5 Under-the-Radar Boxers to Watch in 2015

For every Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather out there, there are hundreds of talented boxers who do not garner the same amount of attention. They have never headlined a Showtime or HBO card, if they have been lucky to be televised at all. 

Thousands of boxers around the world spend their lives honing their craft and taking fights on weekends to climb the ladder of stardom. Some make it high enough to have their face on a poster in Las Vegas, and some just make it far enough to be heroes in their own neighborhoods.

Despite the numerous of boxing titles out there, can you honestly name off all of the champions? Many boxing titleholders aren't recognizable by the casual boxing fan. 

There is an endless number of boxers who should be recognized for their talents and who can change the boxing landscape in the next few years.

For brevity's sake, let's go with five boxers who don't get the huge recognition that someone like Terence Crawford receives. Some of these fighters aren't in complete obscurity, and they may have held a belt or are currently holding one. Yet, they're not fighters who are poised to fight a top contender in the near future.

So here are some names you should be checking out this year.... 

Sammy Vasquez

Division: Welterweight

Record: 18-0, 13 KOs

Vasquez is coming off a dominant performance over Emmanuel Lartey last Friday on the ShoBox: The New Generation main event in Pittsburgh. He went into the fight winning his last eight fights by knockout. Despite not being able to officially put Lartey away, Vasquez still battered his opponent with ease. But to Lartey's credit, none of his three losses came by knockout.

The former army reservist showcased his fan-friendly style in front of a what was basically a hometown crowd in Pittsburgh. 

Despite his stellar record, Vasquez remains humble.

“I'm ranked pretty high, but there are plenty of names in front of me that I need to beat. I want to start fighting the top guys—that's my plan for 2015,” he said to The Valley Independent (h/t TribLive.com). “Once I get that name and recognition where I can call people out, then that's when I will do it—when I feel I am ready and worthy." 

Anthony Joshua

Scott Heavey/Getty Images

Division: Heavyweight

Record: 10-0, 10 KOs

This British 2012 Olympic gold medalist is making his mark in the heavyweight division by destroying everyone who has been thrown in his path. 

According to Tyson Bruce of Boxing Insider:

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"Joshua’s superior athleticism allows him to have the coordination to fight with a style that just isn’t possible for most heavyweights his size. Although he has brutal power, it’s hand speed and diversity of punches that is the most impressive and lethal."

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His 6'6", 250-pound frame combined with his hand speed and power have caught the attention of fighters such as Tyson Fury, who challenged him to a showdown, according to Mail Online's Martin Domin.

Jayson Velez

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Division: Featherweight

Record: 22-0-1, 16 KOs

Velez is coming off an exciting battle against Evgeny Gradovich that resulted in a draw. 

Just like the two previous boxers listed, the Puerto Rican fighter brings a fan-friendly combination of speed and power. He has power in both hands and is very good at changing levels when he attacks.

Now, according to BoxingScene.com's Miguel Rivera, he has began training at Wild Card with Freddie Roach, which will further polish his strengths.

Up next, Velez faces off against another exciting fighter, Marvin Sonsona, in what is poised to be a WBC title eliminator in order to set up a showdown with the current champion, Jhonny Gonzalez. Expect fireworks to go off when these two face off in the ring. 

Julian 'J-Rock' Williams

USA TODAY Sports

Division: Super Welterweight

Record: 18-0-1, 11 KOs

Williams prides himself on being a Philly fighter. Along with being able to box, he displays his toughness to grind it out on the inside like fellow Philly fighters Joe Frazier and Bernard Hopkins. 

He definitely has not been spoonfed any easy challengers on his quest to the top. This year, he dominated former world title challenger Freddy Hernandez and previously undefeated prospect Eliezer Gonzalez, which has given him confidence to face off against the top challengers in his division. He states, per BoxingScene.com's Thomas Gerbasi: 

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I don't feel like I've seen everything, but I've seen enough to fight at the top level. I don't need to go through ten [Erislandy] Laras, ten [Demetrius] Andrades, three James Kirklands, to fight those guys. I think I've seen enough and I'm talented enough and I work hard enough to get the job done at the top level.

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He definitely fights like a veteran, as Boxing Insider's Tyson Bruce points out:

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He also has the kind of veteran moves that you just don’t see from many fighters let alone 17-fight novices do in the ring—such as using his shoulders to create punching distance on the inside and shifting to create punching angles.

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Denis Lebedev

Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press

Division: Cruiserweight

Record: 26-2, 20 KOs

This Russian boxer is mainly known for his extremely swollen right eye that he suffered during his fight against Guillermo Jones in 2013. ESPN's Dan Rafael called his eye "an absolute mess" by the end of the fourth round (h/t The Huffington Post).

Lebedev was eventually stopped in the 11th round, but due to Jones failing his drug test, he retained the WBA Cruiserweight title. 

He only has fought once since that brutal fight, in which he handed Poland's Pawel Kolodziej his first loss by crushing him in two rounds this past September. 

Lebedev obviously shows the capacity to battle through adversity, and his two fights before his battle with Jones ended in knockouts before the fifth round. He even has a win against Roy Jones Jr., which was a 10th-round knockout back in 2011. Sure, it may have been well past Jones' prime, but it's not a bad win to have under your belt.

Heart and punching power are everything you want in a heavier fighter.

Just like Velez, Lebedev moved over to the Wild Card to train with Freddie Roach, who was in his corner in his victory over Kolodziej.

His next fight is against another Polish contender, Lukasz Janik, on April 4 in Moscow.