Prospect of the year winner is....

Beterbeiv hits a ton harder than usyk and if you look at there Olympic fight beterbeivs power was given him problems even with headgear and soft gloves

And you have to factor in that usyk had quiet the size advantage over him in the amateurs .they are hands down the best prospects in there respected divisions and I can't choose between the two of them

If they were to fight tomorrow at cruiser weight I'd give usyk a slight advantage but not much 55-45 or 60-40 kind of thing

 

That bout is one where WATCHING the bout tells you a lot more than looking at the score cards. Hara was universally ranked in the top 10 (if not top 5) and Tanaka had never been beyond 8 before. For 8 rounds you had SUPER HIGH SPEED chess before Tanaka shook off the shackles and battered Hara for 2 rounds.

On paper it was, as you said, a stoppage in a fight he was was barely winning. In reality it was a "Yeah, I can do 12, I carry my power late, I'm fast to the later stages, I still keep my form, oh and I just stopped a VERY highly regarded foe"

Also worth noting Raknafa and Ferreras were WORLD ranked (by at least 1 body) when he beat them.

RE rankings, worth comparing them across the board:
Independent rankings-
Ring Magazine #3
IWBR #4
Boxrec #5
TBRB #7

Worl
WBA #3
WBC #5
WBO #5

The depth at Strawweight is so-so however his win over Hara is generally how he's been rated so highly

 

Ellerbe:think

 

Beterbiev is good but he's no Anthony Joshua MBE

 

Usyk definitely. If Beterbiev ever moves up to CW Usyk will destroy him. Usyk also would beat Kovalev if he ever moves up. Usyk is gonna not only take over CW but also HW one day.

 

Usyk is also the way bigger man, so h2h isn't that impressive

 

Beterbiev still competed strongly at HW as an amateur.

 

Josh warrington

 

Not a very well rounded opinion though.

Cloud had won a major world title, and had beaten world level opponents before being figured out by Campillo.

Haro had beaten a handful of lower top 200 guys before being beaten by a prospect.

Big difference in quality wins by prospects from a world view. Your'e looking at it from a nationalistic perspective.

 

In fairness Cloud had won a major world title 5 years earlier and the looked progressively worse with a strong case to be made that he hadn't won a fight in 3 years prior to the Beterbiev bout. Being figured out by Campillo, clowned by Hopkins, battered by Stevenson and then steam rolled by Beterbiev in progressively worse performances.

Hara had beaten a guy who had run Yaegashi and Noknoi close (Horikawa), had beaten a former world title challenger who had pushed Cuello close (Kunishge) and beat Mabao (who significantly out weighed him) to win the OPBF title. Hara was also universally ranked in the divisional top 10 at the time, was unbeaten and seen as a major contender following in the footsteps of stablemates Inoue and Yaegashi.

Tanaka was a 3-0 kid being touted for greatness by his promoter and being moved at a rate QUICKER than Inoue (who took 5 fights to win the then vacant OPBF title).

Hara was seen as being on the way up whilst Beterbiev was seen as a man on the way out. The performances by both losers showed where they were (Cloud putting in nothing performance whilst Hara put in a bloody good effort)

BTW a great fight if you've not yet seen.
[YT]SI-yFMJK_Ko[/YT]

 

No hysterical emo's mentioning Beterbiev's chin of china yet?

 

more due to his incredible power and physical strength not his size

most 90kg fighters had a big size advantage over him