Prospect Watch - Weekend Starting 27/01/12 - Review

This weekend's Prospect Watch focused on Saturday night and there was some very good action, most notably at York Hall where two of the prospects I featured on Thursday were involved in an absolute great fight.

Chakhiev eased to a win over Kotlobay

Starting off in Germany where the was a really solid bill, that I actually featured as my Bill Of The Weekend, and one of the headliners was former star amateur Rakhim Chakhiev, who moved to 12-0 (9 KO's) with a near shutout over WBC Baltic champion, Alexander Kotlobay (21-3-1, 15 KO's) over 10 rounds, two judges scoring it 100-89 and one 99-89. The 2008 Olympic Gold medallist used all of his amateur skills in the fight, as well as demonstrating some power by knocking the chinny Kotlobay down in the 3rd. It's a good win for Chakhiev's record and moves him to #17 in the world with my favourite site Boxrec, but considering Enzo Maccarinelli beat this guy in a round in his own country, does raise slight doubts about how good a pro the German based Russian is. The skills are most definitely there and we need better fighters in the cruiserweight division, but I was expecting a stoppage here and it's a shame he couldn't get one. A perfect next fight considering where he is now ranked would be against someone like Danny Green or dangerous Puerto Rican Francisco Palacios.

Frampton remains Commonwealth champ

At York Hall on Saturday night, Carl Frampton (12-0, 8 KO's) was the headliner in his first Commonwealth super bantamweight defence, as he stopped brave Scottish challenger Kris Hughes (15-2, 1 KO) with an outstanding right hand in the 7th round. It was a dominant performance from "The Jackal", who looked superior in all departments, and like many expected, Hughes simply didn't have the power to hold him off. As a fan fight it wasn't a great spectacle as Frampton was so dominant, but it's hard not to be impressed with the kid, who has such a well rounded style. After the fight manager Barry McGuigan said they are looking at March 17th at the Madison Square Garden for his next fight, which will probably be against some kind of US journeyman, however the fight on everybody's lips is the one between himself and Scott Quigg. I've said on my Twitter feed that I believe if it was to happen in the next 12 months, I'm picking the man from Bury as he is a more mature fighter and has probably had more of an education as a pro. It will be a great fight when it happens, but Frampton might skip past Quigg and fight Kiko Martinez for the European belt, like he was supposed to in September, so I wouldn't be too confident of it happening that soon. My opinion on Brits fighting Brits is that if they are good enough to keep these unbeaten records going, then let's wait and get them fighting at their peak, for me Groves v DeGale was a great example of this. More money can be made by letting fighters progress with each fight, and the job of the promoters should be to make these fights at the right time, not do it for short term gain!

Ochieng v Quigley was a great advertisement for UK Boxing

The cracking fight I talked about at York Hall was an English light middleweight clash between Stoke Newington's Erick Ochieng (9-1, 3 KO's) and Liverpool's Nick Quigley (10-2, 0 KO's), which was shown before the Frampton fight and was a real treat for those who watched. I said in my Prospect Watch post that this was going to be a good one, and it didn't disappoint, mostly thanks to some surprise tactics from the light hitting Quigley, who came out all guns blazing looking to stop Ochieng. It was a real war, the input from both guys was fantastic, and it was a real privilege to see two honest and very decent fighters putting all on the line. It was a shame that the fight ended in quite weird circumstances, with Quigley's Father and Trainer, Tony Quigley Sr, pulling him out 10 seconds into round 9, but the Liverpool man was starting to ship some serious punishment and he was probably going to lose the fight anyway. I was impressed with both guys, but Ochieng showed some really good skills and adapted well to Quigley's tactics. Once or twice he got caught with some big shots, but took them well and it will have been a real plus for him to have gone nine rounds, and probably would have easily done 10. The British light middleweight division is really starting to open up now, a fight with champion Brian Rose looks unlikely for Ochieng, but there's no reason why he can't go in with ex champ Prince Arron, or one of the Frank Warren promoted fighters such as Steve O'Meara or Joe Selkirk.

Dodie Boy Jr has knocked out all of his opponents

In Caloccan City, Philippines, featherweight prospect Dodie Boy Penalosa Jr (8-0, 8 KO's) continued his 100% record as a pro by easily dispatching Thai fighter Superjames Singmanasak in a round. It was a poor match to be honest, but this kid continued to show his talent and definitely needs to be stepped up in class. Obviously with him being based over in the Far East, it's hard to say who they will give him next, but there's plenty of home based fighters to choose from, with Dodie Boy Jr ranked only #26 in his homeland.


Seldin (6-0, 4 KO's) who secured a very impressive 1st round KO over the tricky Tyler Pogline in Huntington on Saturday night. Pogline hadn't been stopped since his pro debut in April 2003, but had no answer for "The Hebrew Hammer" who continues to improve, and looks like a real fighter to follow in 2012. The stocky Seldin looks very powerful, and considering Pogline had gone the full six round distance with a highly regarded Mexican called Raul Carrillo in his last fight, this looks like a very good win for Seldin's record.

Ryder is scheduled to fight on March 17th

It was a very quiet weekend of Boxing, and finally with February on the horizon, the big fights are starting to come, but at the York Hall I was really impressed with middleweight prospect John Ryder (9-0, 6 KO's). I love the way this guy throws his shots, he throws them with a lot of venom and seems to be really stepping up in 2012. This weekend he beat late replacement Mariusz Biskupski in two rounds, and the Pole was a powerful guy, who hadn't been stopped since December 2010. He couldn't deal with Ryder's class and power, and credit has to go to the Islington man for beating what was put in front of him. The 23 year old has a lot of fans in the trade, and a fight with Billy Joe Saunders has been mooted, however I can't Billy Joe being his scheduled opponent when he fights on the big March 17th bill in Sheffield. Looking at UK opponents, someone like Nick Blackwell or Liam Cameron would be perfect next time out, the fight v Cameron would be perfect as he is from Sheffield.


The last fighter I've picked up from this weekend was on the same card as Cletus Seldin, with Burkina Faso born New Yorker Issouf Kinda (12-0, 5 KO's) remaining unbeaten with an eight round UD over never stopped in 18 fights Puerto Rican Angel Rios. Kinda is with Star Boxing and was signed to them around eight months ago, and looks to be a promising light welterweight on the New York fight scene. Judges scoring the fight on Saturday night saw Kinda a 79-73 x2 and 78-73 winner, in what was an entertaining fight, and Kinda is a fighter who likes to come forward and throw punches. Considering this was against a fighter who weighed in 3lbs heavier than him, Kinda did well and the 23 year old will be a guy who many New York fight fans will come across in the next 12 months.


Next week is a very exciting one, there's some big fights like Donaire v Vazquez Jr, Chavez Jr v Rubio and Hernandez v Cunningham II, and some hot prospects are on the undercards of these bills, so make sure you return to Dragon Boxing next week!