No Cuban amateur has ever carried their amateur success to the pros and if they did their time in the spotlight was short lived. There's no reason why these guys should be hyped up with their flaws. No discipline Bad Habits Lack of technique Lack of an understanding of the pro game They have hundreds of amateur fights - at the same time they have developed bad habits that will hurt them into their pro careers. Rigondeaux is the same as Gambo ... questionable skill, good speed and explosiveness, no defense, chin high in the air, both hands down, very hittable. Lara is the best prospect out of all these decorated Cubans and for every Cuban hype train (Joel Cassamayor) there's two or three busts (Jorge Luis Gonzalez) -- I don't believe in then ... Thoughts????
Joel Casamayor, Jose Napoles, Luis Manuel Rodriguez, Kid Gavilian, Kid Chocolate. I rest my case. You fail.
With the sudden influx, I'll wait on this.... It is cool to have a new pool of fighters tho. Good for boxing. & the lower weights.
You name old school Cubans but they were of a different generation ... and this current crop of Cuban fighters suck !! and YES Rigondeaux has no defense ... he just stood there with both hands down ... just like his boy Gamboa. You fail ... soon they will get knocked out ...
Gamboa has been knocked down by lower class fighters ... he's shitty and just because he came back and knocked them out means nothing - those guys weren't even supposed to be competetive against this guy.
You don't have to stand with your hands right up to have a 'defence'. I bet Pernell Whitaker had no defence either right? Or Muhammad Ali? Even heard of reflexes and lateral movement?
Physically he's good but from a boxing stand point he's not ... he trains with hands down. He doesn't know how to keep his hands up !! The clips from his amateur fights show the same ... physically he's better than alot of fighters in his weight class but this is boxing ... he also waits for his opponents to engage ... he does that against a master boxer he'll get shut out. on top of that he's 28 or 29 - there's not much if any room for improvements.
The reason you don't see many of the amateur cuban fighters go pro is because Cuba is a communist country. In order for them to compete at a high level, they would need to ESCAPE their country. They can't just simply leave.
How many fights of the top Cuban amateurs have you seen? And take into account that up to 2005 only the a handful of Cuban b fighters had turned pro in the usa.The current bunch of Cuban fighters who have turned pro within the last couple of months is of tougher stock and have a proven track record at the amateurs where they won countless international tournaments. You are far too harsh on them and jumping the gun far too early. Cuban supermiddle Luis Garcia is scheduled to take on very tough and dangerous Spanish based Campillo in his 6th pro fight.Name me one single American pro fighter who has been matched as toughly as Garcia!!!
My only question to you: If these world ranked featherweights and former title challengers Gamboa is facing in his first 15 fights are a class below the Cuban as you say, and they shouldn't be competitive vs. Gamboa as you say... but Gamboa is shitty as you say... ...please tell me what the f*ck are you talking about, because it doesn't make any sense...
Go and watch him fight as an amateur, I think he knows how to keep his hands up. Stop righting him off on the basis of his first fight in 2 years.