The 2016 Rio Olympic Games saw the emergence of Lawerence Okolie and Joshua Buatsi as the pair went on to sign a management deal with Anthony Joshua.
Flying under the radar from those Olympic Games is Souleymane Cissokho who is also signed to AJ’s 258mgt team, who recently signed Campbell Hatton too.
Cissokho claimed a bronze medal at welterweight in Rio and the Frenchman finds himself with a perfect record after 12 professional bouts since his debut in January 2017.
Fighting ten bouts in France and two in America, Cissokho will be lacing his gloves up once more in Dallas, Texas where he fought in March.
Standing in the opposite corner from him this weekend will be Kieron Conway, who has only lost once in a three round tournament format.
Conway has seen his stock rise since scoring a draw against Ted Cheeseman back in 2019 and should provide the 29-year-old with a stern test as they appear on the undercard to Canelo Alvarez vs Billy Joe Saunders.
Cissokho has registered eight stoppage wins in his 12 bouts, with five coming in his first five fights and will be looking to put on a show this Saturday night. However, Conway will be coming to win so the judges scorecards may come in to play to determine the result of this one.
Canelo vs Saunders has rightly dominated all the headlines for the event at the AT & T Stadium but the crop of young talent featuring on the night will be looking to make a name for themselves including Cissokho.
Conway will be defending his WBA Intercontinental super welterweight title against Souleymane, who will be looking to claim his second professional belt after winning the French title in 2019.
Also featuring on the card is Eddy Reynoso trained Cuban heavyweight Frank Sanchez (17-0 13 KOs) who meets Nagy Aguilera (21-10 14 KOs).
Mexican-American talent Marc Castro (2-0 2 KOs) fights on his third Canelo undercard, Castro’s old amateur foe Keyshawn Davis (2-0 2 KOs) faces Jose Antonio Meza (6-4 1 KO) over six rounds and it’s a family affair on the night with Keyshawn’s brother Kelvin Davis (1-0 1 KO) fights for the second time in the paid ranks.
Finally, Mexican welterweight Christian Alan Gomez Duran (19-2-1 17 KOs) celebrating Cinco De Mayo weekend over eight rounds against an opponent to be named soon.
Being signed by Anthony Joshua, the two-time unified heavyweight champion of the world, brings an added pressure to succeed and to stand out.
Saturday night could be the first step to showing the boxing world if he is ready to make the leap towards world level in the next 12-18 months.
One thing is for sure, if Cissokho lives up to his potential then his career will be a must watch.
