Glenn McCrory waxes lyrical about his Cuban charges, Michael Perez, Luis Garcia and Alexei Acosta.
Cuban trio as good as anything I've seen, says Glenn
I was in Ireland at the weekend to witness something very special.
You might have seen me mention three young lads from Cuba before, but believe me you are going to hear plenty about them in the future - and not just from me.
Remember the names now; Michael Perez, Luis Garcia and Alexei Acosta.
These boys are all super, super special. I know people will say I am getting over-excited because they are moving up here to Geordieland to work with me, but it's not just that. Of course I am absolutely thrilled we've got them, but they are as good as anything I've ever seen.
I've been involved in boxing for 33 years and as a former world champion and in my time working with
Sky Sports it has always been at the top of the game, but all of a sudden I am dealing with potential. And when I say potential, I mean
huge potential, good enough to win world titles.
All three of them are world amateur champions, all three have boxed at a better level than our three British Olympic medallists and all three were massive favourites to strike gold in Beijing.
That was until Gary Hyde got them out of Cuba and over to Ireland. You don't need me to tell you what Cuba is like about losing its top amateur stars, so I won't go into the details of their leaving, but whatever he did, however he did it, Gary has pulled off a major coup.
I went to see them for the first time on a Nowhere To Hyde Promotions dinner show in Cork and I was mightily impressed. All three won and won well, and they were even better than I had expected.
Focussed
When they first came to spar with me, it was the little bantamweight Acosta that impressed me the most. And he hasn't even turned 21 yet. Then, seeing them fight, it was big Michael Perez who caught my eye. I have had him on the pads and he did drop his hands a lot and was perhaps too relaxed.
But seeing him fight, it was a different story; he was so focussed and at 5ft10in and 16stones, he really is built like a young, dare I say it, Mike Tyson.
And I can safely say that since I stood opposite Tyson as a 21-year-old preparing to fight Larry Holmes, I have never seen such an exciting heavyweight as Perez - this kid can punch.
Yet the one who looks like he is going to be fastest to a world title is Luis Garcia. And I mean fast! This is the lad that as Carl Froch's ONLY sparring partner for his world title win over Jean Pascal. That's how good he is.
He took one round to knock out Mantas Tarvydas, who has just gone seven rounds with Aleksy Kuziemski, the WBO inter-continental champion. And he just destroyed him.
Luis has got it all. He is fast, he is a big puncher and technically he is very, very good. He's only had two fights but as hard as I am trying to rationalise it, I am confident this kid will be challenging for a world title in 12 to 16 months! That's how highly I rate him.
Reputation
He is back in action on another Nowhere To Hyde Promotions card in Dublin on the 30th and I can tell you that already, we are finding it hard to get him some sparring. No-one wants to go near these three, certainly not Garcia, which shows what a reputation they have got already.
Hopefully my old mate Richie Woodhall will come up with someone, but I wouldn't envy the lads who do get in the ring with any of these three, headguards or not!
Of course, they are all just babies and there is no guarantee that any young talent will automatically go on to win, or even fight, for a world title, but I have never seen a phenomenon like the three Cubans Gary Hyde has brought over here. All I've got to do now is keep them away from the Quayside up here in Newcastle!
The year didn't get off to the best of starts for boxing in the north east though, with young Paul Truscott losing his Commonwealth featherweight title to John Simpson. I know it was stopped on a cut, but I have to be honest and say I think that might well have saved Trussy from more trouble.
Simpson was good, very good. He looked determined and when the fight was stopped, he had just hurt Paul and, I thought, was starting to get on top.
Perhaps Truscott did get the Commonwealth title too early in his career, perhaps he needs to take a step back down, gather himself and go again, because he is certainly a talented kid.
