A recap and a look at the next great Cruiserweight

Right a recap of the past few weeks and a new piece all rolled into one, I've been lazy with the world cup and a new addiction (oooh I'm a naughty boy).
Results of tipped guys:
Kenny Glarza L pts Brad Solomon
McWilliams Arroyo L pts Takashi Okada
Demetrius Andrade * Quandray Robertson
Maxim Vlasov WTKO3 Jerson Ravelo
Sherzod Husanov W pts Jhon Berrio
Mark Tucker W Pts Billy Bailey
Edwin Rodriguez WTKO5 Ibahiem King
Frankie Gomez WKO1 Jaime Orrantia
Jose Benavidez WKO1 Josh Beeman

The only losers were Puerto Rican power punchers.
*Denotes fighter didn't fight during the month despite being pencilled in. Not entirely sure what happened though.

So this week's fighter. How do you like the Cruiserweight division? Not much right? They're are just wannabe heavy's but not big enough right? Well here's a name to add to your boxrec “watch” list Rakhim Chakhkiev. A classy Russian amateur who has now turned his attention to taking over the professional ranks and he may well be one of those fighters that can really help establish the “bastard” division. With his amateur background being highlighted by Gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a Silver medal at the 2007 World Amateur Championships both at heavyweight he's turned to the professional ranks in a relative blaze of glory.

He started his career by stopping Tayar Mehmed in late 2009 and has stopped all 5 of his opponents as a professional with heavy hands, excellent technical abilities and a style possibly more suited the the pro ranks than the amateur one. With Michael Timm training him and a major German promoter behind him he'll likely remain hidden from American audiences for a while though this does have it's rather cool advantages. At the moment the top Cruiserweights are based in Europe which means that he'll get the competition he needs by facing the faded cruisers out there and the smaller heavyweights as he learns the trade and likely gets fast tracked to the top.

With fighters like Steve Cunningham, Marco Huck, Herbie Hide, Denis Lebedev, Alexander Alexeev, Ola Olafabi, Yoan Pablo Hernandez, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, Grigory Drozd, Pawel Kolodziej, Giacobbe Fragomeni, Firat Arslan, Steve Herelius and Enzo Maccarinelli all based in or signed to European promoters it seems likely that the division will see the best fighters over here (I'm based in the UK so it's over here ;-)). With that in mind it's likely only a few fights before Chakhkiev will be stepping up in competition.

At the time of posting Rakhim is pencilled in for a bout on July 3^rd on the undercard of Firat Arslan v Steve Herelius and Ina Menzer v Jeannine Garside, though there is no opponent currently named. It's likely to be a solid step up in opponent for a fighter than some are seeing as the future of the division and at 27 years old he may well dominate for a while.

Jose Benvidez...The best prospect in the world

So week 3, and as promised a "super prospect", if you need to put your money on any fighter features in this column ever making it to being a world champion this is the banker, the NAP if you will. 18 year old Mexican-American amateur star Jose Benavidez, undoubtedly the most highly sought after teenager in boxing history prior to signing for Bob Arum's Top Rank (the same company that also have training mate Manny Pacquiao). Having been the youngest fighter in history to win National Golden Gloves Champion (aged just 16) his signature was sought after high and low by professional promoters wanting to sign him, though at the same time dreams of Olympic success were also acting as a battling force, he would likely be amongst the US' best chance at the 2012 games in London having matured into a young 20 year old under the wing of famed trainer Freddie Roach. Although he had options like few other amateur stars it was the guidance of Roach that eventually lead Benavides to turning professional with the trainer applying for a professional Nevada license. Despite needing to be 18 to get the license the NSAC gave special dispensation to Benavidez due to his advanced skills, that rivalled that of seasoned professionals. In fact even before he had turned professional he had been sparring with seasoned and high level professionals such as Amir Khan who Freddie Roach was quoted as saying he'd been "Dead Even" with in sparring.

Stood at a gangly 5 foot 11 and with an unassuming personality the likeable kid (who has now turned 18) is currently campaigning as a professional in either the Lightweight (135lbs) or the Light

Welterweight (140lbs) divisions both of which he stands as a relative giant. With the commentators on TV before his debut explaining that Benavidez was being likened to Sugar Ray Robinson it was easy to take an immediate dislike to the hype behind the youngster before he had even stepped into the ring, though within just 81 seconds you could see that this wasn't meaningless hype. He debuted on one of the Top Rank TV shows back in January and faced the unbeaten Steven Cox (1-0), having had a massive build up it would have been easy to expect Benavidez to freeze, though he came out and performed like a seasoned pro, showing the skills of someone with years of experience. He seemed not only able to do the simple things, like establish his jab (which, with his 74 inch reach, is likely to be one of his most potent weapons) but also manage to work his opponent into the places where he'd want him before landing a beautiful and powerful left hand that sent Cox down. Even after Cox got up to his feet Benavides wouldn't relent and cleverly picked Cox apart before the referee waved it off. Inside 81 seconds Benavidez had gone from a 17 year old that no one outside of the most extreme of boxing fans had known about into a fighter that looked like he had stardom written in his destiny.

Since then Benevidez has just been improving, showing more and more aspects to his game and although his opponents so far have been there for no other purpose than to allow the youngster to get confident in the ring and improve as a professional he has managed to beat them with out looking like the youngster that he is. In fact from his first 6 opponents only one has managed to survive into the 3rd round, with 4 being stopped in the opener. For a youngster Benavidez really has it all, speed, natural talent, power of which you wouldn't have expected and maybe more crucially the ability to pick his punches beautifully to both head and body. The most recent victory for him being a clinical first round stoppage of Ronnie Peterson after a body shot that seemed to to just sap the fight right out of the 3-1-0-1 Peterson (who had only previously suffered a loss after damaging his shoulder).

For Benavidez, who wears glasses outside of the ring and looks like a typical bully victim with his slim build and innocent smile, the up coming test against Steve Hall in the Alamodome on Saturday as part of the undercard of John Duddy's fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr should be a rather easy nights work. Hall coming in with a 2-1 (2) record has stopped his last 2 opponents though against Benavidez he's meeting a special kind of fighter. Hall is only going to last as long as Benavidez wants him to, that's not a knock on Hall but a simple explanation of just how good Benavidez is, in fact you could make a solid case for him being better schooled than either of the main event fighters.

Also on the card is Mexican idol Marco Antonio Barrera, perhaps bowing out his career on the same card as Benavidez establishing his