This past weekend, a number of heavyweight prospects, some very promising, some apparently destined for journeyman status, fought with mixed results.









Travis Walker/George Garcia



As previously reported by ceelowsback, 27-year-old Travis 'Freight Train' Walker (23-0-1, 17 KO's) won a razor-thin decision over 24-year-old George 'El Torrito' Garcia (13-1, 4 KO's) Friday night in Minneapolis, Minnesota. With the win, Walker avenged a loss to Garcia when both were highly regarded amateurs. In his previous bout, Walker had avenged another amateur defeat by outpointing Jason Estrada. Garcia, in his previous fight, won a unanimous decision over former WBC Continental Americas cruiserweight champion Charles Davis.









Art Binkowski/Raphael Butler



Again, as reported by ceelowsback, on the Walker-Garcia undercard, 32-year-old Canadian heavyweight Art Binkowski ((15-1-3, 10 KO's) survived three first round knockdowns to stop hard-punching Raphael Butler (25-4-0-1 ND, 20 KO's) at 2:23 of the 8th and final round. Butler, a native of Rochester, Minnesota, was the favorite coming into the bout mainly because Binkowski, a part-time actor who played 1930's heavyweight contender Corn Griffin in "Cinderella Man", had been inactive for nearly a year. Butler, 23, was riding an 8-bout winning streak and had already fought twice in 2007 after engaging in 9 fights in 2006 (winning 8 of them).









Jason Estrada



Friday night in Uncasville, Connecticut, former U. S. Olympian Jason 'Big Six' Estrada (8-1-0-1 NC, 1 KO) bounced back from his only loss as a pro, a majority decision to Travis Walker, with a shutout points victory over jpurneyman Zack Page. Page, who slipped to 13-12-1 with 5 KO's, had knocked out Troy Beets six days earlier and last October, won an upset unanimous decision over former WBA light heavyweight champion Lou Del Valle. In other words, the win by Estrada was not without some significance.









Chazz Witherspoon



Seeing action last Friday at Philadelphia's storied Blue Horizon, Chazz Witherspoon improved to 17-0 with 11 KO's by stopping the aforementioned Charles Davis (17-13-1, 4 KO's) at 19 seconds of the 7th round. For the 25-year-old Witherspoon, it was his 4th win since beating fellow undefeated prospect Michael Alexander on Showtime last July.









Michael Alexander



Alexander (12-1, 8 KO's) fought for the first time since losing to Witherspoon Friday night in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, scoring a unanimous decision over James Porter (4-11-1, 1 KO). Alexander also has wins over Zack Page and Chad Van Sickle while Porter had upset comebacking former contender Obed Sullivan in January.









'Bang Bang' Gbenga Oloukun



The 23-year-old Hamburg, Germany-based Nigerian scored his most impressive victory to date Saturday in his adopted hometown, knocking out former two-time Russian champion Alexei Varakin (28-16-3, 16 KO's) at 1:38 of the 4th round. Oloukun is now 11-0 with 6 KO's.









Lawson 'Meet Your Maker' Baker



On the night of April 6, the unbeaten Baker (4-0-1, 2 KO's), fighting in his hometown of San Diego, California, stopped Shaun Ross (3-6, 1 KO) at 1:59 of the 2nd round. Small for a modern heavyweight (6' 0'', 217 pounds), Baker is raw but entertaining.









Johann Duhaupas



The 26-year-old Frenchman (12-0, 7 KO's) padded his record with a 6-round points win over Vlado 'The Slovak Rambo' Szabo (1-21, 0 KO's) on Friday night. He is tentatively scheduled to face Hungarian champion Zoltan Petranyi (36-19, 8 KO's) in his biggest test to date May 25 in Luxembourg.









Rich Boruff



The 35-year-old Boruff (17-0-1, 10 KO's) returned to the ring after almost 5 1/2 years of inactivity with a split-decision victory over veteran Jeff Yeoman (19-7, 8 KO's). Fighting before his hometown fans in Kokomo, Indiana, Boruff, who has fought in the super middleweight, light heavyweight, and cruiserweight divisions, weighed a career high of 225 pounds, outweighing the 42-year-old Yeoman by 10 pounds.









The most important heavyweight bout this coming weekend features WBA champion Nicolay Valuev (46-0-0-1 NC, 34 KO's) against the WBA 's mandatory challenger, no. 1 ranked Ruslan Chagaev (22-0-1, 17 KO's) but more prospects will see action as will comebacking former WBC no. 1 contender Joe Mesi (34-0, 27 KO's). Among the prospects fighting either Friday or Saturday are IBF Intercontinental champion Oleg Platov (24-1, 20 KO's), Francesco Pianeta (9-0, 7 KO's), Rene Dettweiler (19-1, 10 KO's), Damian 'Bolo' Wills (21-1-1, 15 KO's), JD 'The Natural' Chapman (25-0, 22 KO's), Canadian champion David Cadieux (15-1-0-1 NC, 10 KO's), and Tonga-born Australian John Hopoate (6-1, 6 KO's).