‘El Rebellio’ Perez ready to bring glory to Ireland

IRISH boxing embraced a new star at the weekend as the jet-lagged Cuban southpaw sensation, Ismaikel ‘Mike’ Perez was ringside for the national senior championship finals in Dublin just hours after he touched down at Cork Airport.

On Saturday — before settling into his new Cloyne home — he had been put through his first training session by the legendary Cuban coach, Nicholas Cruz Hernandez.

Hernandez, a central figure in Ireland’s historic medal haul at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, greeted his fellow Cuban when he arrived with Cork promoter and businessman Gary Hyde and he predicted Perez will be a world champion.