boy Promotions prospect, the first to fight since Danny Jacobs was beaten last week. Charlo is unbeaten in 12 (12-0 with 6KO's) and young at just 20 but is completely untested and Quinton Whitaker (7-6) isn't expected to test him. If Golden Boy keep giving Charlo nothing fights then starts to think he's ready for a title fight they really need to have someone tell them to wake up. I'll let Charlo off for now, but they need to give him some solid tests, he's been a pro for almost 3 years now so why can't he start fighting guys around his level?
Omar Figueroa is in a similar position, also aged 20 and unbeaten (10-0 (8)), who turned pro in summer '08 but is facing a much tougher test in Kanat Kartenbayev (10-4-2) a former EU-EE title contender. Omar should win this but don't expect him to have a short and easy night.
Fridays most interesting fight is Chris Avalos v Christopher Martin this really is a fight that's worth watching, 2 young unbeaten fighters. Martin is arguably the slightly better boxer but Avalos is the better puncher. This is THE fight of Friday and is the main event of the Kayode fight. The winner will be one of the hottest “little men” in the US and surely in line for a title fight whilst the loser will have time to rebuild.
Saturday is much less interesting the St Louis card (including Alexander v Kotelnik) aside theirs little of major quality. At the start of the week Gennady Golovkin was scheduled to fight and Roman Gonzalez was also meant to fight but their both off. Sadam Ali (8-0 (4))is still down to fight and is worth catching if you're in Brooklyn as he's looking very exciting and keeping very busy at the moment. He's really one to watch.
Also on the Brooklyn card is Lennox Allen, a Guyana born Super Middleweight who fights the very solid Darnell Boone, a fighter who fights up and comers over and over. Allen (12-0(7)) gets a fight that sees him measured up against Craig McEwan, Brandon Gonzales, Edwin Rodriguez and Erislandy Lara. A victory will see Allen making a good statement to the division even if most have yet to see him.
One more fight to add, a Cruiserweight battle between unbeaten fighters is on the St Louis under card. Ryan Coyne fights the veteran Warren Browning, although it's hard to call a 28 year old or a 35 year old a prospect it's still an interesting battle folks.
Thursday 5 August 2010
Wednesday 4 August 2010
Big Bang
The Matchroom Sports promoted “Prizefighter” series has seen fighters given the exposure and chance to either resurrect their career, as in the case of Audley Harrison or a chance to really make a name for themselves, as shown by Martin Rogan and Willie “Big Bang” Casey. On Saturday (07/08) Casey fights for the second time since his May triumph in the Prizefighter Super Bantamweight tournament and looks to improve his unbeaten record.
Although at 28 the Limerick based Casey isn't a youngster, he's looking to build on his profile from the Sky Sports promoted tournament and is really putting together a career that took a while to take of. After debuting in October 2008 against Carlos De Jesus and scoring a 2nd round TKO Casey would be out of the ring for almost a year before returning to beat Bulgarian Stoyan Serbezov. Though it was the win over Serbezov that seemed to kick start things and in the following 10 months Casey has flourished in the ring to become one of the hottest Irish fighters out there at the moment.
With an impressive victory against the 10-0 Canadian Tyson Cave in Canada Casey provided he could cope away from home though few expected him to be the star of the Prizefighter series in which he was exceptional. He showed a high octane style that was built around aggression and excitement, despite having come in as a late replacement for Wayne McCullough he stole the show. In the opening round he stopped Mark Moran who was much more experienced, before following it through with points victories over Josh Wale and Paul McElhinney.
The southpaw has only fought once so far since then, scoring a stoppage over tough Frenchman Faycal Messaoudene (who had only been stopped once in his preceding 20 fights, by Scott Quigg, a fighter previously featured on Prospect Scotting) to go to 9-0 (6). In his upcoming bout, his 7th of 2010 he faces the relatively tough but very beatable Italian Emiliano Salvini (13-11-1) who has only been stopped twice. Salvini has been in with very good opponents and in the tougher fighters, having fought for the European Bantamweight title late last year and taken the German prospect Marcel Meyerdiercks the distance just a few months ago. An impressive win for the Irish fighter should see him put into serious contention for a European or international title fight. Interestingly Kiko Martinez fights for the European Super Bantamweight title against Arsen Martirosyan in September. Martinez famously flattened popular Irishman Bernard Dunne in 2007, maybe making the match a very easy to market one.
