For the young prospects, I'd like to buy some stocks for David Surov and Leo Atang. And I'm still pissed off about Mullojonov. Really thought he could be the next big thing after Usyk.
Sad but true. Rice was the perfect gatekeeper, but promoters have become over-protective of their up-and-comers.
Hrgy will beat Allen to a pulp, but Allen will probably have a couple of moments. Zhang if he's anything like he was KOs Whyte who is done
Both fights kind of pointless. Hrgovic-Zhang II and Allen-Whyte II are better as fights. Zhang would level Whyte to the ground.
Agreed I would also rather see both of these rematches. Really Allen should just stay around as a domestic attraction kind of like Butterbean and have him KOing guys below his level.
And against Rice we've seen the best version of Makhmudov to date. If he had kept developing along those lines he could have been a real problem.
I've always liked Richard Torrez, the American. Made the Olympic final & has been matched sensibly by Top Rank who don't have a history of developing Heavyweight talent. Moses Itauma from the UK is obviously a terrific talent. Both can punch & are southpaws which is helpful. Jalolov is too talented to put a line through while the young Russian Surov also looks good. Another Uzbek out of the amateurs who has great potential is Jakhongir Zokirov. He gassed badly in the World Boxing championships final & was lucky not to be DQ'd for holding but conditioning is something that can be improved with training & experience. I principally follow the three Australians - Huni, Opetaia & Teremoana. Justis has all the skills but his chin may prevent him from reaching his potential. I think Jai can be effective at Heavyweight. For all intents & purposes, he already is. Teremoana has a long way to go but his talent is obvious.
I think he priced himself out as well. The $100,000 asking price is probably a bit higher than a promoter would be willing to pay. Had he gone on to win another fight or two maybe. The momentum was definitely on his side though and I think he could have really capitalized off of those last couple wins had he stayed active and not refused to fight for less than $100k. A shame, I was really rooting for him and thought he could have tested a lot more prospects and earned decent money as a gatekeeper.
This content is protected Surov’s sparring Bekhan Israilov This content is protected Surov brothers sparring the Zemlyakov brothers