Cubans plan Rebel rumble

MIKE ‘The Rebel’ Perez, a former world junior champion, will headline the most exciting professional boxing show ever staged in Cork where he will be joined by two other Cuban-born world junior champions on another Nowhere to Hyde bill at Neptune Stadium on September 13.

Perez, who moved to Cork from Cuba last summer, has spent a few months in the doldrums but is now back fighting fit.

And Gary Hyde, who brought Perez to Cork last year, revealed yesterday that he has also brought over two exciting new Cuban boxers.

Alexi Collado Acosto is the amateur world junior flyweight champion and is tipped to move up to super bantam having turned his back on next month’s Olympics.

Louis Garcia Camolere, the world junior middleweight champion, was never going to get to this year’s Olympics in the shadow of Emilio Correo, the son of the 19-year-old with the same name who beat Janos Kajdi (Hungary) to win the welterweight title at the Munich Games in 1972.

“I had been talking to both boxers for some time and now they have arrived and they are ready to box,” Hyde said.

“But, there are a lot of promoters trying to get them out of Cork. I have already had six phonecalls. The most recent was from Montreal from the Canadian promoter, Yvon Michel, who combined with Don King to stage a show last weekend.

“He was trying to tell me that Cork was too small, that it was a sleepy town and that my boxers would be far better off in Montreal.

“He said that if we took them to Montreal they would be ranked in the top 10 in three to four years and would box for world titles in four to five years.

“At the moment I am considering maybe five or six fights over there and five or six fights here in Ireland.

“But my aim is to prove to him and others that Cork is not just a small, sleepy town. Those boxers will put Cork on the map, I promise that.” And he revealed that Mike ‘The Rebel’ Perez is back, fully fit. “In his last fight against the Pole he was suffering from a viral infection and it took quite a while for him to shake it off,” he said.

“He is back in Cork now, running five miles every morning and doing fitness training with Tony Martin in Fitton Street. He is now 16st 2lbs and fitter and stronger than he ever was.”

Hyde cycles alongside him on his early morning training runs and he frequently sprints away from him.”

Yesterday morning he left him at Parliament Bridge and as he sprinted along South Mall he was stopped by two gardaí.

“Obviously they thought he was running away from something,” Hyde said. “But we explained that he was a professional boxer out training and we eventually sorted it out.”

Hyde now feels that Perez has gone through the learning process and now wants to put him in against a world ranked heavyweight:

“I am chasing Pieter Mbongo who is based in Australia and is ranked 74 in the world. He is 6’3” and 230lbs and I feel he would be the ideal opponent for the Cork show.

“I am not wasting any more time with fellows who won’t last a round with Mike. I don’t want guys who have had 30 fights and won nine. It is time to bring him to the next level.

There will be seven fights on the bill on September 13. Cork’s own Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan will feature along with Limerick light heavyweight, Jamie Power, Rosmuc cruiser weight, Michael Sweeney and undefeated heavyweight, Ian Timms.

Ticket prices are being cut to €70, €50 and €30 and they go on sale with Ticketmaster on Monday week.