Trans-Continental Prospect Rankings: Middleweights The Top 10 Fighters To Watch.

Even though the popular notion on this site and many others is that the Middleweight Division is a very weak division, which couldn't be further from the truth. While it is true the known faces of the Middleweight Division are the past it fading average fighters of the past decade like Soliman, Geale, Macklin, Murray, Mora, Fletcher, Stevens or Rubio"s of the world. But that in reality isn't the best representation of this sizzling hot division. Of course Golovkin, Lemieux, Lee, Cotto, Quillin, Saunders, Jacobs and potentially Canelo are sitting on top and a few quality second tier of challengers Heiland, N'Dam, Korobov, Chudinov, Andrade, Charlo, Soro, Uzcategui, Nielsen, Eubank Jr. easily with a few more decent wins can move to the top as well. But the real reason to get truly excited is what's waiting in the wings, many of them savage punchers with exceptional skillsets. If even a handful of these guys live up to their obvious potential there are quite a few big stars in the making. So this is in My Opinion The Top 10 picks for ones to watch in the Middleweight Division.

Give your feedback, disagree or agree be my guest, I welcome debate.


1. Ievgen Khytrov-Ukraine

• Skillwise he's improving by leaps and bounds, he's becoming far more defensively responsible than he was before, he has a lot of subtleties, his slight head movements, his shifting, his counter punching, taking a half step back to avoid clean shots, his pawing jab to set up his power punches, his accurate punch placement, landing a punch wherever he can land one, his ability to cut the off the ring, his ability to set traps, his effective aggression, his constant pressure. He's already almost the full package in only his 10th match. Now obviously he needs quite a few more matches under his belt before he can be considered a true contender but just by the looks of it in his last few matches he's already capable of beating a good majority of the lesser top contenders at Middleweight. We have a Middleweight Monster in the making here. And potential threat to GGG in a year or two.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjR2v295JH4
2. Jason Quigley-Ireland

• Jason is a big puncher with skills to back it up, he has many Gold and Silver medals and has thus far been a one man wrecking crew similar to Khytrov, annihilating all who stand in his path with ease. He can fight a very defensively sound match or can flip on a dime and go all out on the attack and walk through huge punches to get his man out of there. He's versatile and exciting, a potential star in the making. A good looking kid with a good personality Oscar has a beast in the making with him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7pIRY1GIps
3.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqVk2U2UnCg
4. Ryota Murata-Japan

• Middleweightt Gold Medalist Murata seems to be the total package especially when he first turned pro, his chin seems to be rock hard like many Japanese fighters and he effectively broke down with body punching almost all put before him. Although I started getting worried because he slightly adjusted his warrior style and seemed to turn into a somewhat tentative fighter for a little while in late 2014. But it seems that he may have just been trying to get rounds in early by going the distance a few times. He's gotten back to his ass kicking ways by walking through his latest opponent destroying him in 5 rounds. Arum needs to bring him to the States and put him on some HBO undercards, he may become a big crossover star here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BvE6sEVcU8

5. Brian Carlos Castano-Argentina

• In the absence of Argentine Middleweight Superstar Sergio Martinez hopefully Castano can fill the void left after his recent retirement. He's a fun pressure fighter who throws punches in bunches with very fast hands. That's not to say he's limited to that and unskilled he's a very well rounded fighter. His aggression isn't mindless he's defensive while on the attack, slipping punches and his style reminds of a huge Middleweight Roman Gonzalez a little, and can stand back and box at a distance as well, he fights at Light Middleweight and can easily move up. Super talented good looking kid with a very marketable and fan friendly style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHItU1edMY8
6.

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• The 2013 AIBA and Asian Amatuer Boxing Championships Gold Medalist at Middleweight, and even though he was KO'd by Ievgen Khytrov (who hits real hard)in the Amateurs and that's nothing to be ashamed of and he was and still is young, but he bounced back to get a points wins over the very talented Jason Quigley at the AIBA. While not officially a pro yet, fighting in the AIBA and WSB isn't quite amateur either, he's fighting without headgear, so I and many others consider those competitions as semi pro. He's got a lot of skill has a good left jab, fights well off the back foot, counters well, has a good quick uppercut, good inside fighter as well, so he's fairly well rounded, he does need to work on his defense though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI8-osYGqOo
7. Arif Magomedov-Russia

• Magomedov is another fighter coming out of the Dagestan region who has even power, some matches he comes out and shuts the guy out and other times obliterates them in quick relative ease. He has one of the more impressive resumes of all of the guys on this list. He already has wins over Boone (KO), Findley (UD), Mendy (UD) and Alex Theran (RTD). All of whom are decent measuring sticks and he beat them all with ease. He could be defensively more sound and loves throwing wild shots, he could tighten up a few things, but so far he seems to be doing fine the way he is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD_IxT689uY
8. Dmytro Mytrofanov-Russia

• Dmytro The 2012 Ukrainian National Champion is a dedicated pressure fighter, he comes to fight in a big way, he throws bombs non stop, he's dedicated to breaking the body down with a relentless barrage of body shots. He works behind his lead straight right quite well. He reminds me of a more intelligent and all around more skilled version of Gradovich or Provodnikov with a relentless workrate. He has a few losses on points, but he quite a lot of wins as well. If he turns pro and gets a proper trainer he has the potential to go far, but he definitely needs to tighten up that leaky defense of his. He also has quite a good chin since he took bombs from Derevyanchenko for 5 rounds in their WSB match. He'll probably turn pro after the Olympics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9NF7O9Sv3w

9. Artem Chebotarev-Russia

• Artem the Gold medalist from the European Boxing Championships in Moscow 2010 isn't your typical Russian killing machine he fights a far more defensive style choosing to box at range and counter punch rather than walk down his opponents. That doesn't mean he won't engage if pressed, he can and will go on the attack and he can be pretty vicious at times. His style reminds me of Chris Algieri a little, he's very slippery in close and is more concerned with landing a shot and getting out of there as opposed to just plain running. He should turn pro right after the Olympics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-_wDXuJI_Q
10. Conrad Cummings-Ireland

• Cummings is yet another in a crop of new young faces coming out of the British Isles in the Middleweight Division, he looks very promising and don't let the 2 losses in the WSB fool you they were both against Serhiy Derevyanchenko, who's a very talented very hard hitting EE fighter, he beat the very good Brazilian prospect Esquiva Falcao in the ams. He fought for the Mexican Guerreros at the WSB and his motto is Never Give Up. His favorite fighter is Mike Tyson who he appears to pattern his fighting and attire after as well, he's good at pressuring his opponents, and is fond of body shots and right and left hooks, he has room for improvement, and maybe with time he will become more refined and eventually another force at MW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spyBAHFRk5I


Honorable Mention: Ivan Golub-Ukraine.
The Wolf is a tall powerful Ukrainian who's currently flying under the radar a little he's managed by Haymon and promoted by Dibella so its only a matter of time before he starts popping up all over PBC. He's a southpaw, he's a good combination puncher and does good body work and has impressive hand speed. He's currently at Light Middleweight but could easily move up a be a force at Middleweight.

A few other MW's who have potential are Kanat Islam, Gary O' Sullivan, Petr Khamukov, Meirim Nursultanov, Patrick Teixiera, Dominic Wade, Antoine Douglas,

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:goodThanks and yeah I've seen Adem Kilicci twice he was pretty impressive what I saw of him, but I need to see him some more and maybe I'll do a thread on him in a few weeks.:yep