Two years ago this Montenegrin had barely fought outside his own country (which has a total population equal to my home city of Boston) and was completely unknown. As of then only two notable opponents (Petr "Zar" Petrov, who is undefeated since with a sweep-up at the Boxcino tourney followed by solid victories over Gamaliel Díaz & Marvin Quintero; and Felix Lora, who consistently faces unbeaten prospects and generally acquits himself quite well and who later went on to upset Krzysztof Szot, Krzysztof Cieslak, Massimiliano Ballisai, & Sergei Fedchenko) appeared on his record, and both were outpointed for the WBC Mediterranean title over the full distance of 12. On this current run, however - pounding through Ricky Burns (dropping him in what shouldn't have even been a split decision), overwhelming Ivan Redkach and demolishing Franklin Mamani - he is emerging as very likely a staying force at lightweight, and perhaps its biggest puncher (bar perhaps Verdejo) at the elite level. His style is a nice one to watch - blending head & body punches, workmanlike but not wasteful, and defending reasonably well on the forward march without ever getting cute or taking a step in retreat. I honestly think he would have kayoed/will kayo Linares, at this point.
If not Linares, he might have to go for Robert Easter Jr. 5'4'' vs 5'11'' lol. That'd be another Barthelemy vs Shafikov. Dude is shorter than Carl Frampton.
:!: And now for some food for thought - Avtandil Khurtsidze is same height as Dejan, yet he is a contender at 160lbs.
Haymon wouldn't dare. Easter Jr. has only fought a handful of southpaws, the best of them being Ossie Akaba or Daniel Attah. I have my doubts that he will get past Commey without getting exposed. (particularly if his chin isn't very sturdy) Zlatič would chop him down like a mad tiny lumberjack.
I'm not getting carried away yet, sure he destroyed Redkach and Mamani, but I'm pretty sure Linares would too. Although its definitely a tougher call now that it would have been a year ago.
Hmmmm:think For some reason I bet you wouldn't nearly as thrilled with Dejan had he not signed with Haymon.
He looks like a fun fighter. 'perhaps its biggest puncher (bar perhaps Verdejo) at the elite level.' - No one at lightweight is elite.
Depends how you define Elite I guess - the top 10 at LW (and indeed any other division) represent the top 1% of all active boxers at the weight. In most other spheres of life being amongst the best 1% of your profession could arguably classify you as being part of the 'elite' surely? Just sayin.
And Zlati does the same to Barthelemy. Barthelemy doesnt know how to use his reach and he thinks he is a puncher. Taylor made for Zlati !!!!!
He is good at what he does and he does have a fan friendly style, but he has the look of someone who could quite easily be out boxed as he is quite flat footed and slow, at times. In his favour, though, he does seem to have a decent engine and solid chin so maybe someone like Linares, who is not the most durable, could get broken down after a good start. I would favour Flannigan over him, but Crolla, with the notorious Joe Gallagher trained slow starts against dangerous punchers, could find himself with too big of a hole to climb out of as I doubt Dejan would wilt like Barossa did.
Crolla would be KTFO by Zlatičanin, no question about it. Flanagan could outbox him if he keeps it ranged, though.
