Paul McCreath – Ever since the end of Mike Tyson’s better days boxing fans have been looking for a replacement champion who would bring the same kind of excitement to the heavyweight division as did Tyson. We have seen fine fighters like Lennox Lewis or Vitali and Wlad Klitschko come along who many would claim could have defeated Tyson even in his prime but few would claim that any of the three are or were as exciting to watch as Tyson. Some fans now have hopes that David Haye might become the man we have been looking for but questions still remain. Russian contender Alex Povetkin had a lot of early supporters but he has been more or less marking time lately, perhaps waiting for the Klitschkos to grow older. Recently we have seen the emergence of a new face in that of still another Russian fighter Denis Boytsov.
Denis is not a typical modern day heavyweight. He is not a giant like the Klitschkos and many others today. Denis is actually a bit on the small side standing 6 foot 1 and weighing in at around 215-220 pounds. While a smaller size can be a bit of a handicap when going up against fighters the size of the Klitschkos it is not always the case. You need only look at the earlier success of Tyson or Evander Holyfield to see that a smaller fighter with power and speed can handle the big guys at times. Boytsov weighs about the same as they did in their prime and he certainly has punching power.. His power and speed have often been compared to Mike Tyson’s. He is also only 23 years old and already possesses a 26-0 record with 21 KOs. Most fighters don’t turn pro these days until they are a bit older and he has already been a pro for about 5 years.
Denis began to shine at a very early age. He was no more than a kid when he won the World Cadet championship at 175 pounds in 2001. The next year he repeated as the champion this time at the heavyweight limit of 201 pounds. In 2004 he won the World Junior championship at superheavyweight. He finished his amateur career with 115 wins and only 15 defeats then turned pro that same year and began a streak of 13 straight wins all by KO. 9 of his first 10 fights ended in the first round and people were really beginning to notice this young power puncher. It is true that the competition was soft but that is nearly always the case these days. The first real test came in his 14th fight in July of 2006 when he was matched with the experienced Brazilian Edson Cesar Antonio who often fought at cruiser and came in with a record of 31-5-1 and actually outweighed Boytsov by 215 to 212 3/4 pounds. Antonio gave the young Russian all kinds of trouble when he didn’t fold early and it became evident that Denis still had a few things to learn about the technical side of the game. Denis got the decision after 8 rounds.
Fortunately Denis did begin to learn those things that he was lacking and came back that September against the tough Ondrej Pala who was 11-1 and scored a 7th round KO. That win has looked better as time passed because Pala hasn’t lost again since and is now rated a good prospect himself. The next year saw 3 more wins as Boytsov slipped off the radar a bit and concentrated on improving his skills. By 2008 he was ready to move up again and in April he was matched with the tough veteran American trial horse Robert Hawkins. Hawkins doesn’t win a lot but is always a tough fight for anybody. He had defeated Dominick Guinn in his previous fight and would follow his bout with Boytsov by going 10 rounds with former champ Oleg Maskaev. He lasted the full 8 rounds with Denis as well but Boytsov won easily and proved that he was not just a crude slugger. He could win on points when he had to.
In February of 2009 Boytsov stopped Israel Garcia (19-2) in just 2 rounds then this past June Denis added his best win yet when he stopped fringe contender Taras Bidenko in 6 rounds. Bidenko was 26-2 going into the fight.In October it was Jason Gavern who went down in 7 and next up is a tune-up with Kevin Montiy on January 9. At this time Denis is rated #7 by The Ring and is in the top 5 of three of the alphabet groups. The other one has him at #12.
I am not suggesting that Boytsov is ready for either of the Klitschkos yet but he might make it interesting for David Haye who is more his size. He is being brought along slowly and carefully by Universum his German promoters. Nearly all his bouts have been in Germany. It is not likely that we will see Universum pushing for a title match until late 2011. By then Vitali Klitschko will be 40 years old and either retired or probably slowing down at the very least. Even Wlad will be around 35. Winning a world title belt should be a bit easier just about the time that Denis reaches his peak. The Klitschkos could even be gone by then. A lot of things can happen in two or three years but right now Denis Boytsov looks to me like the best bet to become an exciting world heavyweight champion who can re-invigorate the division.