Luis Arias talks Gaby Penagaricano signing, promotional future, and filling the shoes of Mayweather and Pacquiao

Luis ‘Cuba’ Arias has been a familiar fixture on the Vegas fight scene for the past few years but he recently made the move to South Florida (Photo: Chris Robinson)

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By Chris Robinson

It’s been pretty fun watching Luis ‘Cuba’ Arias progress as a prospect in this boxing game.

I first caught up with Arias, then still an amateur, when he was serving as a chief sparring partner for Chad Dawson ahead of his match with Jean Pascal in August of 2010.

I could tell that Arias had a great fighting spirit about him from the first few seconds I caught him in the ring and he has since made great progress with his career by going 10-0 with 4 knockouts while learning valuable lessons from his former promoter Floyd Mayweather at the time.

Arias is no longer with Mayweather Promotions but the 24-year old is still upbeat as several new blessings come into his life. Arias recently celebrated the birth of his first child, his daughter Leylani, and spoke about what is in store in 2015.

“I got somebody else to support now,” Arias stated as he held his newborn. “This is a big year for us. We’ve had our setbacks but we’ve put that behind us. A new star is going to be out this year and I’m looking forward to being in that pool.”

Arias recently made the move to the boxing hotbed of South Florida and could be seen putting in some work with trainer John David Jackson, the former two-division titlist who also trains Sergey Kovalev.

“Obviously, Florida is nice, period,” stated Arias. “John David Jackson obviously knows his stuff. I like the way he’s been training me and I like the work down there. I have a very good strength and conditioning coach, Juan Carlos Santana.  And Derrick Santos, they’ve been working with me.”

And while Arias may not be calling Las Vegas home as he used to, he can’t deny how great of position he was in during his time in the city.

“I think that whole TMT experience was fun,” Arias reflected. “I was able to start my career with the pound for pound king. I was able to learn a lot about the business, the game, period. I was able to have fun. I was traveling with Floyd and I was partying with Floyd and I was really living that life with him.

“I loved every bit of it and I took everything that I needed to take from it,” Arias added.

Arias recently signed with well-respected adviser Gaby Penagaricano and sees that as simple the first piece to a grandiose puzzle.

“I just signed with Gaby, him and Rick Torres,” Arias confirmed. “Gaby has obviously been respresenting Cotto and Bradley. Real soon I’ll be making an announcement on who I’m going to be signing with as a promoter and it will be big. This is going to be a big year for us and like I said a new star is going to be out.

“As you can see, Floyd and Pacquiao are almost done and [the sport] needs a new star anyways and I plan on being that new star,” Arias said with confidence.

Check below for the full interview with Luis Arias plus other boxing updates 

Chris Robinson can be reached at CRobinson@hustleboss.com

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