Young Guns Progress Report
By Julian Kasdin, (May 31, 2006)
Well it is about that time again, and with the end of the month coming up a lot has happened with the fighters on the Young Guns list. Some fighters have gone down to cruiser while others have continued their quest for fistic glory.

Aleksander Alekseev, 4-0 (4), scored the biggest win of his career, unfortunately it was at cruiserweight. Alekseev, like BJ Flores, has moved down to cruiser where he could very well become a terror. At 6’2” and having fought at a solid 207 he will easily be one of the larger and probably harder hitting cruiserweights out there.

Since both Flores and Alekseev have dropped off the list I would like to add Malik Scott, 24-0 (10) and Eddie Chambers, 25-0 (13). Malik Scott is a skilled boxer with enough power to earn his opponents’ respect. At 6’4” and around 235 pounds he is a large heavy sporting a build that is closer to the now favored super heavyweights of the division. Eddie Chambers is another skilled boxer puncher who sports the more traditional heavyweight build. At 6’1” and 215 he would be considered small by some, but if one glances over the Young Guns list quite a few the fighters featured are not the giants that have come to dot the heavyweight landscape. As for the Europeans I am adding Sebastian Kober, 2-0 (2) and Taras Bidenko, 18-2 (10). Kober was an excellent amateur, and impressed with his first professional bout, a two round stoppage win over 11-10 (2) Piotr Sapun. Taras Bidenko has some solid wins over Fabio Moli and Aldo Colliander. He almost beat Virchis by a clear twelve round decision before getting caught in the last round. His other loss was when he dropped a decision to then 28-0 Valuev in only Bidenko’s fourth fight.

Chazz ‘The Gentleman’ Witherspoon, 12-0 (7) recently won a wide unanimous decision over six rounds against Agustin Corpus. Chazz once again displayed his skills as a boxer. Unfortunately his inability to stop Corpus might call his power into question. That said Chazz does have power and although he may never be a serious puncher it seems as if he will always have the necessary power to earn his opponents respect.

Jason Estrada, 6-0 (1), scored the biggest win of his career with a 100-90 shut out performance against Robert Wiggins, 20-7(12). While Estrada never seriously hurt Wiggins he did sting him several times, and easily out boxed the veteran. Estrada is moving very quickly for a fighter with under ten fights, and the pace seems to be suiting him well.

Egon Roth, 15-0 (12), added another win to his record with an eight round decision over Aleksandre Borhovs. Roth is an interesting case as he has shown power on occasion while at other times his power has seemed to not have shown up against fighters he should have stopped. Roth may not have adequate stopping power against higher level opposition, but he does seem to have enough power to earn his opponents’ respect. All in all Roth does seem to have potential, and by all accounts easily beat his foe.

JD Chapman, 23-0 (20), rematched Edward Gutierrez in attempt to win in more impressive fashion against his toughest foe thus far. Once again the fight went to decision with the only real difference being Chapman’s improved ability to pace himself. The fight was fought at a relatively slow pace, which suited the larger and more powerful Chapman, and allowed him to win, by comfortable UD. Chapman’s next fight is against 11-0 George Garcia.

Earlier in the month Devin Vargas, 9-0 (4) won a six round unanimous decision over Dione Craig. Vargas, a former Olympian, really needs to step up his competition. Despite a close call against Ed Perry it is important that Vargas begins to fight fighters approaching the same caliber as the recent competition faced by Jason Estrada and Alexander Povetkin.

Denis Boytsov, 14-0 (14), added another stoppage win to his resume when he beat 11-6 (4) Jucimar Francisco Hipolito by first round knockout. Boytsov continues to show his considerable punching prowess that said he should really step it up and fight someone like Rob Calloway. Audley Harrison only had eight fights when he fought Calloway, and Chagaev only had five when he fight Calloway his first time. Boytsov, while younger than both fighters were at the time, has fourteen fights and it is time that he fights someone that could possibly give him more of a test but is still beatable.

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