With a masterful performance in the ring, the Cuban Erislandy Álvarez defeated the French Sofiane Oumiha by split decision (3-2) this Wednesday to secure Olympic glory in the 63.5-kilogram category at the Paris 2024 boxing event.
At the Stade Roland Garros, the fighter from Cienfuegos was a machine throwing punches and exposed the defensive deficiencies of the local Oumiha, silver medalist from Rio de Janeiro 2016 and three-time world champion (2017, 2021, 2023).
Intense, furious, master of the distances, this is how Álvarez showed up to take revenge for the setback suffered at the previous world championship. From start to finish, he was the best in the division at the Olympic Games.
In this way, the island managed to maintain its streak of titles since London 2012 - it went empty in Beijing 2008 - although the last time it only won two medals was in Mexico 1968, when it celebrated two silver medals around the necks of Enrique Regüeiferos and Rolando Garbey.
The legendary performance of the 23-year-old placed Cuba in 21st position in the standings, following Mijaín López's gold, Yusneylis Guzmán's silver, and the bronzes of Arlen López and Gabriel Rosillo.
Indeed, López fell short in his quest for a third reign under the five rings, a remarkable result considering the captain of the boxing team, Julio César La Cruz, was eliminated in his debut on French soil.
The story goes that neither of them managed to "sneak in" to the exclusive club of triple Olympic monarchs in the art of Fistiana: 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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