Friday, January 08, 2010

Beltway Boxing 2009 -- Prospect Of The Year!

This was a tough choice as well. However, recent developments (that will be explained near the end of this post) made this choice a little easier.

Digital’s Choice for Prospect of the Year is:

Mark “TNT” Tucker, light heavyweight, Eldersburg, MD (13-0, seven KO’s).

Tucker is a strong example of what a prospect is in boxing – a boxer who has made substantial progress from his first year to the second year. In 2008 – Tucker’s rookie year – the won-loss record of his opposition in his six bouts was 18-29. In 2009 – the won-loss record of his opposition was 119-60-8.

The 22-year-old made a substantial leap in his career by battling foes who were shop worn but had been, at the very least, fringe contenders during their career. Some of the wins may have been closer than he and his fans would like – especially the victories over Ross Thompson (who did battle for a world title) and George Armenta. But Tucker’s impressive victories over the likes of Richard Stewart, Juergen Hartenstein, Rubin Williams and his USBO Light Heavyweight title win over Jim Strohl proved that the talent is definitely there.

The next step for Tucker is to let the rest of the boxing world in on what the Beltway already knows – Tucker is a prospect to watch.


The Beltway Boxing Fan’s Choice for Prospect of the Year is:

Scott “Cujo” Sigmon, super middleweight, Bedford, VA, (7-1, three KO’s)

Sigmon is not the most polished boxer that Beltway Boxing Fans have ever seen, but he is rapidly becoming one of its most popular and talked about, by virtue of his eight-vote win over Mark Tucker in the fan’s poll.

What Sigmon does show in the ring is a great deal of heart and toughness. After only eight bouts, Sigmon has already advanced to eight-round competition and performed well, winning a tough eight-round unanimous decision over Toris Brewer and stopping Nick Schelich in the third. How far will Sigmon progress in his career? That will be interesting and fun to watch.


Other Prospects Deserving Consideration:

James “Keep ‘Em Sleepin’ Stevenson, welterweight, Baltimore, MD (12-0, 10 KO’s)

Stevenson took a safer route in his 2009 campaign, fighting journeyman veterans that enabled him to show his skills and win three regional titles. After winning his first eight bouts by knockout, Stevenson proved he can be a distance boxer with tough eight-round unanimous decision wins against Manuel Guzman and Martinus Clay. This year will be a pivotal one for Stevenson, who will be called upon to step up the level of his competition.

Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell, heavyweight, Brandywine, MD (15-0, nine KO’s)

The former Michigan State University football star continued to display his aptitude for learning the sweet science. Mitchell, a Golden Boy Promotions signee, took his talents on the road in three successful bouts on the West Coast. Near the end of the year, Mitchell performed very well in a significant bump in competition with great wins over Jermell Barnes and Zack Page.

There is also a growing fan base for Mitchell, who sold more than 400 tickets to his bout in DC on October 24. Talent plus fan base usually equals success for heavyweights and it will be interesting to see if Mitchell can put his name into the hat of successful American heavyweights as the next decade begins.

Cecil McCalla, middleweight, Baltiimore, MD, (9-0, six KO’s)

McCalla, without much fanfare, grew steadily in 2009, beginning with two victories in a week’s time in January. The spring saw McCalla win twice against classy veterans Anthony Little and John Mackey. June saw McCalla end his year with two knockout wins over Eric Burke and Jorge Barajas. McCalla might have received more consideration if he was able to compete more in 2009, but he is the sleeper of the Beltway prospects.

"Vicious" Julius Kennedy, middleweight, Windsor Mill, MD (7-1, three KO's)

Another boxer that did great things under the radar. All Kennedy did was go 4-0 in 2009, including a six-round majority decision win over Aaron Pryor, Jr. in Pryor's home state of Ohio. Kennedy showed solid power in some of his bouts and tried to make noise in the area by calling out Jessie Nicklow. That could be a strong bout in 2010.

Why are Fernando Guerrero and Tim Coleman not listed here?

Here's where we talk about recent developments. When we started the look back at 2009, both boxers were considered to be just prospects. In December, two of the major governing bodies came out with December rankings and both men landed their names in them.

Guerrero is now ranked 11th by the WBO at middleweight and Coleman is ranked 15th by the IBF at junior welterweight after winning the USBA title in 2009. Coleman is now looking at an IBF Title Eliminator against former WBO champ Kendall Holt in February.

