At the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, Cuba Box has won 4 gold medals and 1 bronze medal on a total of 8 competition content, thereby dominating this attractive sport in Japan. Cuba is also a power of amateur boxing but there is a reason why the fighters of this country are almost anonymous in the professional arena.
In fact, there have been very strong Cuban boxing in a professional playground. As of 1959, Cuba had six professional world champions. But in 1961, the new revolutionary government of the leader Fidel Castro issued a ban on professional boxing and many other sports. The leader born in 1926 was concerned about the influence of foreign countries on boxing may adversely affect the revolutionary achievement.
However, the new government still invested strongly in Cuban boxing to create a echo in the Olympic playground. The athletes were persuaded to fight for the country instead of money temptations in the professional arena. By the 1980s, Cuba had dominated all major international amateur boxing. Throughout its Olympic history, Cuba boxed to win 37 gold medals and also the only country with two Olympic champions three times: Teofilo Stevenson and Felix Savon.
It was Felix Savon who once refused a match against the legendary Mike Tyson, despite the bonus up to $ 1 million. Savón said: “Why do I need $ 1 million while I can fight for 10 million Cuban people?”
But not everyone has the same opinion as Savón, many of Cuba's best fighters have left their country to realize the professional dream. The most prominent is the case of Yordenis Ugás Hernánde, who has kept the semi -semi -semi -Chinese WBA belt since January 2021. In addition, Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara also achieve professional titles after coming to the US to live.