Although on the older side at 30 years old the Russian born Southpaw has managed to (just) get himself mentioned on this blog due to the way his career is progressing more than anything else. Stood at 6'2" the southpaw was born in Makhachkala, Russia though is now fighting out of Oxnard, California where he is promoted by Seminole Warriors Boxing (who actually have him being younger than Boxrec).
Magomed was a solid amateur fighter having been a 2-time Russian amateur champion at Super Heavyweight (2005 and 2006) though his amateur credentials do seem to lack somewhat on the world stage mainly due to being Russia's #2 behind Islam Timurziev. Being the second choice behind Timurziev however shouldn't make boxing fans worry too much about Magomed's potential as Timurziev was the 2006 European champion and 2007 World Bronze medal winner.
After missing out on an Olympic place Magomed would turn professional and debut in September 2008. His debut was short lived as he took out Epiphanie Pipi in just 130 seconds on a card in Russia. Despite it being a brief fight it's still one of the longest of his career as he's paved a path of destruction in an 11 fight career that has seen ever opponent taken out before the final bell. In fact Magomed's first 8 fights failed to even last a round as he showed impressive power. Although many of his early wins were against relative nobodies who were their to pad his record and help him earn a reputation as a banger he did impressively take out the experienced Raymond Ochieng in 95 seconds, probably his most impressive win to date.
Now with a record of 11 wins all by KO (and only Jerry Butler having survived a round) Magomed is preparing for his toughest fight to date when he takes on Rich "Super" Power on November 20th. Power comes to the ring with a very respectable record of 15-1 (11) with his only loss coming on points to Tyson Fury last year. A stoppage win over Power would lay down the marker and give the first real comparison between Magomed and the gigantic Englishman who was recently dropped by Neven Pajkic.
With explosive power in both hands and a real killer instinct it's going to be fun to see just how far Magomed can go in the sport, though if nothing else it's nice to see that he is taking the sport seriously having lost around 30lbs since his debut. Whilst he may appear crude at times he is likely just overly confident of taking his early opponents out and has no fear which could make him one of the most fun heavyweights to watch that we've seen since Tyson.
Showing posts with label Russian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russian. Show all posts
Friday, 18 November 2011
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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