Both men are no longer prospects, they have crossed the line to contenders.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

CUJO! They called Rocky Marciano crude. They said Gene Fullmer had two left feet. They said Jake LaMotta had a rock head. Say what you want about Cujo but he's only lost one fight (to a fighter that is still undefeated) and his opponent's combined records were 38 wins against 14 losses. Nobody else has fought fighters with records like that in their first ten pro fights in this area, that's for sure.

Anonymous said...

Mark TNT Tucker fought
Ross "THE BOSS" Thompson 27(17KO's)-12-2
in just his 9th fight!Tucker had 8 win and Thompson had 17 Knock-out wins thats a two to one ratio, he had more then twice as many wins by Knock-out as Tucker had fights!!!!
Hence you stand corrected my Friend.

Anonymous said...

cujo you also were punked out in your hometown! tucker would fight anybody who came to his house and challenged him. cujo is a punk!!!!

Anonymous said...

I stand corrected? Ugatzo fafangulo disgratsiatso stunado! Tucker's first 8 opponents had a combined record of 44 and 47.

Anonymous said...

Paschall's first 8 had a record of 19 wins, 40 losses.

Guerreros' first 8 were 29 and 61.

Nicklow's first 8 were 25 and 57.

Lange's first 8 were 8 and 18.

Tucker's first 8 were 44 and 47.

Jargal's first 8 were 30 and 40.

And I could go on and on and on:


AND

Cujo's first 8 were 38 wins against 14 losses

The facts are the facts and CUJO is definitely the Prospect of The Year.

Anonymous said...

Congrats Mark!
You should be proud

Old Ironsides

JUSTIN RIDGWAY said...

are you kidding me? cujo has avoided me like the black plauge! he is mouth and a punk. he talked trash on my family and tucked his tail when it came time to put up or shut up. he is the prospect of the year for the guy who call people out three weight classes below were he was fighting at the time, talk trash on another man's family, and then make a complete idiot of himself. the facts are he agreed to fight me and backed out on more then one date. i am tired of him coming on here posting under fake names or anonymous about himself. I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT I WILL FIGHT HIM AT 168LBS WITHOUT HESITATION.


CUJO,

YOU TALK BIG BUDDY BUT IT IS TO COVER UP THE FACT THAT YOU ARE REALLY LIKE THE COWARDLY LION FROM THE WIZARD OF OZ. YOU HAVE NO HEART AT ALL, AND YOU KNOW I WOULD HAVE WHOOPED YOU LIKE THE LITTLE PUNK KID YOU ARE. IF YOU COULD BOB AND WEAVE PUNCHES AS GOOD AS YOU CAN FIGHTING ME YOU WOULD LOOK LIKE ALI IN THE RING. I WILL CONTINUE TO SHOW UP IN YOUR HOMETOWN AND CALL YOU OUT. YOU PUT YOURSELF IN A CORNER WHEN YOU RAN YOUR MOUTH AND AGREED TO FIGHT ME. NO EXCUSE TO NOT FIGHT NOW. I HONESTLY HAVE NEVER DISLIKED SOMEONE AS MUCH AS I DO YOU, AND I WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO FIGHT YOU AFTER THE COMMENTS YOU MADE ABOUT MY WIFE. I DON'T CARE WHERE IT IS I WILL GET YOU.

Justin Ridgway

FOR ANYONE WHO THINK CUJO DESERVES TO BE MENTIONED IN THE SAME SENTENCE AS TUCKER..... WELL YOU ARE MISTAKEN

Gary Digital Williams said...

If we were talking about first eight bouts, we would be talking about the Rookie of the Year. The Prospect of the Year is about what has been done to benefit the boxer THIS YEAR.

Cujo fought good competition. Tucker fought better competition in 2009. Tucker has fought guys who have fought for regional and world titles. Sigmon has not. If you want to talk about entire careers, Sigmon's best opponent to date has been Farah Ennis and he lost that bout. That's why Tucker deserves this award in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

well cujos a punk anyway, so hes the last person gunna win a championship so whys anyone talkin about him

Anonymous said...

on paper, cujo has fought some good fighters, however if you check their records theyve fought all bums and stiffs, cujo looks like hes fighting hard fights when hes fighting cupcakes, and why is cujo even being commented about, this is about tucker not sigmon. Congrats TNT keep up the good work!!!

Gary Digital Williams said...

Sigmon was the choice of the fans so he deserves to be talked about here.

Anonymous said...

gary, did the voting block you out after voting once? if not i am sure all of about two people voted for cujo! joe hensley and cujo himself

Anonymous said...

Why is this Justin Ridgway guy talking so much trash? what makes him worthy of fighting Cujo?

Anonymous said...

because cujo made some disgusting comments about ridgeways family and ridgeway can fight so he deserves tofight the retard