Guerrero, Mitchell, Wade, Russell Make ESPN Best Prospects List!

Four Beltway Boxers made Dan Rafael's ESPN.com list of the top 25 prospects in the world. Rafael selected the two Beltway Boxing Prospects of the Year -- Seth "Mayhem" Mitchell and "Mr." Gary Russell, Jr. -- along with Dominic Wade and Fernando Guerrero.

We'll let Mr. Rafael tell the reason for his choices.

Seth Mitchell (28, heavyweight, Golden Boy, 20-0-1, 14 KOs):

In the desert, it's nice to find an oasis. In the land of American heavyweight prospects, it's nice to find Mitchell, one of the few bona-fide, up-and-coming big men. Although he's 28, he started boxing late because he was busy playing college football at Michigan State before a knee injury derailed his NFL hopes. He has come a long way in his two-year career and is clearly the best American heavyweight prospect. The 6-foot-2, 243-pound Brandywine, Md., fighter is fundamentally sound and has shown improvement fight after fight. He's a hard worker with a good attitude and just needs rounds and experience. In 2010, he won all five of his bouts by knockout while facing experienced opponents such as Derek Bryant and Taurus Sykes.


Gary Russell Jr. (22, featherweight, Golden Boy, 13-0, 9 KOs):

Russell was a phenomenal amateur and the 2008 U.S. Olympic team bantamweight, but he didn't box in Beijing because he passed out on the eve of his first bout trying to make weight and was disqualified from the tournament. It was a bitter disappointment that he's trying to make up for as a pro featherweight. So far, so good. Russell has dynamic talent, perhaps the fastest set of hands in the sport and sound defense. The Capitol Heights, Md., southpaw went 7-0 in 2010 and probably would have had at least one more win, but it's hard to find opponents for him. (One fight fell out at the last minute.) It wouldn't be a surprise to see him on the pound-for-pound list in a few years.

Fernando Guerrero (24, middleweight, Prize Fight, 20-0, 16 KOs):

Guerrero is a blue-chip prospect with strong amateur credentials that include junior Golden Gloves, international Junior Olympics, National Golden Gloves and U.S. national titles. And that's not all: He has charisma, power and is a big ticket seller in Salisbury, Md., where he has lived since childhood after moving from the Dominican Republic. With a growing fan base and improving skills, he could someday be a serious factor. He has gotten good gym work as a sparring partner for Paul Williams. A hand injury early in the year limited Guerrero to just three fights in 2010, but he won each, including the best win of his career: a decision against experienced Ishe Smith. He opens his 2011 campaign in Salisbury on Feb. 18 as the headliner on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights."


Dominic Wade (20, super middleweight, Prize Fight, 9-0, 7 KOs):

Wade, who turned pro in March 2009, was a standout amateur, having won four consecutive Silver Gloves national titles. He has all the tools, especially an exciting style and outstanding power that he has used to turn out the lights on opponents. The Largo, Md., product took up boxing at age 9 and is one of those prospects who managers and promoters talk about wishing they could work with, which says something in a sport in which competitors rarely give somebody else's fighter credit. The only knock on Wade has been a bit of immaturity and a work ethic that hasn't always been stellar. If he can button that down, the sky's the limit.