Cuban athletes celebrate the return of professional boxing on the island after 60 years

An atmosphere of enthusiasm prevails at La Finca, the cathedral of boxing in Cuba where “Los Domadores” (the tamers, in Portuguese) train intensely for their professional debut. “It was what we had been waiting for a long time,” says athlete Julio César La Cruz, 32.

Cuban authorities this week authorized the participation of Cuban boxers in the professional circuit for the first time since 1962, under the tutelage of the local federation.

“[O anúncio] came to cheer us up and give satisfaction to the boxing family,” Rolando Acebal, 64, told the AFP news agency. He has led the flagship of Cuban sport for 11 years, which has won 80 world titles and 41 Olympic titles.

For La Cruz, a two-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion, the news came at just the right time. “It’s going to be something beautiful, special and historic”, he says, bathed in sweat, after almost three hours of sparring (term used to refer to a fighter’s partner).

Athlete Andy Cruz, 26, who won his first Olympic title at Tokyo 2020, is also happy because, according to him, he will now be able to face the best boxers in the world in his category.

But there is another compelling reason to celebrate. According to the Cuban Boxing Federation, fighters will receive 80% of the income earned from each fight.

“This economic bonus will be very useful, as many of us have families,” says two-time Olympic champion Arlen López, a father of two, as the country faces its worst economic crisis in nearly 30 years due to the impact of the pandemic and the strengthening of the embargo imposed by the United States.

Professional sport was abolished in Cuba by the revolution of Fidel Castro, who opted for the development of amateurism and brought the small island to the world elite in some modalities. In 2013, a timid return began in professional competitions in baseball, volleyball and basketball in search of new forms of financing.

After five decades of non-professional practice, the local team managed to adapt to semi-professional boxing in the WSB (World Boxing Series), in which they debuted in 2014 with the “Los Domadores” franchise and won three of the five editions in which they competed, including the The last one was held in 2018.

Acebal believes that there will be no problems with adapting to professional boxing, which, in addition to having a greater number of rounds, is characterized by being more offensive and by more forceful blows.

“We are already in preparation and these issues are trained”, says Acebal as he guides the training that, according to López, is twice as intense as usual.

Acebal does not lose sight of the five boxers (La Cruz, Andy, López, Yoenlis Feliciano and Lázaro Álvarez) who will participate in Cuba’s professional debut in May, in Mexico, according to a contract signed with the Mexican company Golden Ring Promotions.

After the announcement by the Cuban authorities, the joy for participating in the professional circuit went beyond the borders of the island.

“Great news for professional boxing” because Cuba is a “factory of champions,” said Spanish Boxing Federation president Felipe Martínez. He follows a group of fighters from his country who train at La Finca for the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Luis Mariano González, Cuban coach of the team that France is putting together for these Games and who also trains on the island, considered that the measure “will raise even more the level of Cuban boxing”.

The WBA (World Boxing Association), one of the four most important entities in professional boxing, opened “its doors” to Cubans after learning about the agreement with Golden Rings Promotions.

“It seems that this is a new opportunity for Cuban boxers who live in their country,” said President Gilberto Jesús Mendoza, according to the association’s website, which was once home to great Cuban fighters who left the island to try their luck in professional boxing. among them Yuriorkis Gamboa, Guillermo Rigondeaux and Luis Ortiz.

Acebal believes that opening up to professional boxing in Cuba can stop this exodus, which recorded its most recent episode in March, when boxers Kevin Brown and Herich Ruiz left the Cuban delegation participating in the Pan American Championship in Ecuador.

“Anyone who’s a little smart won’t have to leave,” he says.

The question that fans of the sport are now asking is whether the US embargo, in place since 1962, will allow Cuban champions to participate in the main professional boxing competitions, which are usually organized in that country.