Giant British heavyweights seem to be a thing now a days with the likes of David Price, Tyson Fury and Richard Towers all getting plenty of attention, though one name that often seems to be forgotten is the emerging Scottish fighter Gary Cornish. Stood at 6'7" Cornish is another giant from British and is yet another fighter who is intent on making his name in the heavyweight division.
Despite having only had 9 amateur bouts (winning them all, 6 by KO) Cornish, known as "The Highlander" has had the hype machine going crazy with his manager Tommy Gilmour believing Cornish could become the first Scottish Heavyweight world champion. Maybe that day will come one day though for now Cornish, with Gilmour behind him, is taking baby steps and slowly being shaped into the fighter that Gilmour wants him to be.
Cornish made his professional debut in April 2011 by stopping Preston based Heavyweight journeyman Howard Daley in 2 rounds. Cornish then followed up that impress victory by stopping Hastings Rasani in 4 rounds (due to a cut). Impressively just 5 months later Rasani would score a draw with former World title challenger Albert Sosnowski. In September of '11 Cornish would head the final bell for the first time as he scored a clear points victory over the tough Rolandas Cesna.
In Cornish's most recent fight (November 2011) he would rematch Hastings Rasani, this time in an 8 round bout. After dropping the Rasani twice in round 3 Cornish failed to stop the Zimbabwean though took a wide decision with the score of 80-71.
Tomorrow night (Saturday January 21st) Gary Cornish will face the busy Latvian Remigijus Ziausys on an under-card bout at the Liverpool Olympia. Ziausys' record reads a rather ugly 20-46-3 (10) though he has proven himself to be a durable fighter having only been stopped once (by former European Cruiserweight champion Alexander Frenkel). This is despite facing fighters including Dereck Chisora, Alexander Kotlobay, Robert Helenius, Mariusz Wach, Bogdan Dinu and Giacobbe Fragomeni. Whilst we all expect Cornish to win, a stoppage victory would really be impressive from the giant from Scotland who will tower some 9 inches above his Latvian opponent.
Whilst I've not found any footage of Gary "The Highlander" Cornish, we will hopefully see highlights of his fight with Ziausys on Sky TV on the undercard of David Price v John McDermott tomorrow.
Showing posts with label Fighter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fighter. Show all posts
Friday, 20 January 2012
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Tyson Fury
British heavyweights have for a long time been a a running joke in the sport of boxing. Whilst a few have managed to make an impact in the last 100 years they have been few and far between with the likes of Lennox Lewis, Frank Bruno, Henry Akinwande and David Haye being the few stand outs who have made it on the world stage. Sadly all of those are known almost as well for their failures as for their victories. Lennox being knocked sparked out Hasim Raham, David Haye flopping like a fish against Wladimir Klitschko, Frank Bruno being stopped by Mike Tyson and Henry Akinwande being DQ'd for hugging onto Lewis like his was his mother.
Tyson Fury (16-0, 11) however wants to change the view on British heavyweights almost single handed and is going about things in an impressive fashion so far. Fury, aged just 23 has already captured the British and Commonwealth titles and generally impressed time and time again proving that he's more than just hype.
Stood at 6'9 and with an 85" reach Fury has shown he has skills to go with his size and with wins against the likes of Scott Belshaw (TKO2), John McDermott (Points 10 and TKO 9) and Dereck Chisora (UD12) he already stands out as being above the run of the mill prospects. Whilst at times Fury has struggled (notably in the 2 McDermott fights) he has shown steady improvement and is now a more complete fighter than he's ever been. He showed a huge level of improvement when he defeated Chisora and last time out (against Nicolai Firtha) he showed an excellent jab as well as knowing what to do when he was hurt (after Firtha caught him with a beauty).
This coming Saturday Fury will face Canadian based Neven Pajkic (16-0, 5) who himself holds a number of solid wins (including a decision over Firtha, and wins over Jason Gavern, Grzegorz Kielsa, Raphael Butler and Johnnie White). A win over Pajkic would be the 4th time Fury has taken an opponents "0" (after Rich Power who was 12-0, Marcelo Luiz Nascimento who was 13-0 and Dereck Chisora who was 14-0) an impressive feat for a fighter with less than 20 fights.
Fury v Pajkic will be shown for free on Channel 5 in the UK so make sure to tune in to one of Britain's fastest rising boxing prospects.
Below is the fight between Fury and Firtha thanks to superboxmma5
Tyson Fury (16-0, 11) however wants to change the view on British heavyweights almost single handed and is going about things in an impressive fashion so far. Fury, aged just 23 has already captured the British and Commonwealth titles and generally impressed time and time again proving that he's more than just hype.
