The Puerto Rican boxing prospects to watch

When it comes to major boxing nations you cannot forget about Puerto Rico, one of the greatest exponents of boxers through out time. The long line of champions dates back to 1934 and Sixto Escobar and goes through a long line of legendary names including Carlos Ortiz, José Torres, Alfredo Escalera, Samuel Serrano, Wilfredo Benitez, Wilfredo Gomez, Hector “Macho” Camacho, Wilfredo Vázquez and Felix “Tito” Trinidad. As well as legendary names from the past the nation has given us current elite fighters like Miguel Angel Cotto, Ivan Calderon, Juan Manuel Lopez and Roman “Rocky” Martinez.

Though with such an illustrious list of names from the past, who should be be noting down as ones to watch for the future?

The nation provides so much to boxing. The fans are loyal, the fighters are brave warriors, the rivalry with Mexico is the best in the sport, the fighters tend to bring power, heart and a sense of fighting for their countrymen. Although a lack of English at times works against the fighters in terms of becoming stars they have managed to let their fists do the talking and draw massive numbers as a result. The popularity of both “JuanMa” and Cotto is massive, both have been marketed brilliantly by veteran promoter Bob Arum whilst Felix Trinidad was a star that few will forget in a hurry.

So looking to the future then, what do we have to be excited about? Well there's a lot to be excited about.

Firstly we have one of boxing's best kept secrets. 25 year old super flyweight Cesar Seda. Seda is 20-0 (15) and on April 15^th gets a chance to announce himself to the boxing world when he faces unbeaten and long term champion Omar Andres Narvaez. Although Narvaez, the WBO super flyweight champion is at home and nursing a 33-0-2 record Seda goes in with more than just half a chance. The southpaw from Puerto Rico has a power advantage, a natural size advantage and is much younger. He'll have 3 inches in height, a decade in youth and the ability to bully Narvaez around. Seda, as good as he is though, is hardly a prospect, he's one of those fighters who is nailed on to be a world champion. He has scored some brilliant wins already in his career including wins over Domingo Guillen (former world title challenger), Wilfrido Valdez (also a world title challenger), Daniel Reyes (former world champion) and Jose Lopez (former world champion).

Seda might be a nailed on future champion, a fighter you can actually feel safe in saying though who are those that are less obviously that advanced?

KO artist Jonathan Gonzalez (12-0, 12KO's) may be one of the fighters that could really explode on the scene. At 21 years old his natural punching power is obvious and the Welterweight/Light Middleweight is a growing fighter who is averaging a little over 3 rounds a fight. This sort of power isn't natural in such youngsters and despite the fact he's blowing away opponents set in their for him to learn things against he's being impressive. An upcoming fight in May will see Gonzalez facing a solid powerful opponent in the form of Rudy Cisneros (12-2-0-1, 11KO's). Cisneros is a fighter who may be best known for being in “The Contender” though is a solid test for Gonzalez who should be given rounds. Gonzalez is one of the most exciting youngsters in the sport from any country, though needs to make sure he doesn't follow in the foot steps of Kenny Galarza (14-1, 14KO's) who was completely out boxed in 2010 by Brad Solomon who broke his KO streak.

26 year old Carlos Ivan Velasquez (13-0, 11), is one of two twins (brother Juan Carlos Velasquez is 10-1, 5KO's) and by far the most exiting of the two. Carlos Ivan has a genuine punch on him and a mean streak. His destruction of Ira Terry showed he could mix up shots to the body and head whilst the finish was impressive in a lighting fast sharp flurry. Prior to that fight Terry had never been stopped in 27 fights but Velasquez made it look very easy. Velasquez looked exciting stopping Eduardo Arcos in 5 rounds. Although he was tagged at times and made to look wild against Arcos, he put on a really fun to watch war and walk through his opponent. Maybe the most exciting thing about him though is something he did before turning professional, he beat Yuriorkis Gamboa the current WBA Featherweight champion.

Although John Ruiz had Puerto Rican blood never has there been a genuine Puerto Rican heavyweight title holder. The closest they've gone if you don't include US citizen Ruiz is Jose Roman who was blasted out in 2 minutes by George Foreman back in 1973. Carlos Negron (11-0, 7KO's) maybe the country's best bet. Stood at 6'6'' and with an impress 83 inch reach the former Cruiserweight is filling out well and at 23 isn't full developed as a fighter. Despite his youth he has shown good, good ability and good movement as well an ability to use his long hurtful jab. Although he has been dropped already in his career (opening round against Gevonte Davis in Negron's 4^th fight) he's improved since then. The move to heavyweight may not have been his best move (as he seemed to be able to make Cruiserweight with out any problems) though with his size he has the figure for the Heavyweight. His power at heavyweight may be a problem for now though as he matures he should develop the true power he seems capable of having.

One final name we'll look at in detail is 21 year old Light welterweight/welterweight Thomas Dulorme (10-0, 9KO's) who has recently passed the biggest test of his career so far by beating Guillermo Valdez in 2 rounds on the under card of Sergio Martinez's fight with Serhiy Dzinziruk. Dulorme is still a bit raw, as he showed against Jorge Delgado by winging in relatively wild shots, though he appears to have good power on his shots and when he gets his nerves settles has a beautiful jab. His body attack at times looks excellent landing crisp hard accurate shots to the mid-section and as long as he gets the right type of learning fights he could very easily be a true contender at some point down the line.

If you just want a few more names to follow try giving this small list below a look over: (they are all relatively unproven despite the number of fights they've had)
Luis Orlando Del Valle (12-0, 10KO's)-24 years old
Jayson Velez (15-0, 12KO's)-23 year old
Jhonatan Vidal (13-0, 8KO's)-21 year old
Felix Mercedes (9-0, 7KO's)-23 year old
Abner Cotto (10-0, 5KO's)-23 year old
Juan Gonzalez (11-0, 10KO's)-21 year old
McJoe Arroyo (7-0, 4KO's)-25 year old
McWilliams Arroyo (6-1, 5KO's)-25 year old
Wilfredo Bones (11-0, 10KO's)-25 year old
Giovanni Rodriguez (5-0, 3KO's)-???

Whether any of these fighters are able to emulate their national hero's shouldn't been the question. Few fighters will ever be as good or as popular as some of the great Puerto Rican champions of the past. That doesn't stop us looking towards the future and the future is bright.