The Heavyweight Hopes of Central Asia!

Despite the Heavyweighg division being regarded as the blue ribbon division, and the most significant, historically, their has never really been a huge surge in Asian fighters making their mark there. The South East Asian fighters their body types don't really suit Heavyweight boxing, with average weight and height being a long way from the behemoths that rule the roost in boxing's heaviest divisions. 
 
Thankfully however the last few year's we've seen more and more Central Asian fighters turning professional, and with that we've finally started to see an emergence in genuine Heavyweight prospects from the region. At the moment we have several and whilst some of those are "old" for prospects the division has suddenly got a real interest for Asian fight fans.

Bakhodir Jalolov (3-0, 3)
Uzbek hopeful Bakhodir Jalolov is the youngest man to make it on to this list, and the 24 year old giant really is a modern day Heavyweight monster. Stood at over 6'6", reports suggest he's anything from 6'6" to 6'9", and fighting out of the southpaw stance Jalolov is a long term project at Heavyweight, but one that looks to have a lot of naturally exciting traits added to a strong amateur background.
 
As an amateur Jalolov shone, winning a World Amateur Championship bronze medal in 2015, as a 21 year old, before competing at the 2016 Olympics and then claiming the 2017 Asian Championships gold medal.
 
There's plenty of tall rangy Heavyweights out there right now, but there's very few with Jalolov's power, explosiveness, quickness or the southpaw stance, all of which combine to make a very promising young heavyweight. Sadly though his handlers seem to be wanting to guide him slowly and since his debut in May he has stopped all of his opponents, in a combined 8 rounds. Fingers crossed that stiffer competition will come his way in 2019.

Ivan Dychko (7-0, 7)
If Jalolov is to be lauded for his amateur achievements then they pale in comparison to 28 year old Kazakh Ivan Dychko, a 2-time Olympian, winning a Bronze medal in 2012, a 2-time World Amateur Championship silver medal winner and a genuine amateur stand out. Not only was he an exceptional amateur but like Jalolov he is a physical freak and also stands at around 6'9". Not only is he huge but he also has a terrifying aura around him, which will put fear into low level opponents.
 
At 28 there isn't years to develop Dychko, but there isn't that much that really needs developing. His amateur style was pretty pro-ready and he could well end up fighting in minor title bouts in 2019. He's naturally quick, heavy handed and very fluid for such a big man. The one big question about physical traits is his chin, and he was stopped in frightening fashion by Magomedrasul Majidov at the 2013 World Amateur Championships.
 
As well as a potentially suspect chin Dychko also seems to have a problem with his match making, His first 7 bouts, spaced out over 15 months, have lasted a combined 11 rounds, and he has only been beyond round 1 in 2 of his 7 professional bouts. He was supposed to have his 8th bout in November but that fell through and he'll now be out of the ring until the new year, prolonging his step up.

Zhan Kossobutskiy (7-0, 6)
As we mentioned it's the central Asian fighters who are making a mark as prospects, and some are older than a typical prospect. That includes 30 year old Kazakh hopeful Zhan Kossobutskiy, who made his debut in September 2017 and has slowly been building a reputation on the European circuit, with bouts in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Sadly, given his age, the time for developmental fights should be long gone and standing at 6'3" he's a relative dwarf compared to them fighters at the top of the division.
 
Footage of Kossobutskiy shows a heavy handed fighter who is explosive, well schooled and promising. Sadly though he is older than most of the rising hopefuls in the division, he's also shorter than many and lacks the impressive international level amateur credentials of many contemporaries.

[Note - Kossobutskiy will fight on November 29th]

Damir Toybay (0-0)
Another Kazakh, and a bit more of a wild card, is youngster Damir Toybay, who is still an amateur and doesn't appear to be in a rush to turn professional. Whilst he's not in a rush to fight for pay he is certainly worth a note here given the 2018 he has had, which has included winning the Asian Junior Championships in Thailand in April, and coming runner up in both the AIBA Youth World Championships and the Youth Olympic Games.
 
Toybay is still young but is clearly a prodigy and we're looking forward to him turning professional, one day. Even if that day is in 5 or 6 years time we're still looking forward to it.