Cuba is a nation well-renowned across the boxing world for producing many of the world’s amateurs. However, not only is Cuba known for their amateur fighters but for their amateurs who turn pro. Recent examples include Luis Ortiz, Frank Sanchez, Andy Cruz, Guillermo Rigondeaux, David Morrell, Erislandy Lara, Jadier Herrera etc. Generally, they haven’t produced many notable heavyweights exceptions being Ortiz and Sanchez. However, very recently a pair of brothers have emerged as very interesting heavyweight prospects Lenier and Dainier Pero.
Lenier Pero
Amateur Career
It seems fitting to start with the elder brother, Lenier Pero, aged 32. He is a southpaw who stands at 6’4 and boasts a reach of 79 inches and holds a highly decorated amateur pedigree. He amassed an amateur record of 98-19 over the course of 2010-2016 where he achieved very highly and encountered some well known names. Even as a youth he was a high achiever winning gold at the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics. That year he also won gold at heavyweight during the 2010 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in Baku. In 2010 Pero would encounter Frank Sanchez and win on points.
Continuing on 2011 was another big year for Pero where he would win gold at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara. Again he would encounter Sanchez in Cuba’s national championships beating him again and ultimately winning the national championships. He also won the Cuban national championships in 2012 again encountering Sancez and winning. In 2013 he again encountered Sanchez at the national championship and beat him however he himself would lose the final to Erislandy Savon.
2014 would prove busy with Pero winning the 2014 Serik Konakbayev Prizes Tournament, 2014 Giraldo Corodova Cardin Tournament, and the 2014 National Cuban Championships. 2015 was also an intriguing year competing in the World Series of Boxing for the first time. He lost to Joe Joyce and Bakhodir Jalalov but beat recent Jalalov opponent Ihor Shevadzutskyi. Pero also won gold in the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto and the 2015 National Cuban Championships.
2016 Pero would encounter Frazer Clarke in the World Boxing Super Series and lose via tko in round 4. However, he would begin his Olympic journey defeating recent Richard Torrez opponent and current Italian prospect Guido Vianello. But, his journey was cut short at the quarter-finals, losing to Filip Hrgovic by tko in round 2.
Pro Career
Following his Olympic defeat it would be 3 years until Lenier launched his campaign in the pros turning professional in 2019. Similarly, his career in the pros has been quite stop-and-start. in 2019 he fought thrice winning two of the fights by decision and one by finish but in 2020 and 2021 only fought once each year. In fairness that was during covid picking things up again in 2022 with three fights and 2023 with 2 fights. Unfortunately he only had won fight in 2024.
So far he has amassed a record of 11-0 with 8 of those wins coming by KO. Despite these wins and his pedigree he has been fighting in relative obscurity until recently. Pero has been signed by Matchroom and is in a co-promotional deal with Boxlab. Furthermore, his next fight will be on DAZN on the 18th of April against the 9-4 Detrailous Webster a fight he should win.
Hopefully following this win Pero can be take some steps up in competition given the signing with Matchroom. Given Pero’s age of 32 he does need to get a move on if he wants to be a relevant factor in this heavyweight division. However, signing with Matchroom is a step in the right direction and with his high ranking with the WBA(5) things are looking good for Lenier Pero.
Dairier Pero
Amateur Career
Now the younger brother, Dairier Pero, age 25 and is a 6’5 southpaw fighter. Like his brother he also had an extensive amateur career with a record of 61-5 from 2012-2021. Unlike his brother it took Dairier a little longer to win a major tournament. In 2016 he won gold at the 2016 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in Saint Petersburg. In 2018 he won the Teofilo Stevenson Cup and the 2018 Cuban National Championships.
2019 was big for Pero winning gold at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima. During those games he would encounter Richard Torrez for the first time and beat him by split decision. Like his brother he won another Cuban Nation Championship in 2019.
2021 was a very big year for Pero like his brother making his way to the Olympics. At the Tokyo Olympics he made it to the quarter-finals but again like his brother would lose. This loss would come at the hands of Richard Torrez who went on to win the silver medal . After this Dairier would make the decision to go pro
Pro Career
Unlike his older brother Dairier Pero wasted no time jumping to the pros debuting in late 2022. Again unlike his brother Dairier has also been far more active fighting four times in 2023 and five times in 2024. He has amassed a record of 10-0 with 8 KOs almost equalling his brother’s record in essentially 2 years. Like his brother he is also signed with boxlab and is available to watch on DAZN.
However, Dairier appears to be the bigger draw fighting on Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Prospects cards and is main eventing May 9th. His opponent will be 13-2 Cesar Navarro seemingly his best opponent yet and again should be someone he can beat. This will be a defence of his WBA continental title that he won against 8-3 Walter Burns where he scored 2 knockdowns getting a round 1 TKO.
Dairier is also ranked by the WBA currently at number 11. Given Dairier’s younger age he doesn’t need to be as rushed and can have more time to develop. But saying that with how active he’s been, he can also be stepped, and if he beats Navarro, he could do with another step up in competition against some American journeyman.
This pair of heavyweights are something to look out for and it will be interesting to see how they develop. It has been quite some time since we’ve seen a pair of heavyweight brothers compete in the same era the last notable pair being the Klitschko’s. We shall see if they will have similar success in the next few years or if one will emerge to be more successful.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