Fast approaching his 29th birthday (in December) “Big Bang” isn't an old fighter, his 9 fights to date have been just a combined 37 rounds, he has time on his side and a style that doesn't need to be massively altered for his progression. Hopefully a win will see him pushing on to bigger and better things, with a fight arranged already for September confidence is high for a fighter who is seriously making a name for himself on the domestic circuit.
Although at 28 the Limerick based Casey isn't a youngster, he's looking to build on his profile from the Sky Sports promoted tournament and is really putting together a career that took a while to take of. After debuting in October 2008 against Carlos De Jesus and scoring a 2nd round TKO Casey would be out of the ring for almost a year before returning to beat Bulgarian Stoyan Serbezov. Though it was the win over Serbezov that seemed to kick start things and in the following 10 months Casey has flourished in the ring to become one of the hottest Irish fighters out there at the moment.
With an impressive victory against the 10-0 Canadian Tyson Cave in Canada Casey provided he could cope away from home though few expected him to be the star of the Prizefighter series in which he was exceptional. He showed a high octane style that was built around aggression and excitement, despite having come in as a late replacement for Wayne McCullough he stole the show. In the opening round he stopped Mark Moran who was much more experienced, before following it through with points victories over Josh Wale and Paul McElhinney.
The southpaw has only fought once so far since then, scoring a stoppage over tough Frenchman Faycal Messaoudene (who had only been stopped once in his preceding 20 fights, by Scott Quigg, a fighter previously featured on Prospect Scotting) to go to 9-0 (6). In his upcoming bout, his 7th of 2010 he faces the relatively tough but very beatable Italian Emiliano Salvini (13-11-1) who has only been stopped twice. Salvini has been in with very good opponents and in the tougher fighters, having fought for the European Bantamweight title late last year and taken the German prospect Marcel Meyerdiercks the distance just a few months ago. An impressive win for the Irish fighter should see him put into serious contention for a European or international title fight. Interestingly Kiko Martinez fights for the European Super Bantamweight title against Arsen Martirosyan in September. Martinez famously flattened popular Irishman Bernard Dunne in 2007, maybe making the match a very easy to market one.
Fast approaching his 29th birthday (in December) “Big Bang” isn't an old fighter, his 9 fights to date have been just a combined 37 rounds, he has time on his side and a style that doesn't need to be massively altered for his progression. Hopefully a win will see him pushing on to bigger and better things, with a fight arranged already for September confidence is high for a fighter who is seriously making a name for himself on the domestic circuit.
Monday 2 August 2010
Lateef "Power" Kayode
Doing this weekly column can at times be bloody difficult, weeks come along where I'm scraping the barrel or a note worthy prospect, a decent youngster to write about, other weeks, like this one, sees so many young fighters fighting that it's hard to pick just a single one. In fact both Friday and Saturday could have their own piece for this week and I'd still miss some folks out. The week is irritatingly good, but also one of the most fun, and as a result, a double header. Their will be one column now (Sunday/Monday), a mid week piece and round up of the others in a completely separate piece.
Friday's prospect then, isn't a British born fighter, or an American born fighter, he's not an Olympic champion but he is exciting and can bang. Cruiserweight Lateef Kayode 12-0 (11) isn't the most technical of fighters you'll see any time soon, though as his record and nickname (“Power”) show, he has one of those key attributes, pure destructive punch power. Born in Lagos, Nigeria it seems Kayode is on a similar rise to that of fellow Nigerian Samuel Peter a few years ago, that culminated in Peter winning a heavyweight title.
Having been brought up and toughened up as a youngster in Lagos he would turn to boxing to find a way to protect himself from the repeated beating he'd gotten as a teenage, little did he realise what an impact the sport of boxing would have on him. It was as an amateur that he would start to forge a name for himself winning various African based tournaments though in his first attempt to make a major international mark things went awry. A plane he, and his Nigerian team mates were catching to Olympic qualifiers was delayed and it forced them to miss the qualification process. After deciding to turn professional in the US the search was on for someone to help and a chance meeting with manager Steven Feder started it all off. Feder would sign Kayode to his newly founded “Standing Eight” company, and the rest, as they say is history.
Standing Eight would see Kayode making his professional debut little under 2 years ago, 15th October 2008, facing the significantly bigger Mike Miller. Miller was 53lbs heavier than Kayode and durable having only been stopped once in 17 fights, it was this durability that saw Kayode forced to go the 4 round distance as a professional. Since then however opponents have struggled to test the muscular Nigerian power house who has scored 11 straight KO's in his subsequent bouts. He's gone from being a very small heavyweight at just over the cruiserweight limit to being a very big and incredibly strong cruiserweight, a division that seems much more suited to the Hollywood based fighter.
