Sometimes you just know. Fighters can see it in other fighters.
When I saw Roy Jones fight for the very first time at the 1987 national Golden Gloves in Knoxville, I knew IMMEDIATELY he was going to become something special after watching him fight Anthony Daley on the first night and as a matter fact I told my father that night, "You should see this kid from Florida (Roy JONES). I don't know who he is, but from what I can see he's going to probably make the Olympic team next year."
When my boxer Sammy Vega came back from the international during Olympic tournament in Mexico in 1997 I asked him if anyone stood out to him and he made special mention of a kid he became friends with that week and hung out with named Miguel COTTO from Puerto Rico.
When Felix Cruz came back from the 1993 National Golden Gloves, I asked him the same question and he told me "this 16 year-old kid from Michigan in my weight class (112) Floyd MAYWEATHER. He's nasty."
Then around 2004, I think it was, a local kid named Matt Remilllard came back from a meet in England and I asked him the same question and he told me "this kid on the English team named Amir KHAN was the best one there."
Always nice to hear this perspective from you. Any up and comers you've got your eye on that you'd recommend watching?
Honestly, I have not kept up with the amateur game closely at that national level and have not been to a national tournament in a couple years so I couldn’t really say at this point .