Here’s a list of some of PBC's top rising stars. Boxers on this list are on a hot streak, like a slugger in baseball on a hitting streak or a running back in football who keeps posting 100-yard rushing games. They’re not ranked in any particular order. We’ll leave that to you—the reader.
Take a look at some of PBC's hottest fighters as 2018 begins.
Marcus Browne, 175 pounds (21-0, 16 KOs)
Marcus Browne has registered five knockdowns and three straight knockout wins during the last 11 months. His most recent fight was a first-round stoppage of Francy Ntetu at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on January 20.
“Sir” Marcus is a left-handed, 27-year-old Staten Island native as well as a 2012 U.S. Olympian, and he is rocketing toward title contention. He has been a staple at Barclays Center since it opened and is 12-0 with eight knockouts at the New York venue.
Browne began his rise last year with KO victories over Thomas Williams Jr. and previously unbeaten Seanie Monaghan.
Mikey Garcia, 135-140 pounds (37-0, 30 KOs)
Mikey Garcia will pursue a fourth world championship in a different division against unbeaten 140-pound titleholder Sergey Lipinets (13-0, 10 KOs) on March 10. He debuted in the weight class with a unanimous decision victory over four-division champion Adrien Broner at Barclays in July.
Broner represented the highest-profile victory of Garcia’ stellar career, improving his record to 8-0 with six KOs against current or former world champions and setting him up to be a threat and a championship contender from 135 through 147 pounds.
In January 2017, the 30-year-old Garcia became a three-division world champion with a third-round KO of previously unbeaten 135-pound champion Dejan Zlaticanin.
Jarrett Hurd, 154 pounds (21-0, 15 KOs)
“Swift” Jarrett Hurd rose to the occasion in his first world title defense and most difficult fight of his young career as the 27-year-old came from behind for a 10th-round TKO of left-handed former champion Austin Trout at Barclays in October.
The first man to stop Trout in a Fight Of The Year-caliber affair, Hurd overcame a deep, bloody cut over his left eye to secure his seventh consecutive stoppage victory. Hurd won the title with a ninth-round TKO over Tony Harrison last February.
A 6-foot-1, Accokeek, Maryland, native with a 76½-inch reach, Hurd has a title unification against Cuban southpaw Erislandy Lara (25-2-2, 14 KOs) coming up April 7.
Jamal James, 147 pounds (22-1, 10 KOs)
Jamal “Shango” James took less than three rounds to end Argentina’s Diego Chaves’ three-fight stoppage streak in December. The third-round knockout represented a career-defining performance. He accomplished what former world champions Brandon Rios and Tim Bradley could not.
It was a left hook to the liver that secured the moment for the 6-foot-2, 29-year-old James. It occurred six days after fellow Minnesotan Caleb Truax traveled to London’s Copper Box Arena and upset 168-pound champion James Degale, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist.
The victory was the second straight for James following a loss to 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Yordenis Ugas in August 2016. The victory made him a player in a division that includes champions Errol Spence, Keith Thurman and former champions Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, Jessie Vargas, Andre Berto, Devon Alexander, Luis Collazo and Victor Oriz.
Errol Spence Jr., 147 pounds (23-0, 20 KOs)
Errol Spence Jr. scored his 10th straight knockout victory and his first world title defense with an eighth-round stoppage of two-division champion Lamont Peterson on January 20 at Barclays.
The versatile 28-year-old lived up to his nickname of “The Truth” and perhaps the heir to the sport’s No. 1 pound-for-pound ranking following the 2017 retirement of Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Spence followed up his display of two-fisted power, speed, accuracy, resiliency and athleticism in an 11th-round knockout of Kell Brook in Sheffield, England in May.
Spence became the first American to earn a world title from an English champion on foreign soil since Tim Bradley upset Junior Witter in Nottingham, England for a 140-pound title in 2008.
Deontay Wilder, heavyweight (39-0, 38 KOs)
Heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder has declared war on the division. Since his three-knockdown, first-round stoppage of Bermane Stiverne in November at Barclays his focus is on a title unification match against Anthony Joshua.
The 32-year-old Wilder earned his sixth-straight stoppage in title defenses since dethroning Stiverne in January 2015, and will face Luis Ortiz on March 3 in Brooklyn.
