New Upcoming Boxing Era: The Young Guns

All good things must come to an end. Boxers like Floyd Mayweather jr., Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, Miguel A. Cotto, and Juan Manuel Marquez will soon retire from boxing in a few years. The question will be who will the next stars and dominating boxers be? Andre Ward is already established so is the master Cuban pugilist Guillermo Rigondeaux and Abner Mares although it will all depend, if Mares can rebound and avenge his 1 round KO at the hands of Jhonny Gonzalez.

Who are the promising young guns making a name for themselves in boxing?

In my opinion, one of the best boxers at the moment that is not given much attention is the 22 year old Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr. from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico with a current record of 17-1-1 9 KO’s with a height of 5’8 ½” already IBF Super Flyweight Champion and he has obtained victories over Roberto Domingo Sosa, Rodel Mayol, Juan Francisco Estrada, and Juan Alberto Rosas.

The next young gun is the undisputed Jr. Welterweight Champion out of Philadelphia of Puerto Rican descent at the age of 25 Danny “Swift” Garcia with a record of 21-0 16 KO already has won the WBA Super Lightweight World Champion, and WBC Light Welterweight Champion. Garcia is the ultimate underdog but with his victories he has proved wrong many of his critics within the boxing media and casual boxing fans with his victories over Lucas Matthysse, Zab Judah, Erik Morales twice, Amir Khan, Kendall Holt, and Nate Campbell. It’s very likely to see Garcia move up to 147 the Cadillac division of boxing.

Out of Cincinnati, Ohio there is the 24 year old cocky 5’6 1/2” Adrien “The Problem” Broner with a record of 27 wins and 22 KO’s with no defeats. Broner already has become a 3 Division world champion a WBO Super Featherweight Champion, WBC Lightweight Champion, and WBA Welterweight Champion. His best victories have been against Paul Malignaggi, Antonio DeMarco, and Daniel Ponce Deleon. Broner’s campaigning in the welterweight maybe a dangerous one with plenty of talent with brutal KO power and boxing gunning for his world title. One of these threats is the 24 year old from Clear Water, Florida named Keith Thurman with a record 21-0 19 KO’s one of the most powerful punchers at welterweight and Jr. Middleweight with wins over Jan Zaveck, Carlos Quintana, and Diego Gabriel Chaves.

Three boxers that are creating a lot of attention among them is the 25 year old Leo Santa Cruz from Michoacán de Ocampo, Mexico with a record of 25-0-1 with 15 KO’s already a 2 division world champion holding the WBC Super Bantamweight Champion and IBF Bantamweight Champion.  His important victories have been versus Victor Terrazas, Alexander Munoz, Eric Morel, and Vusi Malinga. From Sonora, Mexico there is the 23 year old Juan “El Gallo” Francisco Estrada with a record 25-2 18 KO’s holding the WBA Super World Flyweight title and the WBO Flyweight title. He has obtained victories over Milan Melindo and the solid veteran Brian Viloria, however, he has two defeats in the hands of Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, who I consider among one of the best pound for pound boxers in the world and another to Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr. [Who I consider to be among the top 3 boxers in Mexico.]

Finally, the 25 years old Mickey Garcia with a record 32-0 27 KO’s who won the WBO Featherweight Title via a Technical decision due to a broken nose versus Orlando Salido, and later lost the same title versus Juan Manuel Lopez at the scales due to 2 lbs. forcing him to move up to 130 lbs. the Super Featherweight division. There is a lot of hype behind Mickey Garcia, yet he has not faced any true threat and both his victories versus Salido and Lopez came under excuses. Due to him being under his promotional company and network I don’t see Garcia achieving much but beating sub-par opponents for WBO titles for a long time. Unless a man named Vasyl Lomachenko with spectacular amateur record becomes a true professional boxer and defeats Orlando Salido, and then moves up to 130 lbs. with just 10 official pro fights including the WSB victories.

There are important world title fights coming up before the boxing year of 2013 is over that involves a few of the boxers mentioned above, and we will see if these young guns are the promise of the future, or are just part of the present. With the defeat of any of these young guns we may see the rise of an unknown star, or the newly gained respect of a boxer.