Prospect Watch - Weekend Starting 10/2/11

Compared to last weekend and the weekend starting the 17th, this is a very quiet weekend of Boxing on the whole. That is mostly down to the fact Berto v Ortiz II was cancelled just over a week ago, and it's left a real gap in this weekend's action. Still there's one or two Prospects to have a look at, and sometimes it's better when there's not too much happening.

Buglioni faces a tough man in Clark

Kevin Mitchell returns to the ring for the first time since his fantastic July win over John Murray on Friday night in a 10x3 fight against Felix Lora. The atmosphere will be superb at a sold out York Hall and a lot of the noise will be coming from the supporters of Frank Buglioni (2-0, 2 KO's). This 22 year old from the Tibbs camp has already featured heavily in this feature on my blog, and has looked very impressive in destroying tough opponents Sabie Monteith and Paul Morby in a round. The Morby victory especially was a great one, as he had taken the likes of Tony Jeffries and Rocky Fielding the distance a month or two beforehand. Buglioni looks like a real star in the making, he's based at the best gym in London, and already is being hyped up for some big things by BoxNation. We have to remember he needs rounds, his team know that, and there's a good chance he'll get them against Ryan Clark (2-49-4, 0 KO's). On paper Clark looks like a poor opponent, but he's only been stopped twice in 55 fights and is a very active and fit fighter. This could be the perfect test for Buglioni in his third fight, but he manages another stoppage win, his stock will rise once more.

Saunders makes his pro debut at York Hall

Although this bill has a very local feel to it, making his debut on the card is North East fighter Bradley Saunders. A Bronze medallist at the 2007 World Amateur Championships, he disappointed at the 2008 Olympics, but he's a very big talent. He's been signed to Frank Warren Promotions for a good few months now, but finally does make his debut and I'm really looking forward to seeing him in action. His style looks made for the pro game and here he tackles Birmingham's Jason Nesbitt (9-139-3, 6 KO's), who's been stopped just 11 times in a 152 pro fight career. It's been just over three years since anyone last stopped him, and surprisingly that was light hitting super feather Gary Sykes, so it shows how much of a test this kid will be for Saunders on his debut.

Lozano is already #1 in the US

Quite a small bill in Tampa, Florida is where we go to next on Friday night, and headlining is a very exciting flyweight called Daniel Lozano (10-0, 7 KO's). The man from Bowling Green is already considered the best in his division in the US, and is ranked #47 in the world, which is good form after having just ten fights as a pro fighter. He won the WBC USNBC title in his last fight, becoming the first man to stop Dominican fighter Jonathan Arias, doing so in two rounds. Arias was in fantastic form coming into that fight, winning eight of his last nine and he was beating people up in impressive fashion, winning seven of those fights by stoppage. Lozano however stepped up to the mark impressively and most importantly hit some form after one or two inconsistent displays. Friday night it looks like he's stepping down in class to facing 20 year old Mexican, Manuel Galaviz (5-7, 2 KO's), who's lost five of seven inside the distance and a lot of those against guys with less experience and class than Lozano.

Aston is one of the "Prizefighter Prospects"

Saturday night there's only really one bill for me, with the next three fighters all featuring on Matchroom Sport's Prizefighter card at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall. One of them isn't featuring in the tournament itself and that is Dudley middleweight Ryan "Tank" Aston (4-0, 1 KO). Like Frank Buglioni, this is a kid I've talked a lot about already in this feature. I think he's got great potential and after his last fight, which was his first career stoppage win, he signed a deal with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom, which is huge as they are becoming a real force in Britain, as shown by their big Sheffield bill on March 17th. Aston is already scheduled to fight on that bill, but this week the 20 year old southpaw has a little showcase against Keiron Gray (5-3-1, 1 KO) from Telford, who's yet to be stopped as a pro. He hasn't won in four fights, but drew with the unbeaten Jamie Ball last time out, and before that had gone the distance with Kevin McCauley, George Hillyard and Kris Carslaw. What needs to be pointed out though is that his last fight was in December 2010 and therefore he's had 14 months of inactivity, Aston is big favourite in this six rounder.


This weekend's Prizefighter is in the light welterweight division and it has a very solid and somewhat local feel to it, with Mark Lloyd, Young Muttley and Dean Harrison all living in the Midlands, and Harrison especially will be a big crowd favourite with the Wolverhampton crowd. Barry Morrison is an ex British champion entering and John Watson steps up from lightweight, where he was brave in two British title fights against Gavin Rees and Anthony Crolla. Completing the line up are the unbeaten Tyrone Nurse, and two guys I've got my eye on in Adil Anwar (13-1, 7 KO's) and Dale Miles (12-0, 9 KO's). 

Anwar is bookies favourite

Anwar is the bookies favourite and to me that's no surprise as the Leeds kid has very good form going into the competition. According to him nobody in Britain wants to fight him at 140lbs, which is why he stepped up to 147 last time out to win the English title, stopping the unbeaten James Flinn in eight rounds with a very classy display. He's stopped his last four opponents and those have been against some stronger kids than what he'll face here, with an especially good display coming against Nathan Graham, knocking him down four times en route to a 10th round TKO win. After that fight Graham entered the Prizefighter welterweight competition, where he gave a decent account of himself against Junior Witter, losing a UD over three. 

I think Miles has a big chance this weekend

Miles is an unbeaten southpaw from Alfreton, and like Anwar he's on a cracking run of form, stopping his last seven opponents. His last fight was featured on Sky, becoming just the second man in 47 fights to stop a very tough Frenchman called Mihaia Mutu in six rounds. Mutu has gone the distance with some serious fighters in the last three years and in October 2009, knocked Young Muttley out in three rounds. What I like about Miles is that he always performs better when stepped up in class, he's got some dodgy fighters on his record, but he's clearly a very talented fighter and I think being a southpaw in this competition can sometimes be ideal. He's third favourite with the bookies and does appeal quite a bit to me.


It's a really good competition, plenty of experience, but the guys with lots of fights on their record have had the ambition knocked out of them in recent fights, you just have to look at Young Muttley's display v Frankie Gavin to see that. The three unbeaten guys head the betting and Anwar being the favourite, might be cursed as they don't have a great record in Prizefighter. Tyrone Nurse has had 20 fights, but has barely fought anyone and with just three stoppages, I'm really not sure if he's good enough. For me with Miles being a 27 year old, he's not a young kid, he's a really good fighter and looks like a guy on the way up. However with Prizefighter, expect the unexpected!


This week there will be no Bill Of The Weekend as it's such a quiet one, it would have been Berto v Ortiz II, however the cancellation has put a real dampener on things. Next week is a massive weekend of Boxing, so remember to check the site, and also come back for the review of this weekend's Prospect Watch.


All I can say is good luck to this week's Prospects and also to Kevin Mitchell, who is one of my favourite British fighters and was so chuffed for him when he bounced back from that Katsidis loss v Murray.