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Who'd knew they'd make it this far. 
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What's funny is with all this "Cuban school of boxing" talk , people fail to realize all 3 of those guys fight differently but have the same basic fundamentals....such has the jab, footwork, knowing how to use angles, Defense and counterpunching. Unfortunately the only one who uses all of them is Rigondeoux, while Gamboa chooses to take risk and be wild and Lara does the complete opposite .... it's amazing how these guys apply their own style to it.Comment
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The Cuban school is overrated in my opinion. It's a good amateur system but nothing more. These guys are not great thinkers and find it hard to adjust. We shouldn't get caught up in the hype. Rigo is good but there ain't many good small guys tofight. If he was at 135 lbs then we would know how good he is because he would be fighting guys who can hit back and adjust.
Lara is all hype, that guy has no plan B. Anyone who wants to beat Lara just goes to the body to slow him down and all Lara tries to do is keep doing the same thing with less movement. He can dominate for the first 3 rounds because that's all Cubans know.Comment
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Who wouldve thought Cuba would have 2 lineal champs. How many current lineal champs does Mexico have?Comment
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I guess you guys escaped. Welcome back,
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Anytime a Cuban prospect defects I'm not surprised when they become successful in the sport. It's just become natural for Cuban's to succeed because the amateur system prepares them so well. There's been a few I can remember that have totally flamed out:
Yordanis Despaigne comes to mind, Yan Barthelemy, Odlanier Solis. But a lot take the sport seriously and it pays off for them.Comment
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It only confirms the Cuban School's success that people jump on examples like Gamboa losing to Crawford. A fight which he certainly got beat up in but equally certainly had much success in and hurt Crawford in the final round. In my opinion Crawford is a damn good fighter, and although Gamboa's choice was to fight in that division he was way out of his element and rusty as hell.
Look at Gamboa's pro career to that point, a good few titles, at different weights, an unbeaten record, builled a better Salido than who bullied Lomachenko etc etc. Gamboa ain't no joke.
As for being 3 round fighters, well to an extent that's true. They've fought approximately 300-400 times each over that distance and been taught the appropriate tactical knowledge. Is Usain Bolt a crap runner because he can't do a world beating 800m? If he'd been trained up that way maybe he would.
Hasn't anybody noticed that the Domadores have adapted perfectly to the 5 round format of the WSB? Why? Because they've adapted the school to meet these new demands. Trust me I have been studying it and have a whole load of documents about what they're doing differently now. They've also made adaptations to accommodate the high frequency peaking required for the WSB.
Gamboa et al came from an earlier version of the system and were not sculpted for pro boxing.
The Cubans were excited when the amateur format was changing back from 4x 2' to 3x 3' because it enables more of a tactical emphasis. Likewise with the more recent changes and the opportunity to compete (or should that be dominate?) in the WSB.
Regardless, I think the current crop of Cuban pros are doing themselves proud.
Gamboa, Lara, Rigondeaux, Hernandez, Abril, Barthélemy, all at top level, and that's not even mentioning all the other well ranked fighters out there.
Solís was a massive disappointment but even he, in crap shape and lazy as hell, got to a world title shot. Even the worst of these Cuban pros at getting somewhere based on the high skill levels.
Hate all you want but there's no denying that the Cuban system, designed purely to have its athletes excel at olympic style boxing, still turns out guys who can smash it in the pros.Comment
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