havana/Cuba was crowned in the first professional boxing tournament held on the Island in decades, with its six boxers winning their respective bouts. Two-time Olympic champions Julio César La Cruz and Arlen López won the world heavyweight and light heavyweight titles, respectively.
In Havana Sports City Coliseum, each national boxer fulfilled the predictions before their audience called Night of Champions, organized by the International Boxing Association (IBA, for the acronym in English).
The event was held in memory of the 50th anniversary of the World Amateur Boxing Championship, which was organized in the capital of Cuba.
The main fight did not disappoint. Cuban standard bearer in Paris 2024, Julio César La Cruz, won the IBA heavyweight belt after defeating the Uzbek Madiyar Saydrakhimov without problems, and by unanimous decision. The island showed his classic defensive style and made his rival dizzy jabs stable and accurate in all 10 cycles.
Arlen López, for his part, won the lightweight title after knocking out the Dominican José Luis Tejeda in the third round, ending with a technical knockout. Initially, López was supposed to fight against the Belarusian Aliaksei Alfiorau, but he switched to the rival in the last hours without the IBA explaining why.
The other big fight of the night, outside of the two fights for the belts, was the only Cuban gold medalist in Paris 2024, Erislandy López.
The other big fight of the night, outside of the two disputes for the belts, was the only Cuban gold medalist in Paris 2024, Erislandy López (63.5 kilos, very light).
The 23-year-old showed off his great offensive boxing against Colombian José Ignacio Muñoz and won by unanimous decision. In the original program, López had to face Uruguayan Eduardo Estela, but it was also changed in the last hours.
Cubans Saidel Horta (57 kg, featherweight) and Lázaro Álvarez (very light) also won by unanimous decision against Russian Ruslan Belousov and Uzbek Mujibillo Tursonov, respectively. While the island’s Roniel Iglesias (welterweight) defeated Armenia’s Gurgen Madoyan by split decision.
After the victory of the Revolution in 1959, Fidel Castro banned professional sports. Since then, amateur boxing has gained strength until the Island was placed as the second historic boxing power in the Olympics, with 80 medals.
In Paris 2024, however, the Cuban boxers were left out for the first time in decades, and won only one gold and one bronze. La Cruz lost his first fight against the Cuban-born Azerbaijani, Loren Alfonso. In 2022, Cuba again allowed its boxers to participate in professional tours.
