By Leon de Juda – Freddie Roach liked what he saw of acclaimed former 2 time Cuban Olympic Gold medalists Guillermo Rigondeaux and Olympic Silver medalist Yudel Johnson. He’ll be seeing a lot more now that Roach agreed to train the highly talented Cubans amateur stars. Roach, who will pick up his 2008 Boxing Writers Association of America award for trainer of the year at Friday night’s annual banquet in New York, signed on to train the Cuban duo on Tuesday, a day after he spent part of the day meeting the fighters and working out with them..
“I trained the two of them Monday and we worked the mitts and did a full workout,” Roach said. “Both of these guys have a lot of talent and I am looking forward to working with them.” Roach simply may not know it yet but he has hit the jackpot with these two Cubans specially with 2 time Gold Medal winner and Pound for Pound amateur King Rigondeaux. Most definitely, Roach will find out sooner than later what he actually has in his hands.
Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz 28, a junior featherweight as a professional, won bantamweight gold medals in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and is one of the most acclaimed amateurs of all time. Yudel Johnson 27, is a professional junior middleweight who won the light welterweight silver medal in the 2004 Olympics. “We are very, very excited about this,” said Luis DeCubas, who promotes all of the Cuban fighters. The chemistry was unbelievable with both guys, Freddie is a great trainer. He’s great with southpaws. Just look at what he did with southpaw and pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao. Keeping in mind that Pacquiao was nowhere close to Rigondeaux’s amateur accomplishments and look at where he is now, just imagine what Roach and Rigondeaux can achieve together in the near future. Working with Rigondeaux and Johnson will be a walk in the park for Roach as they both are extremely polished already specially Rigondeaux who is as slick, powerful and talented as they come.
Rigondeaux and Johnson won their pro debuts on May 22 in Miami, with Rigondeaux scoring a third-round knockout of Juan Noriega and Johnson stopping Greg Weathers in 52 seconds. Roach is particularly excited about southpaw Rigondeaux’s potential. Rigondeaux, was an ever dominant amateur who reigned King of his division for almost 10 years. ” El Chacal ” as Rigondeaux is called, was the captain of the Cuban National Team and was considered the best P4P amateur fighter in the World since he took over in his weight class. “When we worked the mitts together, it was like when I worked with Manny for the first time,” Roach said. “We just really clicked together. We understood each other right away even though we don’t speak the same language. He said he learned a lot from me and that he wanted me as his coach. So I am his coach. We did the deal. Coaching Rigondeaux, is indeed an honor that indeed will pay off big time in the future. Roach has a ” black diamond ” and a ” black ace ” in his hands now.
Roach is leaving for England this weekend to work with Amir Khan for the rest of his training heading into a June 27 challenge against junior welterweight titlist Andreas Kotelnik in London. When he returns to the United States, Roach will begin working with Rigondeaux and Johnson. Rigondeaux and Johnson, who defected together from Cuba in February and have been living in Miami, will relocate to Los Angeles, where Roach runs his Wild Card Boxing Club. Roach was the studio guest on ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights” on the night Rigondeaux turned pro in one of the televised bouts, so he was watching closely. He said he was very impressed that night and is even more so now, having worked with him in person this week. Relocating to Los Angeles maybe indeed a good thing for the Cuban fighters as they can stay away from Miami and the bad influences surrounding them.
“The thing is, Rigondeaux is very very clever,” said Roach, who did eight rounds on the mitts with both fighters during their workout. “He’s very elusive and he punches with both hands. He caught me on the tip of the nose with a right hook by accident. I could feel the power and he didn’t even catch me that good. We have some things to work on, but he’s a very talented kid.” As for Johnson, Roach said, “He’s a big puncher. He was having a little trouble coming to me with the jab, but he’s a counter puncher. He needs a little more work. He didn’t pick things up as quick as Rigondeaux but he’s got heavy hands. I look forward to working with them. They worked really hard with me.” Even though that it seems that not much can be thought in terms of technical skills to Rigondeaux there is always room for improvement. A great professional coach is also a key ingredient and Roach is more than capable of catapulting both Rigondeaux and Johnson to stardom.
The fighters do not have their second bout scheduled yet, but DeCubas is in talks with ESPN about securing the July 17 date for a “Friday Night Fights” card, on which both would be featured in Las Vegas. This is tremendous news for both Rigondeaux and Johnson who both are extremely talented, both have great amateur accomplishments and gifted natural abilities. Everything just gets better and better for boxing and for the boxing fans overall. This Cuban defectors are without a doubt bringing some much needed excitement to professional boxing and adding a lot a spectation as well. Little by little the Cubans are gaining lost ground in professional boxing as the communist Island has been banned since 1959 from professional sports.
Names like Yuriorkis Gamboa, Erislandy Lara and now Guillermo Rigondeaux and Yudel Johnson are bringing memories again to the public of when the Cubans were a tremendous boxing force in paid boxing. It is about time, as countless of Cuban stars have been lost for ever in the amateur program and forced to retire in that system thus going out into the night anonimously. The Cubans are back!!!