American Heavyweight Dominic Breazeale (0-0) is just hours away from making his professional debut, so with that in mind it seemed a perfect time to look at yet another American Heavyweight.
The 27 year old Breazeale from California is, like Seth Mitchell, a boxer who came from an American Football background, having played for the University of Northern Colorado team. Despite his background however, Breazeale is arguably already better known for his boxing exploits than his football exploits due to the fact he quickly rose through the US rankings.
Despite not coming to the sport until relatively old for a fighter Breazeale made a quick impact and made the 2010 PAL Quarter finals in the Super Heavyweight division before losing to eventual runner up Roberto Morban. This was just the start for Breazeale who would quickly improve.
In 2011 Breazeale's talent really started to mature and although he failed somewhat in the Golden Gloves, he proved his skill at the US National Championships where he came 3rd beating the well regarded Brett Rather along the way. Sadly for Breazeale however he ran in to eventual winner Jonathan Hamm in the Semi final who had a little bit too for the likable Californian.
Having really started to find his groove in 2011 Breazeale climbed to the top of the mountain in 2012 as he got revenge over Jonathan Hamm and went on to claim the 2012 US National Championships. This championship victory was a major point in Breazeale's amateur career and helped him become the USA's #1 in the Super Heavyweight division. It had come as an excellent achievement just weeks after Breazeale had come the runner up in the American Olympic Qualifier to Ecuadorian Italo Perea.
Whilst Breazeale did fail to medal at the 2012 Olympics, coming unstuck against Russian Magomed Omarov his appearance at the Games did bring him some widespread attention and he'll look to ride that attention into his debut later tonight!
Showing posts with label US National Champion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US National Champion. Show all posts
Friday, 9 November 2012
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Jordan Shimmell
There is a wide spread belief that American Heavyweight boxing is dead. I have to admit, that whilst it's not amazing, it's still a live and no, it's not on life support. A quick look at the emerging prospects America currently has should actually fill fight fans with a sense of relief, they have guys like Joe Hanks, Seth Mitchell, Deontay Wilder, Bryant Jennings and Alexander Flores, in all honesty not a bad pack.
Another fighter that perhaps also needs a mention is former amateur stand out Jordan Shimmell (4-0, 4) who has been over-looked so far despite having bucket loads of talent and a very solid amateur background both nationally and internationally.
At 24 years old, the 6'4" Shimmell has well over a decade of boxing experience having picked up the sport when he was just 8 years old. Despite the fact he's inexperienced as a professional with just 4 bouts, it needs to be noted just how much amateur experience he has, in fact going through his amateur achievements is a bit of a task it's self.
As a kid, Shimmell won numerous Michigan state titles including Silver Gloves and Junior Olympic titles. His talent was obvious from a very early age and as he grew, his talent become more telling as he claimed various medals at the national level as a junior.
Despite his junior success Shimmell is best known for what he did as a young senior, winning the 2009 Golden Gloves in the Heavyweight division. The same year that he won the Golden Gloves, he also won the National amateur title, affirming his position as the #1 guy in his division domestically. Sadly however Shimmell couldn't repeat the success the following year, falling at the final hurdle in the 2010 Golden Gloves to Steve Geffrard and the Quarter finals of the Nationals also to Geffrard.
In 2011 Shimmell fought internationally at both the Panamerican Games Qualifier in Panama and in Russia as he took part in the World Cup of Petroleum Countries. Despite failing to impress in either of those tournaments the international experience will have been invaluable. The year however wasn't a write off as he claimed a second national title.
Shimmell attempted to gain an Olympic birth for the London 2012 Games however he fell to eventual winner of the US Olympic Trials Michael Hunter. Instead of waiting for 2016 and trying again, Shimmell decided to turn professional and at the end of June made his professional debut, stopping Kolmarge Harris in 2 rounds.
Since stopping Harris in 2 rounds, Shimmell has continued his professional journey and scored 3 more stoppage wins taking out Mario Huffman in 2 rounds, Robert Feirick in just 51 seconds and the experienced Joe Stofle in 2 rounds. He is now looking for win #5 as he faces the hard hitting and much more experienced Travis Fulton (18-30, 18). As long as Shimmell is cautious over the first 2 rounds he should manage to remain unbeaten and stop Fulton as he continues his swift rise through the professional ranks.
If Shimmell continues on his current rise for a year or two, I wouldn't be shocked to see the television companies begging for him. He's a good looking kid, he's talented, he's got great amateur experience, he's young, he's tall and he's a solid hitter everything a fan wants to see in a Heavyweight prospect. At the moment though he is perhaps a year or two away from filling into his body and could probably still make Cruiserweight if he wished, he is still however a baby in terms of being a Heavyweight and will continue to develop his body for a while.
Another fighter that perhaps also needs a mention is former amateur stand out Jordan Shimmell (4-0, 4) who has been over-looked so far despite having bucket loads of talent and a very solid amateur background both nationally and internationally.
At 24 years old, the 6'4" Shimmell has well over a decade of boxing experience having picked up the sport when he was just 8 years old. Despite the fact he's inexperienced as a professional with just 4 bouts, it needs to be noted just how much amateur experience he has, in fact going through his amateur achievements is a bit of a task it's self.
As a kid, Shimmell won numerous Michigan state titles including Silver Gloves and Junior Olympic titles. His talent was obvious from a very early age and as he grew, his talent become more telling as he claimed various medals at the national level as a junior.
Despite his junior success Shimmell is best known for what he did as a young senior, winning the 2009 Golden Gloves in the Heavyweight division. The same year that he won the Golden Gloves, he also won the National amateur title, affirming his position as the #1 guy in his division domestically. Sadly however Shimmell couldn't repeat the success the following year, falling at the final hurdle in the 2010 Golden Gloves to Steve Geffrard and the Quarter finals of the Nationals also to Geffrard.
In 2011 Shimmell fought internationally at both the Panamerican Games Qualifier in Panama and in Russia as he took part in the World Cup of Petroleum Countries. Despite failing to impress in either of those tournaments the international experience will have been invaluable. The year however wasn't a write off as he claimed a second national title.
Shimmell attempted to gain an Olympic birth for the London 2012 Games however he fell to eventual winner of the US Olympic Trials Michael Hunter. Instead of waiting for 2016 and trying again, Shimmell decided to turn professional and at the end of June made his professional debut, stopping Kolmarge Harris in 2 rounds.
Since stopping Harris in 2 rounds, Shimmell has continued his professional journey and scored 3 more stoppage wins taking out Mario Huffman in 2 rounds, Robert Feirick in just 51 seconds and the experienced Joe Stofle in 2 rounds. He is now looking for win #5 as he faces the hard hitting and much more experienced Travis Fulton (18-30, 18). As long as Shimmell is cautious over the first 2 rounds he should manage to remain unbeaten and stop Fulton as he continues his swift rise through the professional ranks.
If Shimmell continues on his current rise for a year or two, I wouldn't be shocked to see the television companies begging for him. He's a good looking kid, he's talented, he's got great amateur experience, he's young, he's tall and he's a solid hitter everything a fan wants to see in a Heavyweight prospect. At the moment though he is perhaps a year or two away from filling into his body and could probably still make Cruiserweight if he wished, he is still however a baby in terms of being a Heavyweight and will continue to develop his body for a while.
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