Kumar Prescod might be the next great American heavyweight or light heavyweight.
I first met the dominant amateur at the Lion’s Den Boxing Gym in Pittsburg, CA. I met about fifteen fighters that day as it was a mad dash to understand what I was doing. The second meeting was more memorable. Cutman Don, the famed legend of the Oakland boxing scene, saw me in the DoubleTree Hotel in Sacramento, CA, before an Amari Jones fight.
He came up to me.
“This kid Kumar Prescod, they call him ‘The Raw One,’ he is developing just like Andre,” said Don.
That Andre he referenced was the greatest prizefighter I ever saw with my two eyes – Andre Ward. The reason I have a voice in the sport. The reason I am anything. Ward built everything in my career because without Ward, the Bay Area wouldn’t have had big fights – and I would have probably done something else with my life. Seeing Ward fight Edison Miranda reminded me of my love of the sport. Seeing someone I knew to do it at a high level in Karim Mayfield made me want to cover the sport.
Prescod is now the next generation of Bay Area boxing.
“I am excited about turning pro. I am a little bit done with the amateurs,” said Prescod during a private workout at an unspecified gym. “I still want to take a few more fights in the amateurs than I am going to turn pro as a light heavyweight.”
At five feet, eleven inches, Prescod is always underestimated. He looks like a child and punches like a full-grown mull. The first time I saw him spar, he retired a fighter in their 20s. He landed a crushing blow in sparring, and blood started to spew from his nose. Weeks later, that fighter was never to be seen again.
Prescod fights like a veteran. Patience, poised, and composed. It’s one of the best jabs I have seen for a young fighter, which is up there with the great Charlie Sheehy of Brisbane, California. It is his flurries that are the thing of beauty and fear. Thudding combinations sounded like blasts from tanks in the Iraqi War.
Prescod, who is trained by his father, Kuma Prescod, is focused on one thing – a promise.
“I promised my grandma before she passed away that I would become a world champion,” Prescod told FightsATW.com. “I attended on living up to that.”
At this year’s Olympic Trials, the 17-year-old, who was unable to compete for the USA Boxing Olympic team based on age, put on a clinic—stoppages, standing eight counts. Prescod was a fighter that those in attendance made sure to watch. It was comparable only to Najee Lopez’s run at the 2019 Olympic Trials in Oxnard, California, in which people circled his bout for the amount of excitement he brought. Prescod had that same type of excitement around his fights.
Light heavyweight lacks depth. You have two all-time greats in this era, Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, and then you have the guys looking to lay claim to the next era, Callum Smith, Joshua Buatsi, and many others. Prescod looks to add himself to that list.
Poetically, he is coming out of the same gym and following in the footsteps of the last great American light heavyweight – Andre Ward. Sometimes, great things come to those who wait. Prescod might not have the name yet, but good things come to those who wait.
If you are a fight fan, Prescod is worth waiting for.
More must-reads: