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Peter Quillin IF a sizeable ego, quick wit and sharp humour were enough to take a fighter to a world title, Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin would already be a champion. The hugely ambitious New York-based super-middleweight, who sports a 16-0 (13) record, has earned rave reviews on his way to some devastating early wins against overmatched opponents. |
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Martin Lindsay THE tag of “the new Barry McGuigan” does not sit comfortably with Belfast’s rising IBF Youth featherweight boss Martin Lindsay. “It’s obviously a huge privilege but I don’t read too much into it,” says the modest 25-year-old university graduate, who has knocked up a perfect 11-fight slate since turning pro in December 2004. “I’ve watched Barry’s fights on video but he was before my time. Growing up, my boxing hero was Rocky [Balboa]!” |
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Paul Appleby HEAVY-fisted South Queensferry featherweight Paul Appleby has shot a welcome bolt of electricity through the Scottish boxing scene over the last two years. Still just 20, the feisty 5ft 9in Tommy Gilmour-managed prospect has already blitzed his way to seven stoppages, whilst compiling a perfect 10-fight card and generating rave reviews from the Sky Sports team. |
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Devon Alexander WHEN renowned St Louis trainer Kevin Cunningham describes someone as a “can’t-miss”, you tend to listen. When that boxer happens to be a former American under-17 amateur champion, Golden Gloves finalist (both 2004) and just missed out on a spot in the 2004 Athens Olympics, you sit up and take notice. |
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Devin Vargas DEVIN VARGAS of Toledo, Ohio doesn't believe that being bigger is necessarily better for a heavyweight. Having faith in speed and movement is more his thing and with the success he has had, both as an amateur and pro, 25-year-old Devin is proving his theory correct. |
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Ray Robinson A BOXING prospect can garner attention in many different ways. Either his superb skills will catch the eye of the fans and experts or his trash-talking will make them sit up and pay attention. Or maybe some other gimmick will do the trick. At the end of the day, however, all hype is just that - hype. We never know if a prospect is going to make it big until the test of time has passed. |
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Ronald Hearns IT is hard for a prospect, no matter how good he is, to get noticed. For Ronald Hearns, a 28-year-old middleweight from Michigan, the problem is different to most. He is the son of the legendary "Hitman" himself, Thomas, so the pressure to make it is unimaginably immense. |
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Ian Wilson IF the old maxim about nice guys finishing last is true, then Camden super-featherweight Ian Wilson may as well give up now. He describes bantamweight Martin Power as a "good mate and an inspiration", rival Carl Johanneson as a "great fighter" and girlfriend Sarah as "perfect in every way". He even insists, right off the bat, that he will never "slag off" another fighter. |
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Lenny Zappavigna HE is a kid who has had only six pro fights, but he already holds his own in sparring with current and former world champions Vic Darchinyan and Gairy St Clair. He had his first pro bout only eight months ago, but he already holds the Australian lightweight title. Lenny Zappavigna, a tough-as-teak teenager from Sydney's western suburbs, has it all says a man who should know - world champion trainer Johnny Lewis. |
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Danny Jacobs "IT'S a gift from God," Danny Jacobs said while onlookers watched, mouths agape, as he shadow boxed in his barebones gym in Coney Island, Brooklyn. When describing his breathtaking talent - a boxer-puncher with equal parts power |
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Anthony Dirrell NOT often do I see a young fighter and instantly think of him as a certain world-beater. But one of those rare occasions happened for me in Auburn Hills, Michigan in August 2005, when Anthony "The Dog" Dirrell - from the town of Flint in the state - stopped a Texan called Gabriel Rivera in two rounds at The Palace. Both were undefeated in four going in. Now Dirrell is 12-0 (11) and continuing to show promise. |
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Anthony Crolla SOME prospects turn pro with a certain amount of fanfare. These are our possible champions of the future - the guys all the enthusiasts earmark as 'one to look out for'. Then there are the 'stellar prospects' - the ones who are seen as just that bit special, who seem destined to achieve that level of greatness few will ever reach. In that category falls Manchester's Anthony 'Million Dollar' Crolla: ABA champion and one of Sports Network's hottest properties. |
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Kevin Buckley EVERY few years a prospect emerges whose talent, style and performances just ask, no, demand that you sit up and take notice. Early 2007 appears to have found that fighter in Chester's 21-year-old super-featherweight Kevin Buckley. Fighting out of the Chester Boxing Stable, where he is trained by older brother Peter and Steve Goodwin, Kevin had been marking himself as one to watch even before he turned pro on a PJ Promotions bill at the Meadowside Leisure Centre in Burton in March. |
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Tyrone Brunson THERE is this young Philadelphia middleweight everyone in the city is talking about. Tyrone Brunson is the name and knockouts are his thing, first-round knockouts to be specific. It is little wonder that after 15 wins, all first-round stoppages, his is a name that is starting to carry some clout in the States. Already promotional and TV companies are hot on the 22-year-old's trail. |
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Kgotla Baeti KGOTLA BAETI experienced an unusual happening in his 11th and most recent pro fight - a scheduled eight-rounder against Moses Mathekga at the Emperor's Palace Casino in Johannesburg in November. For the first time in his short professional career he heard the sound of the final bell. Baeti's opponent only just managed to see it through, being floored in the last and having to cling on desperately to the bell, with Baeti taking a one-sided win. |
