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There is an undefeated heavyweight fighter who lives in London who has scorching hot potential that is attracting keen interest from the biggest promoters on both sides of the Atlantic. And, no, he's not Audley Harrison. Finchley-based Roman Greenberg has been curiously under-used by British TV, with whom he is loosely associated.

But people who know their boxing believe the 21-year-old could play a major part in the future of the sport's flagship division. Because a lot of his publicity (especially from U.S.-based news agencies) has focused on (read: was motivated by) his Jewish heritage some people believe Greenberg is a gimmick fighter. They are mistaken. While bettering Audley Harrison's results against Derrick McCafferty and Piotr Jurczyk and wiping the floor with half-decent journeymen like Luke Simpkin can be considered good results for any young prospect, it is the effortless, swashbuckling ease in which Greenberg has compiled (at time of writing) his 13-0 (10 KOs) record which has convinced some pretty astute critics that the Russian-born, Austrian-and Israeli-raised Londoner is for real.

"My trainers and promoter seem happy with the way things are going, so I guess I am happy too," the laid back prospect began. "I don't think I've shown anything like what I believe I am capable of, or what I will be capable of in a few years time. When I move up in class, people will really see how good I can be." Having lived in four different countries before the age of 18, the fighter says he feels most at home in England and plans to apply for U.K.

citizenship. That is a lengthy process (ask Takaloo). But that Greenberg is based in the U.K. at all is the fruit of a massive coincidence. Promoter Robert Waterman takes up the story: "I was in Tel Aviv in 1998 looking to run several professional shows in Israel and one of my points of call was Gordon's Swimming Centre, which has a large boxing gym. That's where I noticed Roman sparring and immediately I could see there was something very different about him and the way he carried himself."

The promoter and the 16-year-old heavyweight soon struck close friendship and, after meeting with Greenberg's father, later struck a promotional deal. Initially the plan was for Waterman to help financially while Greenberg targeted the 2004 Olympic Games but, even though the teen titan took silver at the Junior World Championships in 2000, the Athens Games were a financial impossibility. Waterman explained:

"In order to develop his potential to the point where he"d have a shot at winning the Olympics, Roman needed to travel the world sparring and fighting with the best. I helped as best I could with sponsorships and by putting Roman on my amateur shows in London and Las Vegas, but it soon became clear the Israeli Boxing Federation just didn't have the infrastructure or funds to send a fighter to the Olympics."

Thus, Greenberg left Israel and turned professional with Waterman's promotional outfit, which is a partnership with trainer Jim Evans and, since 2002, Dennis Hobson Promotions. Greenberg had his first fight in November 2001 and his most recent (at time of going to press) was a 90-second annihilation of Konstantin Prizyuk, who had knocked down John McDermott in a tough eight-rounder earlier this year.

"Whenever we put Roman in with someone who we believe will bring him on a bit, Roman raises his game and wipes them out," Waterman said. "Matching Roman at this stage involves a lot of forethought: on the one hand he's only a baby and we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we rushed him before he has physically matured, but on the other hand he is annihilating everyone who, on paper, should pose a few problems.

" Indeed, Greenberg has barely lost a round this far in his paid career because the Tel Aviv terminator's lightning hand speed and boxing brain have allowed him to have things all his own way. Trainer and co-promoter Evans, who has been involved in the sport for 59 years, is enormously excited by his young charge's potential. "To be honest, I didn't know what to expect of Roman when Robert came back from Israel five years ago and told me he"d signed a terrific young amateur heavyweight,

" Evans said. "Robert had only really been in the game for a little while back then and, with the best will in the world, I wondered if this kid would actually be as good as Robert thought he was. "But if anything, Robert had underplayed Roman's potential. What he can do in that ring is astonishing. I've been in this game for decades and decades and I stand by my initial assessment of Roman: he's the most naturally gifted fighter Britain has ever seen. Talk is cheap, I know, but Roman will prove it over the next few years."

Of course, Greenberg has yet to face a dangerous puncher, much less a genuine gut-check situation but he has done everything expected of him thus far. "You couldn't argue we've been feeding him no-hopers," Waterman said. "Obviously we've got the luxury of time with him being seven whole years away from his prime, but we're not wrapping him in cotton wool. A lot of people thought fighting McCafferty when we did [December 2002] was rushing things and Roman has also beaten Troy Breets, who medalled at the Goodwill Games, and when he fought Luke Simpkin, for example,Boxing Monthly had Roman ranked below Simpkin.