Stood at 6'9 and with an 85" reach Fury has shown he has skills to go with his size and with wins against the likes of Scott Belshaw (TKO2), John McDermott (Points 10 and TKO 9) and Dereck Chisora (UD12) he already stands out as being above the run of the mill prospects. Whilst at times Fury has struggled (notably in the 2 McDermott fights) he has shown steady improvement and is now a more complete fighter than he's ever been. He showed a huge level of improvement when he defeated Chisora and last time out (against Nicolai Firtha) he showed an excellent jab as well as knowing what to do when he was hurt (after Firtha caught him with a beauty).
This coming Saturday Fury will face Canadian based Neven Pajkic (16-0, 5) who himself holds a number of solid wins (including a decision over Firtha, and wins over Jason Gavern, Grzegorz Kielsa, Raphael Butler and Johnnie White). A win over Pajkic would be the 4th time Fury has taken an opponents "0" (after Rich Power who was 12-0, Marcelo Luiz Nascimento who was 13-0 and Dereck Chisora who was 14-0) an impressive feat for a fighter with less than 20 fights.
Fury v Pajkic will be shown for free on Channel 5 in the UK so make sure to tune in to one of Britain's fastest rising boxing prospects.
Below is the fight between Fury and Firtha thanks to superboxmma5
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Matteo Modugno
When we look at heavyweight boxing one country seems to be forgotten about. Despite having had 2 "world champions" in the heavyweight division Italy seems to have been no where near that standard in recent years, in fact their top recent heavyweight, Paolo Vidoz has become a European journeyman of sorts. One man however does give Italy a serious chance at making a mark on the heavyweight division once again. Matteo "Grissino" Modugno, (9-0, 4) appears to have all the tools a young upcoming heavyweight could ever want and seems determined as well as talented.
Born in Piacenza in 1987 the 24 year old, who is now fighting out of Langhirano, is a man mammoth who stands at 6'6" and although early footage of him does show him carrying some extra weight he has started to tone up a bit more recently. What is surprising about the big man however is that he not only incredibly well for such a huge guy be he has a really good boxing IQ for someone so inexperienced. He has shown an ability to go to both the head and body, mix up his shots and land a crisp clean jab.
Since his debut in May 2010 after having had an excellent time in the amateurs we've seen Modugno not only develop well but also step up his competition in the right sort of manner. He first started with the inexperienced Alex Szekely (TKO1) and has since fought experienced fighters like of Ferenc Zsalek (pts 6), Tomas Mrazek (pts 6) and most recently Lazlo Toth (KO3).
Although far from being the finished article he has begun to develop into a very promising heavyweight prospect who has shown power and skill to get to where he is. Although their was hope, before he turned pro, that he would compete in the 2012 London games, it seems the allure of the professional ring (and the fact Roberto Cammarelle will likely compete as Italy's super heavyweight) has seen him turn over earlier than expected. Hopefully he'll put this extra time to good use in the ring and be on the verges of a European title shot by the time of the Olympics.
Video thanks to sportdacombattimento
Born in Piacenza in 1987 the 24 year old, who is now fighting out of Langhirano, is a man mammoth who stands at 6'6" and although early footage of him does show him carrying some extra weight he has started to tone up a bit more recently. What is surprising about the big man however is that he not only incredibly well for such a huge guy be he has a really good boxing IQ for someone so inexperienced. He has shown an ability to go to both the head and body, mix up his shots and land a crisp clean jab.
Since his debut in May 2010 after having had an excellent time in the amateurs we've seen Modugno not only develop well but also step up his competition in the right sort of manner. He first started with the inexperienced Alex Szekely (TKO1) and has since fought experienced fighters like of Ferenc Zsalek (pts 6), Tomas Mrazek (pts 6) and most recently Lazlo Toth (KO3).
Although far from being the finished article he has begun to develop into a very promising heavyweight prospect who has shown power and skill to get to where he is. Although their was hope, before he turned pro, that he would compete in the 2012 London games, it seems the allure of the professional ring (and the fact Roberto Cammarelle will likely compete as Italy's super heavyweight) has seen him turn over earlier than expected. Hopefully he'll put this extra time to good use in the ring and be on the verges of a European title shot by the time of the Olympics.
Video thanks to sportdacombattimento
Petero Qica
Heavyweight Boxing Prospects can be found literally all over the world as Petero "Lauan Torpedo" Qica Jr of Fiji proves. Although little is really know about Fijian Heavyweight Champion there is enough to really be excited about him.
