Las Vegas Review Journal: If promising Cuban boxers flame out here, they can’t go home

It was roughly this time three years ago when Luis DeCubas brought a bunch of Cuban defectors – five altogether- just off the boat to fight at Planet Hollywood.

These Cubans were mostly unheard of, though one had a fantastic amateur record. And I remember DeCubas saying that in two years this one with the fantastic amateur record would be world champion.

This is what all boxing promoters say.

But within two years Guillermo Rigondeaux was, indeed, WBA super bantamweight champion. In roughly the time it takes the well-heeled to smoke a fine Cuban Cohiba, Rigondeaux was on top of the division. It took him all of 18 months.

Also appearing on that Planet Hollywood card was a welterweight from Cuba named Yudel Jhonson, who earned a unanimous decision in one of those four-rounders for neophytes. It’s possible I might have seen that fight. It’s just as possible I missed it because I wasn’t paying attention.

(I do recall there being a lot of commotion during the undercard because Mike Tyson had shown up, and he was signing autographs and posing for photos, and he had this wacky tattoo on his face.)

Anyway, now DeCubas is telling me that Jhonson is going to be a world champion, too. Kid can fight, DeCubas says. Not the fastest guy you ever saw. But he has this uncanny knack for punching the other guy in the face a split second sooner than the other guy tries to punch him in the face. This is important in boxing.

Kid won the silver medal at Athens in 2004. Kid’s got a rep. Kid’s 12-0 with eight knockouts. Kid can fight.

Kid fights Willie Nelson – not the one with the braids and guitar and Internal Revenue Service problems – in the main event of Friday night’s “Shobox: The Next Generation” card at Texas Station……Read More

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Posted by Jose Reyes on May 10 2012. Filed under Cuba Related, Current News, Post To Slider. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.