Tomorrow night, former Olympic Gold Medalist Egor Mekhontsev returns to the ring against veteran Samuel Miller in Texas.
Mekhontsev is a blistering hot prospect with a deep amateur pedigree, beating fellow prospects such as Marcus Browne, Oleksandr Gvozdyk and fellow amateur star Adilbek Niyazymbetov, among many others.
He possesses a a plethora of weapons at his disposal as he has a lightning rod of a jab, good footwork and speed to go along with his dangerous two-handed power. Moving at the same pace many other former amateur stars-gone-Top Rank, he's facing a game opponent who has been in there with some of toughest fighters in the sport. The last few years have not been kind to Samuel Miller, but he's best known for giving Marco Antonio Rubio a competitive fight back in 2010. Rubio is set to fight WBA Middleweight king Gennady Golovkin in October and remains a top ten Middleweight. Miller isn't expected to leave the ring victorious, but he continues a satisfying trend of recent prospects and former amateur stars gradually stepping up their competition from an early stage. Mekhontsev is trained by Freddy Roach at his famous Wild Card Gym and his skilled boxing base combined with his seek-and-destroy instilled by Roach already makes him a dangerous fighter for anybody.
With only four fights to his professional record, Mekhontsev is moving at a pace faster then many other prospects we've seen come up through the years. With such a deep amateur pedigree and with so much experience in the amateurs, for the 29 year old Mekhontsev, anything less then this gradual step up of opposition could possibly only do him harm. I recently interviewed manager Vadim Kornilov and he's made it clear his guys will only get better and gain proper experience if the opposition gets increased as it will be tomorrow night in Texas.
Fellow stable-mates; Egidijus Kavaliauskas and Oleksandr Gvozdyk also make their return this month on the same under card in Phoenix, September 20th. While not quite the same depth of amateur pedigree as Mekhontsev, Kavaliauskas is being pushed at a similar pace of activity. The relentless fighter is coming off a win against an undefeated opponent and is already set to return a month in a half later. The Lithuanian prospect has stayed as active as his stablemates and his September return marks his fourth fight of the year. Kavaliauskas is trained by the famous Robert Garcia at his boxing academy and his relentless style is perfectly suited for the world renowned trainer. At 5'9 in the Welterweight division, Kavaliauskas has all the physical tools to make a big splash in the division a couple of years down the line. Egidijus's power, size and strength was in full display in his last fight and we should continue to see it with his world class training.
On the same card, Oleksandr Gvozdyk returns for only his third professional bout and third in five months, since making his debut. A Light Heavyweight with a similar frame and strong base as Mekhontsev, Gvozdyk is another red-hot prospect who cannot be missed when he is in the ring. Standing at 6'2, he possesses a strong jab and works behind it to throw his devastating right hand that could create problems for any 175lber in the future. Smooth and light on his feet, Gvozdyk is coming off a good performance where his boxing skills were on full display against Michael Gbenga. Gbenga is a battle-tested, tough Ghanian fighter who's been in the ring with many of the top prospects and former prospects in the sport. Gvozdyk is also trained by Robert Garcia and it'll be interesting to see him get plenty of rounds in over the coming months and years.
Felix Verdejo's ring return has also been announced within the past couple of days by Boxingscene.com. The super skilled Puerto Rican star will make his return in Orlando, Florida against young and tough Mexican Sergio Villanueva on October 4th. Verdejo's activity has been consistent with his stablemates and the young prospect has already had 14 professional fights in just under two years. Verdejo is one of the brightest prospects in the sport and the youngest out of all the Top Rank prospects set to fight in the next month. At just 21 years old, the activity is fantastic for his experience but there should be no rush for world-class opponents any time soon. Verdejo's shared the ring with one of the best amateur boxers ever, Vasyl Lomachenko. Their 2012 Olympic Quarterfinals bout was a competitive one in which Verdejo gave a glimpse of what is to come from the young man many Puerto Rican fight fans are calling "the next big thing," from the island. Verdejo possesses a near complete package that starts with his phenomenal speed, both in his hands and feet. His quick hands, footwork, combined with his accuracy, timing and strong sense of distance and underrated power for a 21 year old prospect is something the whole boxing world can be excited about.
The lack of rising talent is non-existent in professional boxing and there is a bundle of prospects to keep our eyes on, from many different promoters. From Top Ranks stable, the rise continues tomorrow night and in the coming month we will see four of our potential sports future stars in action.
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