Now that the 2013 boxing season has ended today with the final card from Japan with a tremendous fight between Takashi Uchiyama and Daiki Kaneko, the team at ThaBoxingVoice.com will delve into the year end awards. Starting off the 2013 year end awards will be the winner of the prospect of the year award. Now when it came to picking this award, the merit was based off activity, potential, and excitement.
There were plenty of options from the 2012 Olympic class but when it all came down to it, the vote went to Puerto Rico’s best prospect and best hope for a potential superstar, Felix Verdejo. In a year that saw the proud island of Puerto Rico not have any title holders for the first time in a long time, Verdejo is “the future”( as dubbed by Steve Kim from Maxboxing.com) in line for the Puerto Rican superstars, the one to take the mantle that went from Felix Trinidad to Miguel Cotto, and the one that was supposed to go to Juan Manuel Lopez who along with countrymen Roman Gonzalez were beaten by future pound for pound stalwart Mikey Garcia.
Verdejo went 8-0 with 6 KO’s in 2013. With every performance and every smile that he showed, you could see him gaining popularity and a similarity to the very outgoing Trinidad. While Miguel Cotto has been a superstar in his own right, you could say he never reached the level of Trinidad because of his workman-like and serious demeanor outside the ring. If Verdejo is the goods, he has the personality to go with it to reach the Trinidad level. I saw Verdejo at the MSG theatre in early January and even though it was only his second fight, you could tell he brought some people out in New York already, which could be big for him as past stars Trinidad and Cotto have owned the big apple. Then when he fought in Florida under Miguel Cotto’s main event, one of my correspondents told me that people here know who he is and have high hopes for him. He may already be a star in Puerto Rico from what i’m told even though he has not done much yet in the boxing game.
What Verdejo has on his side is what many believe is the best promotional company when it comes to bringing up a prospect, Top Rank Promotions. While many other promoters have rushed their potential Puerto Rican prospects because of the lack of a new star, Top Rank has not and from previous experiences will make a star out of Verdejo. Now the onus is on Verdejo to deliver but he certainly has the formula down pact.
Other Prospects receiving votes: Oscar Valdez, Errol Spence Jr., Vasyl Lomanchecnko, and Eddie Gomez
