Out of this bunch, who will win a Belt?

All talents on the list will win titles. These talents have competed with the best Europeans fighters in the world and have great chance of winning an alphabet title provided that they avoid Euro-level opposition in their respective weight classes.

 

Rigondeaux will be 1st

 

Rigondeaux
Lara
Acosta
Garcia
Maybe Perez (although I fear he's too undersized)
Solis, if the Klitschkos start to fade soon
Maybe Hernandez if he gets a little lucky in the cruiserweight SS

Barrera, Ugas, Yoelvis, Franco, Dorticos, Fiz, S. Lopez, etc. are all third rate defectors who are old and weren't that great as amateurs.

Despaigne is better than those guys, but still pretty old and has to improve quickly to get to the point where he can win a belt.

Yudel Jhonson also is a bit better, but frankly I just don't think he's all that talented, and his style is better suited for the amateurs.

Ortiz might have a shot, as he's probably almost as good as Solis, but he's pretty old and needs to get a move on. I like how quickly he's being moved though. Zack Page is a VERY tough test in his fourth pro fight.

Abril = Not really in the same class as the other guys, and not a recent defector FWIW. I think he was born in Cuba but defected as a kid and grew up in Miami.

I'm surprised you didn't throw Stalinn Lopez and Yan Barthelemy in there. Hell, Barthelemy still has a better chance of winning a belt than half the guys you listed.

 

Maybe Ugas is younger than I thought he was. I saw him a while back and wasn't too impressed. Franco was on Shobox (I think) a couple weeks back, and I wasn't too impressed with him either. If I saw a guy who was at their level who was 20 or 21 years old and hadn't already had 300 amateur fights, I'd tell myself that maybe they can improve and learn how not to repeat their mistakes. But it's really tough to break the bad habits of someone with that much amateur experience. Yuriorkis Gamboa has been doing it, but then again he's more physically talented than any of them.

Garcia probably has the next highest upside for me - he has crazy talent and is a lot of fun to watch - but there's also a better chance he flames out than the others.

 

Solis(after the Klits retire) and Lara, not so sure about the rest.

 

"Euro-level opposition"... Pretty sure boxing is a global sport. The best fighters come from all over the world. You're naive if you honestly think the best class of fighters come from Europe. History would say the US. Name a weight class other than heavy, cruiser, and middle where there is deep "Euro-level opposition".

 

Listen up all you pacfags and Brown Pride for life homies.

 

luis garcia has looked phenomonal lately, great jab, throws educated punches, has a high workrate, and blazing hand-speed. and he looked good recently stopping an opponent with a 20-1 record. but i probably have the highest hopes for ugas, much room for improvement though as teddy atlas pointed out (his footwork), but the potential you see in him is almost endless. if he can keep his head on his shoulders and not give into the temptations of the american lifestyle he's got a bright future.

 

there's an infinite number of belts and interim belts, so most of those guys stand a great change of getting one!

 

Ortiz has a good chance.

 

actually, with only one of them winning a belt Cuba would become the #1 P4P Country in boxing because of the ratio champs/total fighters. there is thousands of pro mexicans, thousands of americans, hundreds of ricans and not even 50 cubans!!

so taking a realistic scenario with, let's say, only three champs (gamboa, rigondeaux and lara for instance): the ratio would be something like 3/~45 = ~0.07!! Which means 7% of current active Cubans would be champ...which is pretty impressive. add 2 more and it would be over 10%...that would be illegal!!