Without mincing words, the head coach of the Cuban boxing team, Rolando Acebal, criticized his pupil Saidel Horta on Wednesday for his performance after losing his first match at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Acebal was completely dissatisfied with Horta's performance, the world runner-up of Tashkent 2023, as he did not follow the corner's instructions and that changed the entire outlook.
"Regardless of whether he could have won the fight when it was stopped due to the injury, Saidel confused the tactical plan we had for this match," stated the coach in comments published on Facebook by Radio Rebelde's special correspondent, the official journalist Guillermo Rodríguez.
"The strategy was to surprise him with straight and explosive punches," he stated before adding that - after winning the first round by following the strategy - the Caribbean fighter did the exact opposite in the next round.
"He did none of what we said. He allowed himself to be attacked, started to defend, and fell into the hold. That was not what was indicated; it was mentioned to him to repeat what he did in the first round, and from there on, there was no progress. He transformed his behavior," he reported.
Horta recorded Cuba's second defeat in Olympic boxing on French soil this Wednesday, following the adverse result against Munarbek Seitbek Uulu from Kyrgyzstan in the 57-kilogram division.
The young fighter bid farewell to the competition after an unexpected situation, as an injury to his face prevented him from continuing the fight in the third and final round.
The Antillean dominated the first round, conceded in the second, and the injury caused the judges to show their votes in the few moments of the decisive period.
Thus came the worst news: four of the five judges saw the euroasiatic dominating, the bronze medalist of the orb, and who took the split vote 2-3 to continue on the path to the medals.
In this way, the largest of the Antilles only has three of its boxers remaining in competition, as Julio César la Cruz also fell in his debut against his fellow countryman Loren Berto Alfonso, who represents Azerbaijan.
With several rounds of fights remaining, Cuba is relying on Alejandro Claro (51), Erislandy Álvarez (63.5), and Arlen López, champion in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
López seeks to become the fourth boxer to win the planet's main multi-sport event three times. It is worth noting that La Cruz was pursuing the same goal, but...
The story goes that this achievement has been accomplished only by the Hungarian Laszlo Papp (1948, 1952, 1956) and the Cubans Teófilo Stevenson (1972, 1976, 1980) and Félix Savón (1992, 1996, 2000).
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