Will Amir ‘Hardcore’ Mansour ever make a mark on the heavyweight division?

By James Sexton - 04/11/2013 - Comments

By James Sexton: Amir Mansour is an undefeated American heavyweight boxer. His record stands at 17-0 with 13KO’s. His career started out with 9 straight victories before he was forced to take 9 years out to serve jail time.

In 2010, Mansour made his return to the ring and put together a string of early knockout victories to get his career back on track. Then another setback in 2011 as a violation of his probation landed him with another year of jail time.

This year Amir Mansour made his second return to the sport, but now at 40 years old is no longer considered to be any kind of threat to the big names in the division. His first fight in January of this year was against a journeyman in Dominique Alexander, and a series of stinging body shots followed up by a combination of tremendous power shots to the head and body ended the contest in the first round. His team have quickly scheduled a second fight for April against a genuine live opponent in Devin Vargas (18-2) and a good showing could land Mansour with a higher ranked opponent in the next couple of months.

My question is that can he make any kind of mark on the division before age ends his career in this sport? We have recently seen the ageless wonder Bernard Hopkins win a world title at 48, but time is not so kind to everyone, and it is extremely rare to see boxers partaking in big fights once in their forties.

Age is not the only factor which has Mansour at a disadvantage against many big named opponents in the division. At 5’11 he is very small for a modern heavyweight. In a match-up against a 6’6 Wladimir Klitschko for example, it would be very hard for Amir to land any one of his power shots.

However, his upcoming fight is for both the WBF Intercontinental as well as the NABA Heavyweight titles and another impressive stoppage win could land him in a matchup against one of the better know names in the division. If you take the time to view his last fights in 2011 and his venture in January of this year, it is apparent his hand-speed and power are still there, but it is unclear whether he would have the stamina to last rounds with a game opponent.



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