Best Prospects... [revisited]

At 22 best of luck to him, but really - his resume is worse than Amir Khan's and he's fought almost twice as many fights!

 

Following on from the Jimenez fight, the Gamboa train keeps on rolling...

 

Presumably you have followed his career quite closely, what do you think of the criticism of his opposition?

 

Wow - 50 posts just saying 'Koki Kameda'

Almost want to shake his hand!

 

:good

Good call!

 

Only seen clips of Kickett on youtube.

Berto got a title now though, so nice to see someone I had as a prospect do alright :hey

 

Not seen anything of Alvarado, any clips or fights we should try to get hold of?

 

Indeed, see albeziel's post further up.

I missed a trick there! atsch

 

Thought that this was probably worth a revisit given it's just about 12 months on and a few people have changed here. I've rearranged the class rankings to reflect people's progress... (I've only included the people I originally wrote up, feel free to add to my comments or include anyone else I've missed (of which there are plenty!!!))

Class A

Amir Khan - holds a proper title and was impressive against a shot MAB and a limited Kotelnik. Now has Papa Roach in his corner and the world at his feet. Still got the same chin issues as so brutally exposed by Prescott, but still a great talent and still so young.

Andre Berto - Still undefeated and now holding the green strap. Adding a decent test in Forbes and two good opponents in Collazo and Urango (massively underrated for me) to his CV. Berto is starting to look like the real deal.

Class B

Yuriorkis Gamboa - continuing to impress (and improve) with a cracking first round win over seasoned pro Estrada. Now 15-0 with a WBA shot in the waiting. Massive, massive talent.

Victor Ortiz - 'Vicious' is probably the review which pains me to write the most. I was convinced he was going to be an awesome scrapper. He had the heart, the power and the style that I like. A shock defeat to Maidana though puts him down a peg or two. He's still a kid and as such has plenty of time to get his career back on track he just doesnt look like the future of the sport I thought he once was.

Class C

Denis Boystov - Still stalling. His recent opposition has been decent on paper with Bidenko probably his best opponent so far but he really needs to step his game up immediately and box either in the States or against more European level fighters.

Tony Bellew - Now ESB's very own Tony Bellew. I told you he was good didnt I??!! With an almost punch perfect record the Bomber is making waves with the win over Ellis showing that he belongs in the top bracket domestically. Still (by his own admission) making mistakes but we all know it's better to make them now than in round 2 of the biggest fight of your life in the MGM Grand. 10-0 and looking like he's got a lot more to come. With Bellew at cruiser and Price at HW, Liverpool is proving again to be a nails city!

Koki Kameda - Still fighting Japanese waiters. But with a WBC shot in the wings maybe he will decide to move west for some decent paydays... As it stands though, Kameda remains an unknown talent with a padded record.

Class D

Abner Mares - Not pushed on as much as I'd have liked to have seen over the last 13 months. Hand picked opposition and relatively uninspiring performances. We havent learnt much we didnt already know.

Odlanier Solis - continuing to beat hand picked opposition. But my thoughts on him havent changed since the initial post.