Qica Jr has become a well known name in his homeland having been trained by national icon Sunia Cama Senior, the former Light Heavyweight champion of Fiji who became a major trainer in his homeland until his death in 2010. Though the talk of one of Cama's former students was to take Qica over to Canada where Qica's talent could be shown to the world.
Despite only having very limited amateur experience (6-0, 5) Qica has impressed as a professional by running up a 4-0 (3) record against some stiff competition sing his debut back in August 2008. In his debut Qica would stop the experienced Fatu Tuimanono in the 3rd round, this victory was followed up months later by an opening round stoppage over Alifereti Qiolele. Though it was Qica's 3rd professional fight that made headlines back in his homeland as he defeated the hard hitting veteran Mosese Kavika. Kavika had notched up in excess of 30 fights in a career that went back to the 1980's and showed that experience against Qica though the youngster would snatch a close decision win to claim the heavyweight title of Fiji by majority decision. The two men would meet again in July 2011 this time with Qica stopping his veteran opponent.
Petero Qica Jr was last reported to be training under his father who took over the job of training the young 22 year old southpaw after the death of Cama who trained Qica Jr at the Arara-ta/YMCA Boxing Club in Suva. For the stinging southpaw we can only guess what the future holds, though it's safe to assume that not many 22 year old heavyweights have made so many newspaper headlines back home as Qica, who with 27 rounds under his belt already (including a full 12 round fight and an 11 rounder) is picking up plenty of experience at a vital learning stage in his career.
Qica Jr has become a well known name in his homeland having been trained by national icon Sunia Cama Senior, the former Light Heavyweight champion of Fiji who became a major trainer in his homeland until his death in 2010. Though the talk of one of Cama's former students was to take Qica over to Canada where Qica's talent could be shown to the world.
Despite only having very limited amateur experience (6-0, 5) Qica has impressed as a professional by running up a 4-0 (3) record against some stiff competition sing his debut back in August 2008. In his debut Qica would stop the experienced Fatu Tuimanono in the 3rd round, this victory was followed up months later by an opening round stoppage over Alifereti Qiolele. Though it was Qica's 3rd professional fight that made headlines back in his homeland as he defeated the hard hitting veteran Mosese Kavika. Kavika had notched up in excess of 30 fights in a career that went back to the 1980's and showed that experience against Qica though the youngster would snatch a close decision win to claim the heavyweight title of Fiji by majority decision. The two men would meet again in July 2011 this time with Qica stopping his veteran opponent.
Petero Qica Jr was last reported to be training under his father who took over the job of training the young 22 year old southpaw after the death of Cama who trained Qica Jr at the Arara-ta/YMCA Boxing Club in Suva. For the stinging southpaw we can only guess what the future holds, though it's safe to assume that not many 22 year old heavyweights have made so many newspaper headlines back home as Qica, who with 27 rounds under his belt already (including a full 12 round fight and an 11 rounder) is picking up plenty of experience at a vital learning stage in his career.
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Denis Boytsov
Denis Boytsov is one of the better known names in heavyweight boxing having been featured in Ring magazine's rankings for the division though he is still only a young prospect at just 25 years of age. The young Russian has shown a lot of promise so far in a 28 fight career (all wins, 23 by knockout) that started when he was just 18 years old. Though as well as being talented, fun to watch and exciting he has also had a number of problems in a career that has, on more than one occasion, looked like it could be over before it really began.
Boytsov's story begins in Orel, with is near the Western border of Russia some 200 miles West of Moscow, it was here that Boystov was born in February 1986. It was whilst competing for Russia as an amateur that Boytsov made a number of the sports insiders take notice as he ran up impressive amateur wins. In an amateur career totally 130 fights he won well in excess of 100 and notched up 2 Cadet World Championships (2001 and 2002) and a Junior World Championship (2004).
Despite being a good amateur his style wasn't really suited to the amateur side of the sport and instead of staying in the unpaid ranks he decided to get paid for fighting and in late 2004 made his professional debut by stopping Imrich Borka inside a round. By the end of the year Boytsov had run up 4 wins (all by KO) needing a total of just 5 rounds to mow through his competition.
Over the following couple of years Boytsov was allowed to grow into a natural heavyweight and bulk his frame up from around 200lbs to around 215-220lbs as he continued to pick up wins over progressively stiffer competition through Germany and Austria. Boytsov would swiftly work his way through his competition and actually stopped his first 14 opponents inside the distance, with experienced Brazilian Edson Cesar Antonio becoming the first man to last the distance with Boytsov.
