Dunkin's Crowded Stable Loaded With Talent
Cameron Dunkin is one of boxing's most successful managers of the last decade, having guided the careers of no less than fourteen world champions during that span. Boxingtalk.com had the good fortune of speaking with Cameron as the Las Vegas based manager was making arrangements for his stable of fighters to finish out the year and prepare for the next. Don't miss this opportunity to see what's up with Cameron Dunkin and his current crop of future champions!
Cameron Dunkin comments on a selection of the fighters he currently manages:
Stevie Johnston - Light Welterweight, 32-3-1 (17)"Stevie's back and he's fighting again in December. He wants to fight Floyd Mayweather really bad and that would be at junior welter. Stevie is still slick, he can still fight and he'll be in tremendous shape."
Steven Luevano - Featherweight, 26-0 (12)
"Steven just beat a good kid on the main event of a Telefutura card in Chicago. He was supposed to fight Marcos Licona but that fell apart. Anyway, Steven is a very talented southpaw and he's doing quite well and early next year I've got to think about what I'm going to do with him."
Jose Aguiniga - Bantamweight, 25-0 (12)
"Jose just won and he's 25-0 now, but I've got to get him back to bantamweight. He came into his last fight at 123lbs, so we're getting a nutritionist for him because he needs to get back down to 118. I definitely want to step him up, because he's a great talent, and was thinking about putting him in with Rafael Marquez for the world title. But, I just don't think were quite there yet, so we'll have him fight a few more times and see what we can do with his weight."
Kelly Pavlik - Middleweight, 22-0 (20)
"I want to make a major serious move with Kelly. He's going to fight on November 27th, maybe Ross Thompson, on the Morales - Barrera card, and then Bob Arum's talking about getting him in a big fight, making a move. He's in the top ten in every organization at middleweight and really he surprised me by coming in at 161 and a half pounds. I didn't think he was going to be able to make middleweight anymore because he's such a big kid but he showed me different. He looked great against Carlton Holland and no one has destroyed Holland like that. Kelly looked so good."
Mark Suarez - Welterweight, 22-2 (10)"Mark really looks good. He got hurt in his most recent fight, against Jason Papillon, but he hung on and dropped Papillon three times to win the fight. No one has beaten Papillon like that and Mark is really a welterweight, a six foot one welterweight. I'm very high on Mark Suarez. He had Papillon hurt with a body shot, hanging on the ropes and almost knocked him out. I just wish the fight had been a ten rounder rather than for eight. I knew it was going to be tough for three or four rounds because of Papillon's speed, but I thought that Mark would wear him down going to the body, before getting him late. My guy went out and destroyed Papillon in that first round, he destroyed him, just shocked him! Everyone was saying 'this guy's a world champion, he'd knock out Judah'!"
"Then, in the second round, Mark was just beating Papillon and I thought he had him. Mark had him all over the ropes, just blasting him and then Mark walked into a right hand that punched right through him. My guy's legs went to jello but he didn't go down. He tried to hang on and then he started fighting back. You could see he was wobbly and I thought 'no, he's going to get hit again!' And then he did get hit again, but it woke Mark up! Then he really started fighting back even though he was still hurt. Papillon shouldn't have hit him again! So, Mark got through and then in the fourth my guy just bloodied Papillon and dropped him three times and the fight was stopped."
"When one of Papillon's people was coming out of the ring, he said 'you've got a monster, where did you get him from? I've had Jason since he was 14 years old and no one has ever done that to him, ever. You've got a real one, Cam!' Hearing things like that really makes you feel good, you know? Mark showed me he's got a set of whiskers and his promoter Don King is in love with him. Mark is 22-2 and I'm telling anyone who'll listen he's going to be champion of the world. I think this kid can beat Cintron, Margarito and I think he'd knock Judah out. I think he has a chance with anybody. There's talk of Mark fighting Miguel Angel Gonzales and I say let's go. That would be a good fight and one I think Mark would win but he'd have to really fight to do so."
Rolando Reyes - Lightweight, 22-3-2 (13)"He's coming off a good win, a rematch with Omar Bernal. He looked really good and I'm going to get him fighting again really soon. He told me he's ready for anybody I put him in with."
Kid Diamond - Lightweight, 18-0 (10)
"Almazbek Raimkulov, who is fighting under the name Kid Diamond now, has looked sensational recently. He's also going to fight on the November 27th card as part of the pay for view. Early next year they're going to try and get him a title eliminator. He's ready and I want to go with him on a big fight."
Anthony Thompson - Light Middleweight, 16-1 (12)"We're having real struggles with Anthony because due to his religious beliefs, he can't fight on Friday nights. We're hoping to work something out with him. He just came out of camp with De La Hoya and looked very good. They were raving about Anthony but I've got to get him a fight."
Jesus Gonzales - Middleweight, 11-0 (8)"Jesus is 11-0 and we'll make a push for him next year. Right now we're looking to adjust his training schedule so we can bring out the best in Jesus."
Victor Ortiz - Lightweight, 4-0 (3) "Victor is only seventeen years old and I just love this kid. He's originally from Kansas and he won the National PAL. He's got a tremendous amateur background, winning about 160 amateur fights, and five or six Junior National championships as well as going to the Olympics trials. Right now, he's training with Robert and Eduardo Garcia, the best trainers in the world and he's going to be fighting at the Plaza in Vegas on November 26th, the night before Morales - Barrera. He's looked sensational so far and he just seems to get better every fight and everybody is very high on him and they think by the time that he's 19 or 20 years old, he's going to be really special."
Carney Bowman - Super Featherweight, 3-0 (1)"Carney is 3-0 and he fought on the big show of De La Hoya - Hopkins and he looked really good, knocked his opponent out. You can see the fight going on in the ring when Mark Ratner was being interviewed for the telecast. Carney is the kid knocking out the other guy in the background. York, PA loves this kid. And his partner, Eric Nemo, who won the National PAL and other national tournaments, he's 4-0 with 2 knockouts. He just knocked out some other former national amateur champion, Broderick Harper, and they're raving about him. He's going by the name, Eric Nemo-Rosado, now and everybody out here in Vegas thinks he's a future champion of the world."
Brandon Rios - Super Featherweight, 2-0 (2)"Brandon is really good and he's training out in Oxnard with the Garcia's also and I think he's going to be special. He's Victor's best friend from the same town in Kansas was also in the Olympic trials where he was the alternate at 125lbs. He made it clear to the finals and fought in the box off. Brandon Rios is going to be something else."
In closing -
"All my kids are doing really well and some are getting close to title shots. Pavlik is getting there, real close, Almazbek is there, Luevano is getting there, real close. Aguiniga is very close. Once I get Thompson fighting, it won't be but three or four bouts until were talking about something big. Anthony can fight and he's been training and lifting, getting stronger, maturing. He just wants to get back in the ring. He's even stronger now than when he looked really good in his last fight and Anthony is just dying to get going."
Boxingtalk.com would like to thank Cameron Dunkin for making this article possible.
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