Francisco Esparza, left, sparring Leduan Barthelemy inside of City Boxing in Las Vegas (Photo: 1Tarrell)
By Chris Robinson
On Monday afternoon, Jan. 23, Cuban trainer Ismael Salas oversaw some sparring inside of City Boxing Club in Las Vegas, Nev., between some of his chief fighters and other pugilists.
The first sparring to kick off the sessions was a clash of unbeaten featherweight prospects in Cuba’s Leduan Barthelemy (11-0, 6 KO’s), younger brother of former IBF lightweight champion Rances, and Francisco Esparza (5-0, 2 KO’s). Esparza is trained by former junior middleweight world champion Fernando Vargas, who was present at the session, and he has a throwback, aggressive Mexican style that always see him pushing forward.
Barthelemy moves very well in the ring and it was like a matador trying to throw off the bull. Following his work with Barthelemy, Esparza went up against unbeaten junior welterweight contender Djamel Dahou (13-0, 12 KO’s), seen below.
Closing the session out, Salas looked on as two of his charges, unbeaten junior middleweight prospect Nick Frese (2-0, 2 KO’s) faced off with tough Cuban Yordenis Ugas (17-3, 8 KO’s) for several rounds. It was excellent work, as the 22-year old Frese, who turned pro just last month, tried to figure out the onrushing, tactical style of his sparring foe.
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Chris Robinson can be reached at CRobinson@hustleboss.com