Although Kayode was fed relatively over matched opponents for much of his early career, who he blew out early doors, the interesting thing about his opponents is they really have been getting better. Fighters like the experienced Billy Willis are often given to much more experienced prospects, yet Lateef needed only 2 rounds to stop him, whilst heavy handed Jose Luis Herrera who had a record of 16-7 (16 wins by KO) was dealt with quickly. Interestingly Herrera fights on the same night against another rising prospect Jeremiah Graziano (12-0 all by KO) whilst Lateef takes another tough test. This time in the shape of Alfredo Escalera Jr who's record of 18-2-1 (12KOs) is intimidating (even if it is heavily padded) in a card that is being televised by Showtime on one of their ShoBox events.
With a win expected for the hard punching Nigerian it's perhaps time he joined the rising charge of Cruiserweights quickly rising through the ranks at the moment. A fight against BJ Flores would likely be the biggest American based fight either man could could currently get as the exodus to Germany of Steve Cunningham has been followed by Matt Godfrey travelling for a world title shot. Though what ever the future brings, “Power” is certainly capable of being a part of it.
The Shobox card will also feature unbeaten Americans clashing as Chris Avalos (16-0 with 13KO's) faces Christopher Martin (18-0-2 with 5KO's) in what should be a classy meeting of two youngsters with a lot to lose.
Friday's prospect then, isn't a British born fighter, or an American born fighter, he's not an Olympic champion but he is exciting and can bang. Cruiserweight Lateef Kayode 12-0 (11) isn't the most technical of fighters you'll see any time soon, though as his record and nickname (“Power”) show, he has one of those key attributes, pure destructive punch power. Born in Lagos, Nigeria it seems Kayode is on a similar rise to that of fellow Nigerian Samuel Peter a few years ago, that culminated in Peter winning a heavyweight title.
Having been brought up and toughened up as a youngster in Lagos he would turn to boxing to find a way to protect himself from the repeated beating he'd gotten as a teenage, little did he realise what an impact the sport of boxing would have on him. It was as an amateur that he would start to forge a name for himself winning various African based tournaments though in his first attempt to make a major international mark things went awry. A plane he, and his Nigerian team mates were catching to Olympic qualifiers was delayed and it forced them to miss the qualification process. After deciding to turn professional in the US the search was on for someone to help and a chance meeting with manager Steven Feder started it all off. Feder would sign Kayode to his newly founded “Standing Eight” company, and the rest, as they say is history.
Standing Eight would see Kayode making his professional debut little under 2 years ago, 15th October 2008, facing the significantly bigger Mike Miller. Miller was 53lbs heavier than Kayode and durable having only been stopped once in 17 fights, it was this durability that saw Kayode forced to go the 4 round distance as a professional. Since then however opponents have struggled to test the muscular Nigerian power house who has scored 11 straight KO's in his subsequent bouts. He's gone from being a very small heavyweight at just over the cruiserweight limit to being a very big and incredibly strong cruiserweight, a division that seems much more suited to the Hollywood based fighter.
Although Kayode was fed relatively over matched opponents for much of his early career, who he blew out early doors, the interesting thing about his opponents is they really have been getting better. Fighters like the experienced Billy Willis are often given to much more experienced prospects, yet Lateef needed only 2 rounds to stop him, whilst heavy handed Jose Luis Herrera who had a record of 16-7 (16 wins by KO) was dealt with quickly. Interestingly Herrera fights on the same night against another rising prospect Jeremiah Graziano (12-0 all by KO) whilst Lateef takes another tough test. This time in the shape of Alfredo Escalera Jr who's record of 18-2-1 (12KOs) is intimidating (even if it is heavily padded) in a card that is being televised by Showtime on one of their ShoBox events.
With a win expected for the hard punching Nigerian it's perhaps time he joined the rising charge of Cruiserweights quickly rising through the ranks at the moment. A fight against BJ Flores would likely be the biggest American based fight either man could could currently get as the exodus to Germany of Steve Cunningham has been followed by Matt Godfrey travelling for a world title shot. Though what ever the future brings, “Power” is certainly capable of being a part of it.
The Shobox card will also feature unbeaten Americans clashing as Chris Avalos (16-0 with 13KO's) faces Christopher Martin (18-0-2 with 5KO's) in what should be a classy meeting of two youngsters with a lot to lose.
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