Hot Prospect Watch: Gael Cabrera
By William Trillo
As I sat at the Golden Boy press conference on Thursday afternoon, I was feeling a bit nostalgic remembering when I was just cutting my journalistic teeth in the sport as I watched and covered young fighters like Librado Andrade, Enrique Ornelas and Victor Ortiz begin their careers. As much as I enjoy covering the big fights, it’s always a treat to speak with young boxers who are looking to put their names on the pugilistic map. For the most part, all these guys are genuine, all they want to do is let their actions in the ring show fans who they are and what they are all about. In this day and age of “Look At Me” Social Media stars who are more interested in how many hits their webpage is getting than they are about their Punchstat hits, it’s a real treat to find out about these young men.
One of those fighters is Gael Cabrera. He will be entering the ring as a pro for only the second time on Saturday. I took the opportunity after lunch to speak with his management about the young man from Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico.
As I found out, while in Las Vegas for a fight in August of 2022, Managers of Champions, Sergio Diaz and Francisco Espinoza were told about a fighter out of Mexico by the name of Gael Cabrera. As Diaz said, “We looked him up and knew we had to get this kid. His pro record is 1-0 with 1 KO but he had a great amateur career with over 200 fights.”
That was the right call by Diaz and Espinoza. Cabrera is an eight-time State Champion, three-time Mexican National Champion, two-time Mexican National Bronze Champion, and the 2022 IBA Junior World Championship Silver Medalist. Obviously, this young man is battle tested and with a newly signed promotional contract deal with Golden Boy, it is likely we will see him often in the coming year.
“He is a good kid and more importantly he is hungry,” stated Diaz. “He has a strong pedigree; his older brother is a fighter. Gael grew up in the gyms in Mexico, he knows what it takes.”
It seems like only yesterday we were talking with Diaz about his fighters Antonio Margarito and Jesus Soto Karass. “We go back many years and had some great times as we guided Tony and Karass to the top; it will be great to work with you again as we watch Gael’s career grow. You are going to see some great things”, said Diaz.
If you want to see Cabrera in action on Saturday, it’s a good idea to get to the show at The Commerce Casino early or catch his fight on The Golden Boy YouTube Channel. I highly recommend it.
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