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.

McLoser Arroyo fails to shine

It was on a Top Rank live show that Bob Arum first showed the world his boxing super kid Jose Benavidez and now it was time to allow both of the highly hyped Puerto Ricans Gabriel Bracero and McWilliams Arroyo some of the same TV time as they too featured on a Top Rank live show. The main event may well have been Calderon v Iribe but for some this was the card of the new generation not the ageing “Iron Boy”.

29 year old Bracero 89-0 was the first to fight, having turned pro a long time ago (considering his age), in fact he debuted in 2001 and racked up a 5-0 record before taking 7 years out of the sport only to return in 2009 and increasing his record to 9-0. A bit of a mystery fighter it was obvious from his record with 0KO's that he wasn't going to try and stop his opponent (the 7-6 Julias Edmonds also 0KO's). It didn't take long to see why Bracero hadn't scored a stoppage, he relied on a single weapon that he knew how to use, his jab. He was a true stick and move fighter landing his fast accurate but powerless jab then moving and repeating it over and over with great work rate. Although he looked rather amateurish in style with his clean and crisp jab with lots of movement he looked talented and able even when he did occasionally mix up his shots he still moved in and out quickly.

Having improved to 10-0 Bracero looks like he's effective at what he does but will really struggle to make it big, his lack of a punch but good movement saw him perhaps being compared to Calderon though he's not likely to ever be on that level he could be one of the best “pure boxing” prospects pout there.

So onto the big guy for the week, McWilliams Arroyo who came in with the opposite sort of punch to Bracero, the former World Boxing Cup champion was 3-0 (3) going in and seen as one of the most talented young fighters out there. Or so we thought thought.

He went into the bought against Japanese fight Takashi Okada 1-0-1 as a fighter almost expecting a gimme and found out that in this sport you're given nothing solely on your amateur experience. Having won the opening round he was dropped in the second cut in the third and unable to establish himself en route to losing 39-36 and 38-37 (twice), the later two cards noticeably closer than the 39-36 I had it.

McWilliams perhaps learning that his power isn't as good we thought or that he failed to make the transition. Whatever it was this was an upset, and one that few so coming. Can McWilliams recover from it? Well both yes and no. He is talented but a loss against the likes of 26 year old Okada really isn't a good thing this early in your career. A poor performance in an exciting bout was punished with a poor result.

Star of the week-David Lemieux...WOW!

The start of a new era

In so many ways this really is the start of something new, I'm writing under my real name, the column is brand new, the personal blog site it's on is brand new, and more importantly in the case of many of the fighters that are going to be featured in this column they are the start of a new era in boxing. 

Although their are no "rules" as such for the column's fighters outside of the fact they aren't allowed to be world champions or have had long reigning title reigns. They can be any age and have any amount of fights though the vast majority will be youngsters in their early fights often with a solid amateur background. One condition to be featured that is "generally" kept is that only 1 fighter can appear per week (though some exceptions will apply to this rule) and the fighter must be penciled down to fight that week (again some exceptions will apply).

So for the first fighter to be featured in this segment (which still doesn't have a name folks if you want to volunteer one that beats “Prospect Scotting”) we take a look at McWilliams Arroyo, one of a pair Puerto Rican twins who only started their professional careers at the start of this year. Both Arroyo brothers are 3-0 though it's McWilliams that seems to be the more exciting of the two having stopped all 3 opponents so far (whilst twin brother McJoe Arroyo has 1 stoppage). The pair came to international prominence in the amateurs with McWilliams being the more impressive of the two. He would win Gold at the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2006 before adding the Gold at the 2007 Pan Am games and then his crowning glory, Gold at the 2009 World Boxing Cup. The victory over Tugstsot Nyambayar of Mongolia in the World Boxing Cup was a masterclass with a score of 18-2 in the final as Arroyo captured the first gold in the tournament for his nation in 35 years. 

Having been chased by several promoters both brothers would sign with PR Best Boxing and debut on a card in Bayamon, Puerto Rico on the undercard of Wilfredo Vazquez Jr's triumphant WBO super bantamweight title fight. Both brothers would score KO's with McWilliams needing just 106 seconds to make an impact on fellow debutant Eliecer Sanchez. Sanchez was flattened by a straight right which seemed to badly hurt his opponent who seemed out of it for quite a while. Since then McWilliams has been matched well for a young professional. His second bout for example came against the 4-1 (3) Francisco Rosario from the Dominican Republic a former national champion as a professional who had never been stopped. Having won the opening 2 rounds McWilliams would turn it on in the 3^rd and force the stoppage against a capable opponent. Mexican Samuel Gutierrez went in with a 5-6-1 and came out with a 5-7-1record with McWilliams needing just over 1 and a half rounds to add to his growing reputation.

McWilliams Arroyo takes part in his 4^th contest as a professional on 12^th June only 2 weeks after having beaten Gutierrez., This will be the first time he has fought with out his brother on the card as a professional and also the first time he fights out side of his homeland as a pro. Facing off against unbeaten (1-0-1 (1)) Japanese fighter Takashi Okada in Madison Square Garden on the undercard of Ivan Calderon's WBO light flyweight title defence against Jesus Iribe, Arroyo is almost certain to see his stock rise through the roof with an impressive win on American soil in front of the sports written media.

Whether the 24 year old super flyweight will ever manage to headline a card in “The Garden” is up for debate though if he continues doing what he's done so far he may well become the Puerto Rican star many thought Kenny Galarza was going to be. It's always nice to see a technically able fighter, with fast hands and power, even more so when they are a little guy and the power is rather unexpected though in McWilliams Arroyo the lighter weights seem to have a real star in the making.

Boxrec record for McWilliams Arroyo