What do you look for? Ko% ? Level of opposition? I look for split decisions. If I never heard of him and he already has split decision wins then right away he loses a lot of stock with me and I basically write him off as nothing special.
This is actually a goddamn good question and thread! I tend to look at age and KO% first. It's always refreshing to see a bright prospect that's 21-23 - I find myself disappointed if they're already 31-32. But perhaps I should start looking for split decisions - you have a valid point that if they aren't destroying/dominating lower level opp early on, it might be a red flag.
Definitely level of opposition...if you are a prospect 15-0 you really haven't fought anyone worth a damn BUT if you did beat someone I probably won't know him anyway. So I go on youtube and start looking for your fights...see how you look and how your opponent looks...we can tell who is garbage bum with a 10-5 record....and who is decent boxer/slugger with good skill set but is 12-3... Last prospect I looked up was a few years ago...the Mexican...maybe Colombian kid from 154 pounds...I don't remember his name but back then I though give him a few years he might give Canelo a run for his money....but I think he has fallen off since...still undefeated I think...but just not progressing as I though he would...
From a Matchmaking Perspective, REED Always Looks at How Many Times the Prospects Opponents Have Been STOPPED... If the Prospect REED is Handling is Shaky, He'll Get Matched w/Opponents That Have Been Stopped Previously...The More Times They've Been Stopped, the Merrier... If REED Thinks Highly of a Prospect, He'll Match Him w/Opponents That HAVEN'T Been Stopped Previously, Or if They Have, They @ Least Went ROUNDS w/Quality Guys REED's Heard Of... This is What Makes Edgar Berlanga's Last Opponent (Lanell Bellows) Impressive...Bellows Came Into the Fight 20-5-3, 13 KO's...NATHAN to Brag About to the Naked Eye, But the Thing Is, Bellows had NEVER EVER Been Stopped Before, in Nearly 30 Bouts... & Not Only Did Berlanga Stop Bellows, He MAINTAINED His Streak of 1st Round KO's...Can't Help BUT Be Impressed by That, All Things Considered... Similarly, Berlanga's Opponent Next Saturday, Ulises Sierra, is 15-1-2, 9 KO's...Never Been Stopped Previously... No, Berlanga ISN'T Facing Any World Beaters Just Yet, but On a Prospect Level, and the Opponents He's Being Matched w/, he's SHINING... REED
The records of his opponents are most telling, even more so than manners of victory and KO %. If the fighter is 16-0 and his opponents are 0-7 guys, as often was the case in Sauerland promotions for example, you can draw your conclusions. Also, if there is a fight between a 7-0 (2) prospect and 6-0-1 (5) guy, more often than not the latter guy wins. In top level the faster guy usually wins, but as someone already said, if you can't KO the poorest of the opponents, chances are that you won't become anything.
Also, where they are fighting. If someone is 20-0 (18 KOs) and all of their fights are in Kentucky or Kansas, it really doesn't mean much until they start fighting around the country. I am not saying there aren't good fighters in those areas but not enough to have a respectable circuit.
That's a very important aspect. In most cases it's going to mean a lot more to be 10-0 in Los Angeles for example than 25-0 in Des Moines or Copenhagen. You can build up a fancy record anywhere with the right match making, but like you said the circuit matters. It's not just the opposition on your resume, but what's going on at the gym. It's common for a young prospect living in Las Vegas to have the opportunity to spar against current world champions along with watching them up close.
I thought about this, but it seems that these days most unbeaten up-and-comers fight in their home turf for long whether they are actually good or not. If they have a big promoter behind them, especially then they will stay put for as long as possible However, the locations are important when you evaluate a guy who is 7-3 or so. If he has lost every time he has gone outlands, he is obviously no good. On contrary, a guy who is 9-8 and taken two or three victories as the visiting fighter can be surprisingly dangerous
Also if a guy goes 20-0 and is still fighting bums that means he's not that good and his management knows this. Probably trying to get him to 25 or 30-0 and cash out on a big fight.
Yep, LOCATION is Also a Key... Good Fighters Can Spring Up from Practically ANYWHERE But If a Fighter Is Padding His Record in Kentucky or Kansas, as You Stated, Or Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, the Dakota's, etc., Don't Expect MUCH If/When He Leaves His Comfort Zone... Even in Missouri, if You're Not from St. Louis or Actively Sparring Guys from St. Louis You're WASTING Your Time...Fighters Like Brandon Rios and Victor Ortiz are From Kansas City, But Got Up OUT Of There @ a Certain Point and Went to Cali w/Robert Garcia and his Family... Regis Prograis is FROM Louisiana, but Hurricane Katrina Brought Him to Houston, Texas Where Prograis LEARNED to Box Alongside the Charlo's... REED Can Only Think of 3 LEGIT World Class Fighters to Come Out of Oklahoma in the Last 40-50 Years; James "Quick" Tillis, Sean O'Grady and Allan Green...Can't Speak on Tillis or O'Grady, but REED Knows for a Fact Green Came to Dallas to Spar Quite a Bit... Part of Why Deontay Wilder HASN'T Developed More (in REED's Opinion) is Because he WON'T Leave Alabama for Training Camp...Instead of Going to NY, Where Breland Lives, a City RIPE w/Boxing Talent in All Weight Classes, Wilder DEMANDED Breland Come to 'Bama...That's Not to Say Wilder Never EVER Traveled, but Once He Got to a Certain Level in his Career, he EXPECTED Good Sparring to Come TO Him Instead...& In a SHIT State Like Alabama, That's NOT Very Appealing... For Any Fighter, But ESPECIALLY Those in Traditionally "Non-Boxing" States, So to Speak, Once You've Established Yourself as THE Best Guy In Your Weight Range, In YOUR City/State, You Need to Move Around a Bit... Otherwise, You WON'T Get Any Better Than You Already Are... REED
You actually forgot one fighter who came from Oklahoma, bruh. I'll give you a hint: He played in Rocky V and died of a disease that rhymes with maids.
Any more, a prospect that is 20-0 with 18 kos in the first 3 rounds doesn't impress me nearly as I am impressed by his manager's ability to put him in easy. In this day and age the match making is so cautious that there aren't even many around of the guys that give prospects rounds, and good rounds. Because if you go rounds, you've been "exposed." To me, actual fights early in a career don't mean much because they are so one sided from the jump that they may as well be fixed. What is of interest to me is who the guy is trained by and who he spars with. As an example, I know of a prospect that is 10-0 as a bantam. If you look at his record, the competition is nothing but he has sparred extensively with Rigondeaux, Shakur Stevenson and, I will probably spell this incorrectly, Oubili. So he is learning in the gym. Incidentally, Alex Saucedo, from Oklahoma City, started sparring with Errol Spence at 15.
Welcome to Fightbeat! Good post! Lemme go YouTube Oubli. And Alex Saucedo, unfortunately retired. He was bleeding in the brain in the Barboza fight and is lucky he didn't die in there.
He seemed like a good kid, and I remember his goal was to fight Ramirez - apparently they didn't like eachother. His defense wasn't good enough to be world class, but the Lenny Z fight was a war that'll always be remembered.
He had a lot of resentment towards Ramirez because of money. It bothered him that Ramirez was getting more money when they were both fighting the same number of rounds. And he had done real well sparring Ramirez.
