Thread: The Cuban Defectors

...I'm not really all that impressed by any of them bar Erislandy Lara, but I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop for that guy. Gamboa is pretty solid, but I think JuanMa beats him and hell he may lose before that fight happens.

I say this because these guys come to the states with so much hype and fail to deliver the goods once they get to the pros.

I guess guys like Joel Casamayor and maybe JC Gomez have done well for themselves but everyone else just hasn't lived up to the hype.

To be fair I think Gamboa is the real deal. He's still learning the Pro game but I feel in around 2 years he'll be in the top 2 or 3 p4p, I really am confident of his quality. As you say Lara is very good and Solis?? Well he has LOTS of natural talent but his dedication has to be questioned if he trained and got himself into shape like the top 3 men in the division do then I really would give him a shot vs an ageing Vitali tonight. But he carries too much fat to be athletic and to have a chance against either Klit you have to be athletic amongst other things. Solis' dedication has to be questioned.

Gamboa and Casamajor are good and so will Solis after he beats Vitali tonight.

I've been impressed with all of them to be honest. To say they all had very extensive amatuer backrounds. To adjust to the pros the way they have is impressive. I think the pick of the bunch is gamboa. As for solis he definately has the skills, but dedication could be alot better. I still think he could beat vitali tonight. I no Glenn mcrorys working with a few Cubans who are meant to very promising also, can't remember their names tho.

Originally Posted by El Kabong

...I'm not really all that impressed by any of them bar Erislandy Lara, but I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop for that guy. Gamboa is pretty solid, but I think JuanMa beats him and hell he may lose before that fight happens.

I say this because these guys come to the states with so much hype and fail to deliver the goods once they get to the pros.

I'm not that impressed with Lara. Of them all he's the on who impresses me least. Like RJJ Tszyu said, I believe Gamboa is the real deal, and I believe he'd destroy Juanma if/when they do fight.

Rigondeaux is decent too. He beat a recently former world champion in his 7th professional fight. It wasn't a great performance by any means, but it was his 7th pro fight!

Well what about Yan Bartholomey(sp?) on FNF? I'm unimpressed by him. How about Despaigne? I just think a lot of the Cubans owe their amateur success to fighting the young kids that other countries put out there.

I'm not saying there aren't good Cuban boxers, I'm saying they are massively overhyped.

Originally Posted by El Kabong

Well what about Yan Bartholomey(sp?) on FNF? I'm unimpressed by him. How about Despaigne? I just think a lot of the Cubans owe their amateur success to fighting the young kids that other countries put out there.

I'm not saying there aren't good Cuban boxers, I'm saying they are massively overhyped.

I think Teddy said it best, they have it stricter in Cuba and once they get out and a lil freedom/easier way of life they tend to slack off in training. In Cuba they had to fight and train harder to earn the higher quality of living.They lose that hunger some of them. Gamboa and Casamayor have been solid pros though. Rigondeaux could be the next good one.

Yes but compared to the former Soviets the Cubans just don't even try hard.

Guillermo Rigondeaux was very impressive

Originally Posted by El Kabong

Well what about Yan Bartholomey(sp?) on FNF? I'm unimpressed by him. How about Despaigne? I just think a lot of the Cubans owe their amateur success to fighting the young kids that other countries put out there.

I'm not saying there aren't good Cuban boxers, I'm saying they are massively overhyped.

How are they overhyped exactly? Most of them have only fought on Friday Night Fights and only the hardcore fans have ever heard of them.

None of them have headlined a HBO or Showtime card so I'm not really sure what you are on about.

Are you saying they aren't good enough to be the feature attraction on FNF or fight on an undercard on HBO.

Because I think that's ridiculous.

Gamboa is hands down one of the most exciting fighters the sport, he deserves any attention he gets, great for boxing. Landra and Rigondieux, along with Solis have had pretty low key careers thus far. Can't recall Max Kellerman or Barry McGuigain ever jumping on their nutsacks.