"There are very few people outside the world top 30 who would beat Roman right now, although we won't be rushed into that sort of level until he matures physically a little more." "I know I'm good," was the closest Greenberg came to bragging when we spoke, but the depth of his self-belief was revealed when I asked him why he thought he was good. "My speed, my technique and varied movement - and I use all those things together at once," he explained. "I can make the opponent fight like I want him to; I can set traps.

 Sometimes it takes a matter of moments to [figure out] what type of mistakes I can make an opponent fall into, sometimes it takes two rounds or more. But I can take my time, I'm in no rush. I'm patient and, meanwhile, I am landing my jab and not taking any shots back." His ring presence is superb for such a young heavy and one of the reasons I believe Greenberg has matured so quickly as a fighter is because from age 17 onwards he's sparred with the best big men in the U.K. and, more recently, has been sent on excursions to Miami and Las Vegas gyms.

"We went to America and Roman totally dealt with Attila Levin, who the Americans think is this great prospect," Evans enthused. "Roman sparred with him in Miami and, on my life, Levin went entire rounds without landing a solid punch. That's exactly the kind of experience every young prospect needs.

" While wary of talking up his gym performances ("When I do it in real fights I'll be talking about it, it doesn't count for real in sparring"), Greenberg acknowledges the value of them. "It is great to spar with professionals like Michael Sprott, Audley Harrison and David Haye. With Audley he took the first round and I took the second. He is a very good fighter, obviously, very intelligent and very big.

It was difficult at first but Jim told me to take it to him and in the second round I did. I sat on him more, applied more pressure. Being fast is a major asset when you fight close in, too; a lot of people don't realise that." Able to converse in four languages - English, Russian, German and Hebrew Ñ and a young man who reads books on politics, Roman doesn't exactly fit the stereotype of a boxing bad boy from the "hood. However, the perception that the courteous, introverted Anglo-Israeli is too middle-class and too, well, nice, to be a top fighter is incorrect according to his team.

"He looks like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth," Evans laughed. "But he knows what hard times are. I didn't know myself until quite recently, but his whole family lived on the streets when they first moved to Israel. And when his dad became a successful businessman Roman became almost like his bodyguard." Waterman concurred:

"Underneath all his manners he's got that edge that all fighters need. He's got a tinge of . . . well, I don't know if you'd call it arrogance, but supreme self-confidence. For example, I took him out to Las Vegas in 2001 to spar with American heavyweights and suddenly everyone in the gym was told to finish up because Mike Tyson was on his way to train. Every other fighter in the place stopped immediately but Roman just said: "Mike Tyson's coming? So?" and finished his entire workout.

"His faith in his own ability and what he will achieve in the sport was astonishing from the day I met him." Team Greenberg plans to fight "someone like Julius Francis" by March and then begin to set some tougher assignments. The main question marks regarding Greenberg at this time are his chin (always the final examination for a heavyweight) and a perceived lack of one-shot power and size. Team Greenberg (which also includes Greenberg's amateur trainer, Tolek Porat) deals with each thusly.

"I can take a good punch," the fighter said. "I've only ever been knocked down once and that was when I was 15 or 16 and I got up to win on points. Of course, getting punched by someone like Lennox Lewis É well, that would be very interesting. You can't really prepare for that, but I believe my speed makes the chances of ever needing to deal with that [manner of scenario] very slim. "And we're working on my punch power, yeah. I'm only 21 and will get stronger in lots of different ways over the next few years and so the power will improve naturally.

I can feel my punching power improve every fight and I will become a very powerful puncher in time." (Greenberg added he was under "strict instructions" to get some rounds when he was taken the distance by British journeyman Tony Booth and McCafferty.) "When I started as a professional I was around 217lbs," Greenberg said. "I'm growing bigger but there's no rush for me to become huge overnight although some people have said I am too small.

I am already just under 16 stone (224lbs) and we all expect to reach around 17 stone (238lbs) by aged 25, which is the same time I will be moving into top world class. If I slowly and naturally get bigger I'll keep all of my speed. And 6ft 3ins and 17 stone isn't so small: it"s bigger than Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Roy Jones." Predicting how far any new talent - especially a heavyweight as young as Greenberg Ñ can go is as tricky as playing an acoustic guitar with sausages taped to one's fingers. This goes without saying. "It is really up to Roman how far he goes," Evans said. "I told him only this week: "Roman, if you want to go all the way, you can.

If you want to go half way, maybe win a European Title and just make a good bit of money, you can. It is up to you because while your natural talent will get you a long way you'll need to put 100% in to go as far as you can." "Roman was thoughtful for a second and then said: "Jim, we're going all the way. I'm going to be heavyweight champion of the world.""