Boytsov's first title victory came against Ondrej Pala of the Czech Republic in a bout for the WBC Youth World heavyweight title, Boytsov scoring a 5th round TKO due to cuts though it wasn't until late 2008 and 2009 that he really started to make his mark on the sport. In 2008 Boytsov would score victories over well known Americans Robert Hawkins (UD8) and Vinny Maddalone (UD8) in what were seen as good tests over well known Heavyweights.
The fledgling career of Boystov however seemed to speed up in 2009 as he won both the WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight title and the WBO European heavyweight title and scored wins over the likes of Taras Bydenko (TKO6) and Jason Gavern (KO7).
Just as it seemed that Denis was on the fast track to success he had a nightmare year suffering serious hand injuries that kept him out of the ring for almost then entire of 2010 and most of 2011. The injuries had required major surgery and it looked as if Boytsov, one of the most exciting young heavyweights might even have called time on his career as almost 2 years were wasted away from the ring. This coming Saturday however marks the return of the young heavyweight prospect as he fights 34 year old Matthew Greer of the USA on the undercard of Alexander Dimitrenko's European heavyweight title defence against Michael Sprott.
At 28-0 (23) Boytsov has an incredible record for such a young heavyweight, wins over Bydenko, Maddalone, Hawkins, Pala and Gavern are all very credible victories. Though he does have his problems. As well as the hand injuries he's also a very small heavyweight at just 6'1" which does give him a somewhat limited chance against the emerging heavyweight giants that are becoming the norm. Although he is powerful and fast it's hard to tell what the hand surgeries may have taken away from his explosive power until he faces Greer and maybe more worrying is the potential for those hand problems to come back in the future. For now however Denis Boytsov is real heavyweight boxing prospect to make yourself aware of.
Thanks to Middletown for the video above.
Boytsov's story begins in Orel, with is near the Western border of Russia some 200 miles West of Moscow, it was here that Boystov was born in February 1986. It was whilst competing for Russia as an amateur that Boytsov made a number of the sports insiders take notice as he ran up impressive amateur wins. In an amateur career totally 130 fights he won well in excess of 100 and notched up 2 Cadet World Championships (2001 and 2002) and a Junior World Championship (2004).
Despite being a good amateur his style wasn't really suited to the amateur side of the sport and instead of staying in the unpaid ranks he decided to get paid for fighting and in late 2004 made his professional debut by stopping Imrich Borka inside a round. By the end of the year Boytsov had run up 4 wins (all by KO) needing a total of just 5 rounds to mow through his competition.
Over the following couple of years Boytsov was allowed to grow into a natural heavyweight and bulk his frame up from around 200lbs to around 215-220lbs as he continued to pick up wins over progressively stiffer competition through Germany and Austria. Boytsov would swiftly work his way through his competition and actually stopped his first 14 opponents inside the distance, with experienced Brazilian Edson Cesar Antonio becoming the first man to last the distance with Boytsov.
Boytsov's first title victory came against Ondrej Pala of the Czech Republic in a bout for the WBC Youth World heavyweight title, Boytsov scoring a 5th round TKO due to cuts though it wasn't until late 2008 and 2009 that he really started to make his mark on the sport. In 2008 Boytsov would score victories over well known Americans Robert Hawkins (UD8) and Vinny Maddalone (UD8) in what were seen as good tests over well known Heavyweights.
The fledgling career of Boystov however seemed to speed up in 2009 as he won both the WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight title and the WBO European heavyweight title and scored wins over the likes of Taras Bydenko (TKO6) and Jason Gavern (KO7).
Just as it seemed that Denis was on the fast track to success he had a nightmare year suffering serious hand injuries that kept him out of the ring for almost then entire of 2010 and most of 2011. The injuries had required major surgery and it looked as if Boytsov, one of the most exciting young heavyweights might even have called time on his career as almost 2 years were wasted away from the ring. This coming Saturday however marks the return of the young heavyweight prospect as he fights 34 year old Matthew Greer of the USA on the undercard of Alexander Dimitrenko's European heavyweight title defence against Michael Sprott.
At 28-0 (23) Boytsov has an incredible record for such a young heavyweight, wins over Bydenko, Maddalone, Hawkins, Pala and Gavern are all very credible victories. Though he does have his problems. As well as the hand injuries he's also a very small heavyweight at just 6'1" which does give him a somewhat limited chance against the emerging heavyweight giants that are becoming the norm. Although he is powerful and fast it's hard to tell what the hand surgeries may have taken away from his explosive power until he faces Greer and maybe more worrying is the potential for those hand problems to come back in the future. For now however Denis Boytsov is real heavyweight boxing prospect to make yourself aware of.
Thanks to Middletown for the video above.
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