Julio Cesar La Cruz - Cuban Star

[mannysavage]

Here is one of Cubas best amateur standouts, Julio Cesar La Cruz, similar untouchable style of Nicolino Locche but this guy can punch also, however there is no guarantee this guy will ever turn pro, he will be competing in LHW in Rio 2016 for Cuba and will most likely win the Gold medal¨
Currently ranked no1 in both AIBA and WSB

Heres a highlight video of him, he has insane reflexes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gZMeLgMvz4

He does however like to keep his hands dangerously low

Imagine this guy vs Ward, tactical warfare

[John Locke]

Yep, he's P4P #1 at amateur level imo. He's like a combination of Floyd and RJJ

[mannysavage]

Yep, he's P4P #1 at amateur level imo. He's like a combination of Floyd and RJJ

Yeah thats a pretty accurate comparison

[HI-TECH Boxing]

La Cruz is a monster. He's probably the best amateur boxer P4P right now.
He makes pretty easy work of fighters like Joe Ward and Ward is no bum. Ward beat Egor Mekhnontsev convincingly and Ward was only 17 at the time. I hear that was Mekhontsev's comeback tournament, but still impressive nonetheless.
Joe Ward would be the Gold medalist in every other weight class (except Welterweight and maybe Lightweight and Light-Welter), but unfortunately for Joe he has to go through La Cruz at Light-Heavy.

La Cruz will probably get the Val Barker trophy. It's either going to be him or Yeleussinov (Yeleussinov may be the second best amateur fighter P4P). Whoever wins the Lightweight and Light Welterweight division (since those two are the best weight classes in amateur boxing at the moment and have tremendous talent in them; hence why those are the best weight classes); the winner of those two divisions will also have a shot at the trophy.

[mannysavage]

La Cruz is a monster. He's probably the best amateur boxer P4P right now.
He makes pretty easy work of fighters like Joe Ward and Ward is no bum. Ward beat Egor Mekhnontsev convincingly and Ward was only 17 at the time. I hear that was Mekhontsev's comeback tournament, but still impressive nonetheless.
Joe Ward would be the Gold medalist in every other weight class (except Welterweight and maybe Lightweight and Light-Welter), but unfortunately for Joe he has to go through La Cruz at Light-Heavy.

La Cruz will probably get the Val Barker trophy. It's either going to be him or Yeleussinov (Yeleussinov may be the second best amateur fighter P4P). Whoever wins the Lightweight and Light Welterweight division (since those two are the best weight classes in amateur boxing at the moment and have tremendous talent in them; hence why those are the best weight classes); the winner of those two divisions will also have a shot at the trophy.

Good input, yeah Joseph Ward will definetly be a threat once he turns pro, btw speaking of Egor Mekhontsev, it bothers me that literally like nobody is talking about him, WHY isnt Bob Arum promoting Mekhontsev the way he is doing with Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Vasyl Lomachenko etc, it really pisses me off that he favors some of his fighters so much and doesnt give a **** about some of his other fighters

Egor Mekhontsev is arguably the most technically skilled LHW after Andre Ward atm, AND he won the GOLD @ 2012 Olympics, and he is 30 years old and still fighting journeyman taxi drivers, i mean what the ****? at the same time Gvozdyk gets the star treatment? why? cause he has more punching power? is that it?

Also Ryota Murata's career is being wasted under Arums promotion, atleast Haymon cares about his fighters and the bigger picture, all Bob Arum cares about is the balance in his bank account.

[Luilun]

Here is one of Cubas best amateur standouts, Julio Cesar La Cruz, similar untouchable style of Nicolino Locche but this guy can punch also, however there is no guarantee this guy will ever turn pro, he will be competing in LHW in Rio 2016 for Cuba and will most likely win the Gold medal¨
Currently ranked no1 in both AIBA and WSB

Heres a highlight video of him, he has insane reflexes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gZMeLgMvz4

He does however like to keep his hands dangerously low

Imagine this guy vs Ward, tactical warfare

Looks like he just toys with everyone

[CaneloMaidana]

Good input, yeah Joseph Ward will definetly be a threat once he turns pro, btw speaking of Egor Mekhontsev, it bothers me that literally like nobody is talking about him, WHY isnt Bob Arum promoting Mekhontsev the way he is doing with Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Vasyl Lomachenko etc, it really pisses me off that he favors some of his fighters so much and doesnt give a **** about some of his other fighters

Egor Mekhontsev is arguably the most technically skilled LHW after Andre Ward atm, AND he won the GOLD @ 2012 Olympics, and he is 30 years old and still fighting journeyman taxi drivers, i mean what the ****? at the same time Gvozdyk gets the star treatment? why? cause he has more punching power? is that it?

Also Ryota Murata's career is being wasted under Arums promotion, atleast Haymon cares about his fighters and the bigger picture, all Bob Arum cares about is the balance in his bank account.

Yeah imagine Arum putting a Mongolian and Russian based Kazakh on ESPN. Haymon even had a Georgian main event after he got stopped.

[HI-TECH Boxing]

Good input, yeah Joseph Ward will definetly be a threat once he turns pro, btw speaking of Egor Mekhontsev, it bothers me that literally like nobody is talking about him, WHY isnt Bob Arum promoting Mekhontsev the way he is doing with Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Vasyl Lomachenko etc, it really pisses me off that he favors some of his fighters so much and doesnt give a **** about some of his other fighters

Egor Mekhontsev is arguably the most technically skilled LHW after Andre Ward atm, AND he won the GOLD @ 2012 Olympics, and he is 30 years old and still fighting journeyman taxi drivers, i mean what the ****? at the same time Gvozdyk gets the star treatment? why? cause he has more punching power? is that it?

Also Ryota Murata's career is being wasted under Arums promotion, atleast Haymon cares about his fighters and the bigger picture, all Bob Arum cares about is the balance in his bank account.

Top Rank doesn't care about you unless you're American, Mexican, or PR.
They just barely started caring about Loma. Had Loma been any of those three nationalities he would have gotten the decision against Salido, but instead they screwed Loma in everyway possible.
People can say what they want about GGG and Loeffler, but they've done an excellent job of promotion. And apparently they want to sign more Eastern European and Asian fighters, so I hope Eastern European and Asian fighters start signing with them, because it's obvious to me they don't have a home at Top Rank.
It would be good investments for Loeffler and GGG. Countries like Russia and Kazakhstan are producing really good young talent right now. Uzbekistan is not far behind. Ukraine is struggling a little right now, unfortunately. But if Loma, Usyk, Gvozdyk (continue to) have success I'm sure Ukraine will be up there as well.
Right now Kazakhstan has one of the best Junior boxers I have ever seen, the kid is 14, he may be 15 now. Russia is also producing really good boxers with a ton of potential. I especially have my eye on one in particular boxer who keeps impressing me more everytime I watch him.
By the way, I don't think Mekhontsev and Murata are adapting too well to pro boxing. Both seem to be struggling. I think Gvozdyk has looked better as a pro and seems to be showing more pro potential, but Gvozdyk has barely gotten anything at all. Arum just recently started to promote him. Gvozdyk was lucky that Gilberto Ramirez got injured. Had Ramirez not been injured Gvozdyk would have been on fighting on the untelevised portion of a card somewhere just like Mekhontsev and Murata.

[yngwie]

La Cruz is the best boxer in the world p4p, he is there in front of his opponents and they miss by inches, he also got a really good chin.

[DoktorSleepless]

I really enjoyed that video. I like the way he dodges punches by pulling back instead of bending his head below the waist like Rigo.