Top 25 Prospects Final Report Card

Top 25 Prospects Final Report Card
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
January 5, 2013


When I first began contributing to TQBR, one of my first submissions was a list of 25 prospects that I had my eye on. Throughout 2012, I tracked their progress, even turning in a mid-year report on how they had done up until that point.

This piece marks a final report card on how those 25 fighters fared. Together, they combined for an astonishing 74-4 mark with 53 KOs, something that far exceeded my expectations when I first compiled the list.

This also marks my final contribution to TQBR as a staff writer, as I have decided in 2013 to focus more of my time on my weekly boxing column with the Northern California newspaper, the Martinez News-Gazette. By doing so, I felt as though I wouldn't have enough time to be a full-time contributor to TQBR and decided with editor Tim Starks' blessing it was time to move forward. I plan on still contributing the odd freelance piece online, though no destination has yet been determined.

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Twenty-Five Favorites for the Future, Part II

Twenty-Five Favorites for the Future, Part II
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
January 5, 2012

(Continued from part I.)

Joe Hanks, heavyweight, 28, Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A. [18-0, 12 KOs] 
Though not as well known as American heavyweights of the future Seth Mitchell and Deontay Wilder, Hanks has quietly put together a respectable career in four years as an American heavyweight hopeful. Hanks scored an improbable one-sided win over then-unbeaten Golden Boy prospect Ashanti Jordan a few years ago and has stayed the course, though not with much fanfare. Hanks has yet to fight on television despite being one of the better kept secrets in American heavyweight boxing. With Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing backing him, Hanks should at least be able to break the barrier and make it on television moving forward. Despite being from the East Coast, Hanks established himself in the banquet halls and small houses in Southern California, fighting twelve times in all there. At one point, this writer recalls then-manager Prentiss Byrd offering to pay for Hanks’ spot on cards, yet he still had problems finding him fights. At 6’4” Hanks has good size and has good power that he has learned to utilize better recently; he’s scored six stoppages in eight fights since the opening of 2010. In a particularly shallow time in U.S. heavyweight boxing, Hanks is near the top of the class.

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