They are all progressing well.

Originally Posted by Bilbo

Originally Posted by El Kabong

Well what about Yan Bartholomey(sp?) on FNF? I'm unimpressed by him. How about Despaigne? I just think a lot of the Cubans owe their amateur success to fighting the young kids that other countries put out there.

I'm not saying there aren't good Cuban boxers, I'm saying they are massively overhyped.

How are they overhyped exactly? Most of them have only fought on Friday Night Fights and only the hardcore fans have ever heard of them.

None of them have headlined a HBO or Showtime card so I'm not really sure what you are on about.

Are you saying they aren't good enough to be the feature attraction on FNF or fight on an undercard on HBO.

Because I think that's ridiculous.

Gamboa is hands down one of the most exciting fighters the sport, he deserves any attention he gets, great for boxing. Landra and Rigondieux, along with Solis have had pretty low key careers thus far. Can't recall Max Kellerman or Barry McGuigain ever jumping on their nutsacks.

They are all progressing well.

Well you would hear alot more about Gamboa than a normal guy with his experience at pro lvl, getting tv fights and such being only like 6 or 7 fights into it. Just like Rigondeaux getting a "interm" shot at only what 7 fights. They were talking about Solis ever since he beat Jeremy Bates. I dont think its way overhyped compared to other am stars though. Barry McGuigan was all over Rigondeaux's nutsack in the Casey fight. He was like 200 something wins and about 4 defeats so its justified I guess. I still am not 100% sure about his chin, but he can box great.

Originally Posted by No Contest

Originally Posted by Bilbo

Originally Posted by El Kabong

Well what about Yan Bartholomey(sp?) on FNF? I'm unimpressed by him. How about Despaigne? I just think a lot of the Cubans owe their amateur success to fighting the young kids that other countries put out there.

I'm not saying there aren't good Cuban boxers, I'm saying they are massively overhyped.

How are they overhyped exactly? Most of them have only fought on Friday Night Fights and only the hardcore fans have ever heard of them.

None of them have headlined a HBO or Showtime card so I'm not really sure what you are on about.

Are you saying they aren't good enough to be the feature attraction on FNF or fight on an undercard on HBO.

Because I think that's ridiculous.

Gamboa is hands down one of the most exciting fighters the sport, he deserves any attention he gets, great for boxing. Landra and Rigondieux, along with Solis have had pretty low key careers thus far. Can't recall Max Kellerman or Barry McGuigain ever jumping on their nutsacks.

They are all progressing well.

Well you would hear alot more about Gamboa than a normal guy with his experience at pro lvl, getting tv fights and such being only like 6 or 7 fights into it. Just like Rigondeaux getting a "interm" shot at only what 7 fights. They were talking about Solis ever since he beat Jeremy Bates. I dont think its way overhyped compared to other am stars though. Barry McGuigan was all over Rigondeaux's nutsack in the Casey fight. He was like 200 something wins and about 4 defeats so its justified I guess. I still am not 100% sure about his chin, but he can box great.

How is any of that overhype though?

Gamboa is already a belt holder, is one of the most explosive fighters in the world and legitimately ranked in the top 3 in his weight class. That's not hype.

Odlanier Solis is one of the most heavily decorated amatuers of all time. An Olympic gold medallist and three time world amatuer champion at two weights his entry into professional boxing was far too low key imo. If he had been British or American he would have been an instant superstar like Khan or De La Hoya from his first pro fight.

Instead he's virtually unknown and sadly will now remain that way for a while.

No overhype though. None whatsoever.

There are a few cuban fighters who have done very well as pro. However, although they at the start of their pro career they are a lot more talented than average due to their amateur experience, I see either lack of heart or they just forget to train when out of Cuba. This may be a high risk investment for promoters. I saw very talented guys from Cuba years ago from Team Freedom loosing in Puerto Rico against unknown, not talented, but huge heart guys like La Roca Villegas.