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Veteran Cuban coach Jorge Rubio has received a call from the father of Teofimo Lopez – asking the well-known trainer to travel to Las Vegas to help prepare his son for the upcoming fight George Kambosos.
Lopez will make a mandatory defense of his IBF, WBA, WBC Franchise, WBO titles against Kambosos on June 5th.
The Cuban trainer is an old acquaintance of the family since the time when Lopez was a young amateur in Florida.
“I was a little surprised at first [that they called me], but the father spoke in very affective terms on what I could bring to them,” Rubio explained to George Ebro. “I’m not going to change anything, just add some things that I’m already studying.”
Rubio’s relationship with the Lopez family dates back to when Teofimo was about 15 to 16 years old.
On another occasion, Rubio himself assisted Teofimo’s father in the corner for one of his first professional fights in 2017 during an event held in Tampa, as well as helping him in numerous sparring sessions with Hairon Socarras, Neslan Machado and Guillermo Rigondeaux.
“I remember dad saying to me, ‘Jorge, my son is going to be a big thing, my son is going to be big among the greats,'” Rubio added.
“Someone else wouldn’t have believed him, but if you would have listened to him you knew it would be true. I had seen the passion with which they surrendered themselves to training, work ethic. They’ve earned everything with sheer effort.
“My idea is to add up certain defensive elements, movements, punching angles that further strengthen Teofimo’s arsenal of abilities. I want everything to work out so that this relationship grows and becomes a gateway for so many good coaches in this city.”