Anthony "The Magician" Sims, Jr.

On the Bivol vs. Castillo & Usyk vs. Witherspoon card this weekend, the show was unmistakably stolen by one performance (although both show & performance were overshadowed by the sad news developing in the aftermath of Pat Day's brutal kayo loss) - and the performance was followed by a seemingly left-field call-out directed at former WBA super middleweight champ Michael "Rocky" Fielding, adding he'd be happy to have it done "in the UK, mate! ".

Not many had seen or heard of him before this sharp outing and the brash proclamation that followed. In fact, I believe, only @CST80 and @Serge had so much as uttered a peep about him on here prior to a couple of days ago. He will, however, IMO going forward be the sort of guy that has too many threads made on him cluttering up the forum (and I think if Hearn grants his wish and feeds him Rocky, he'll outperform Canelo against him)...so get hip to him now, if you don't want a repeat of that nightmare FOMO scenario when you didn't get in on the ground-floor as Bitcoin started blowing up.

Here are some IB funfacts© you may not have known about The Magician:

1. He started boxing at six years old, the same year his dad Anthony Sr. (a boxer himself, and once an Olympic alternate) died in a vehicular suicide.
2. He is a second cousin of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. - his grandmother is the blood sister of PBF's mom - and has learned the literal ropes under Floyd Sr. and Uncles Jeff & Roger. He was offered a contract with TMT but wanted to be his own man and not rely on family connections to make his mark.
3. His amateur winning percentage was 93.5% in over 200 bouts (record: 188-13) and he claimed ten national championships and was the youngest fighter to ever medal at the United States Olympic trials - spending most of his teens battling in the country's stacked light heavyweight (81kg; ~178lbs) division.
4. He was among the very last Kronk scions; although Tony "Super Bad" Harrison bears the distinction of being the final protégé acquired by Emanuel Steward and trained by him full-time (guiding him to a 10-0 record with eight kayos), it was then-amateur Sims who managed to divert some of the Detroit coaching legend's attention in his final days as he approached hat-in-hand begging Manny for some pointers to improve his power...a request the sensei turned commentator happily obliged. In a subsequent amateur bout, Sims made an opponent crap himself in the ring (shades of B-Hop vs. DLH) with a body shot. True story.
5. He is an inverted southpaw, and capable of fighting ambidextrously. (aka switch-hitting)
6. He is on his third big-name promoter, and has traded up twice (signing with M&M Sports before turning pro, then jumping from Murad to a slightly lesser evil in Don King in 2016 and then at last finding a benefactor who may actually do him some good in Eddie Hearn a year ago). Smart kid.
7. He is short on stiff competition in the pros thus far (in fairness, as illustrated above, that's an easy mystery to solve, as he was languishing under the neglectful auspices of DKP) but more important than "who" sometimes is "how".. and in Sims' case, a couple of his stoppages really pop. To dominate & batter Mateo Damián "El Chino" Verón and Rayco "War" Saunders into submission (indeed, to even register a stoppage over the latter, a venerable, crafty, journeyman) is a real statement, take my word for it even if you're not familiar with either name.
8. He was already starting local youth enrichment charity programs in his community and paying his training forward to younger kids while still a child (under the age of majority) himself.

So basically, he's somebody that should hold your interest by now - and if the above isn't enough, just watch him. And if he doesn't pass your personal eye test, your eyes themselves need to be tested. Kid's special, and is just getting started.

Sims vs. Mario Aguilar:

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Sims vs. Mateo Damián Verón:

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Sims vs. Vaughn Alexander:

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Sims vs. Morgan Fitch:

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He is casting a pretty wide net, also low-key baiting Anthony Yarde, Joshua Buatsi, and CEJ.

He really wants a big name British scalp on his record, apparently.