Three Lesser known Fighters to watch in 2007

Three Lesser known Fighters to watch in 2007

By Ted Sares

While not necessarily new kids on the block, here are three to keep an eye on in 2007:

Bermane “B. WARE” Stiverne

From Laval, QC, Canada and now residing in Las Vegas, This heavyweight is 12-0 with all wins coming by KO. I have seen him fight twice and both times, he rendered his opponent unconscious (one was veteran Harold Sconiers). .

Stiverne moves nicely for a big man and is very athletic. He has fast hands, uses stiff jabs, nice hooks, and closes matters with a devastating right. He also possess good defensive skills. I see him as having the entire package, but at age 30, he needs to step it up. I believe his agent is Lennox Lewis.

As to why he was not in the Olympics, he “was robbed” in a qualifying tournament in Mexico where he knocked down his Mexican opponent three times but still “lost” the decision and the place in Olympics.

I am going on record as predicting great things for B. WARE.

Vernon “Iceman” Paris

“The Iceman,” 14-0 with 10 KO's, is only 19 years old and fights out of Detroit, but he has the slickest moves of any young fighter I have seen since a young Pernell Whittaker was doing his thing. In an article dated April 28, 2007 in maxboxing.com, Doug Fischer describes Paris as a kid who exhibits good footwork, excellent hand speed and hand-eye coordination, as well as a variety of punches and combinations. He employ shoulder-roll counters with his left hand held low while in close like a poor-man’s Floyd Mayweather. When it becomes evident that an opponent is not going to be blasted out early or easily, he gets on his bicycle and ruthlessly pot-shots until the referee had seen enough.

Vernon Paris is one talented boxer. He is a kid, but he fights like an old school purist. He also fights with two bullets lodged near his spine, the result of a shooting incident last year in which he was an innocent victim.

Light welterweight Paris puts on mini-clinics. Check him out.

Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez

He is an Argentinean light middleweight who fights out of Spain. He is 39-1-1 with 20 KO’s. Martinez is a slick southpaw boxer who travels around the world beating fighters in their backyards and has done it time and time again until he met Tony Margarito who is the only man who has beaten him. It was a good fight, Martinez had his moments and looked good, but Tony cut off the ring, trapped him and let his hands go to finish him off.

However, Sergio has continued to win since; in fact, he is on 23-fight win streak and has beaten most of Europe's top fighters at his weight. He sometimes keeps his hands down (which only a few gifted fighters can pull off) and he does it well
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His last fight against Saul Roman, 26-2 coming in, was a WBC eliminator for a title. He iced Roman with a body shot. Hopefully we will be seeing him on the big stage soon. He is currently the Latino Light Middleweight Title. One of his ko victims was Adrian “The Predator” Stone who retired after the loss.

Sergio is someone to track in 2007.