Trans-Continental Prospect Rankings: Light Heavyweights-The Top 10 To Watch.

Light Heavyweight is full of monsters like Kovalev, Stevenson and Beterbiev who are sure to be a dominant force for the foreseeable future and many of the old lions and good second tier fighters like Hopkins, Pascal, Fonfara, Chilemba, Alvarez, Rodriguez and Braehmer still have some bite or can still turn into top stars, but the division is unfortunately being monopolized by subpar past it also rans or second tier fighters like Karpency, Campillo, Bute, Oosthuizen, Liebenberg, Dawson, Mohammedi, Krasniqi, Sukhotshy, Vlasov, Ngumbo and Bolonti who are more than willing to fight one another for years to come cashing in on their slight marketability or former glories, although most of them wouldn't make it to the final bell with some of the upcoming beasts lurking in the shadows. They're ready to take the next step and become the potential stars of the future. These are my picks for 10 fighters to keep an eye on in the next few years, we may be hearing a lot about some if not all of the fighters I've listed. This is only my opinion for whatever that's worth of who is the best up and coming talents in the Light Heavyweight division.



1. Oleksandr Gvozdyk-Ukraine

• In some ways I think Gvozdyk is a slightly better all around fighter than Artur Beterbiev, his fundamentals are far more solid. He can punch very hard, maybe not Kovalev and Beterbiev level but he makes up for it with skill level. He's defensively sound very good at slipping punches, has a piston like jab, his accuracy is impressive and his punch selection and variety of punches he's mastered is spot on, he can fight off the backfoot and counter or pressure and wear down. He oddly reminds me of a massive Ukrainian Jorge Linares at times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKy6H1Sko-s
2. Dmitry Bivol-Kyrgyzstan

• Bivol is an incredibly talented and skilled young man he is very proficient in cutting off the ring, and walking down his opponents, he has a very good defense, a decent shoulder Roll and is good at staying just out of range and has a very good straight right. He's younger than most of his Eastern European counterparts which means he may have a slightly longer career, since becoming a pro he seems to have better power, which will certainly get him attention. Watch this kid he's something special.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcohSeyq_ZA
3.

This content is protected

• While I dislike his style this talented counter puncher from Cuba is a very impressive fighter sure to trouble many for years to come if he eventually turns pro. Just like Lara and Rigo he's hard to hit and defensively sound and has very good footwork, some would even call him a runner, but ultimately he's really hard to beat and will definitely be a riddle for many fighters to solve. For sweet science purists he may be your next big obsession.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L17dd0cuCao
4.

This content is protected

• This content is protected

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=harYJLUA128
5. Vyacheslav Shabranskyy

This content is protected

• This content is protected

This content is protected

6.

This content is protected

• This content is protected

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg_9WLuAdME

7.

This content is protected

• This content is protected
  This content is protected

This content is protected

8. Umar Salamov-Russia

• He's a hard punching talent who loves his good uppercuts, throws them to the body and to the head with vicious accuracy, he's rangy and very tall standing at 6'3, he's good at walking opponents down, although he has flaws opponents can exploit but overall someone to watch, I'm still tentative on going all out and jumping on his bandwagon, but so far he looks good, but he may turn into a crude slugger easily.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_WwAebcppI
9.

This content is protected

This content is protected

10. Oleksandr Khyzhniak-Ukraine

• This content is protected

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFXih3EJwfg

Other fighters to keep an eye on are Ahmed El Biali, Isidro Ranoni Prieto, Joe Ward, Yunieski Gonzalez,

This content is protected

Vasiliy Lepikhin (I haven't written him off yet), Oscar Ahlin, Marcus Browne and Abel Gevor.


I hope you mind me quasi ripping you off McGrain.

 

I know what you're saying, I had the same feeling while doing the list, but let's keep our fingers crossed with some of these guys, hopefully they will.

 

I'll add clips of these guys later.