Cuban wrestler Yowlys Bonne: "Our great legacy will disappear" (INTERVIEW)

One of the best exponents of Cuban wrestling has been the Guantanamo native Yowlys Bonne, a world champion and medalist in important events.

At 40 years old, Yowlys resides in the United States building a new future.

I arrived in this country on October 10, 2022; I came with my family for the journey that so many Cubans have made their own known as "the volcanoes"; I lived in Phoenix, Arizona for 20 months. Recently, I moved to Goodland, Kansas where I am working as a coach at Northwest Kansas Technical College.

I have the satisfaction of living with my closest loved ones. I have three children: my son José Yowlys is 19 years old, he practiced American folkstyle wrestling but now leans towards mixed martial arts. He has already had his first amateur fight in San Diego, California.

I also have two three-year-old twins, Yaimy and Yeimy. My wife Delkis Hernández was part of the national judo team, 57 kg division. We met at Cerro Pelado, we have been in a relationship for 11 years and married for five.

Let's take a look back. Did you lean towards wrestling since you were a child?

I was born in Guantánamo on November 2, 1983; my first steps in sports were in athletics and boxing, which was my favorite. Then came wrestling. My first coach at the base was called Pacha, then I continued at the base with Ónix Pérez and was soon recruited to the EIDE by Licenciado Froilán Serrano. I arrived at the national ESPA at 13 years old under the guidance of coach Arturo Yanes; from there, to Cerro Pelado with Filiberto Delgado. I finished my career achieving all my top results with coach Julio Mendieta, who is now in charge of the national freestyle wrestling team.

Did you always choose wrestling?

I was always a freestyle wrestler, although I also wrestled Greco in training. In that style, I competed in the 2002 Youth Pan American Championship, a tournament in which I won the title and was named the most technical wrestler of the competition.

Did that performance make you doubt changing your style?

No, I liked freestyle, and although my movements were risky and spectacular, something closer to classical wrestling, my base coach, Froilán Serrano, always guided me towards freestyle.

Precisely, you had many attributes as a libertarian; what were your favorite techniques?

I was a dominant fighter in all techniques and projections, although my best weapons were the suplex, the Oushi Gary (a Japanese technique characteristic of judo that involves hooking the legs and sweeping them backward), and the firefighter, one of my main techniques with which I won my world gold by completely lifting my opponent and throwing them to score the maximum number of points. Additionally, in four-point situations, I used the Turkish combined with a lock, finishing many matches.

Child, were you good at everything?

Hahaha. Well, I made an effort to be so.

You were one of the first wrestlers to participate in the German Bundesliga, a form of escape as the athlete received earnings.

I was fighting at the AVS Nendingen club alongside the giant Mijaín López. I competed for four seasons, which stretched from the end of September to the beginning of February. In my first year of joining, the experienced Alejandro “Calabaza” Valdés was part of another club; then other teammates joined over the years.

Did the Bundesliga represent a "breath of fresh air" for the Cuban wrestler?

I think so. According to my contract, the payments were personal; I was paid for fights. I received my payment in cash at the end of each match, which took place every Saturday and some Sundays. After completing my performance at the event, I had to give the Cuban Federation 10% of my earnings.

You are a champion and a bronze medalist at the world level; however, the Olympic podium has eluded you.

In effect, I won the orb contest in Budapest, Hungary 2018 in the 61-kilo division and I was bronze in the World Championships in Tashkent 2014 and Paris 2017.

What do you remember about that scepter in Hungarian lands?

Imagine, in that competition I felt very good and reached the final against the Russian Gadzhimurad Rashidov, whom I defeated in a very close match, 6-5. In the bout, my firefighter technique influenced, with a tackle to my opponent's legs. Previously, I had defeated the Romanian Iván Guidea, the Iranian Esmaell Mohammadbaghuer, and in the semifinals, the American Joseph Daniel Colón.

However, at the Olympic Games, I was unable to reach the podium. Unfortunately, my category was eliminated, and I had to drastically affect my body weight. I was in the elite at 61 kilograms, and dropping to 57 kg was not easy. So in London 2012, I was eliminated by the Japanese Kenichi Yumoto and finished in fourteenth place, while in Rio 2016, again another Japanese, Rei Higuchi, who ultimately became the runner-up, surpassed me. There I placed fifth. Additionally, I finished third and first in the Pan American Games in Guadalajara 2011 and Toronto 2015.

Why has wrestling in Cuba, with good representatives like Raúl Cascaret, Joel Romero, and you, been left behind compared to Greco-Roman wrestling? Is it that after Pedro Val and Carlos Ulacia, there came a Raúl Trujillo and freestyle is left orphaned?

Aside from the level and results of Greco-Roman wrestling in Paris, I am aware that the athletes in classic wrestling were kept training for a month and a half under the best preparation and nutrition conditions in Varadero and then in Bulgaria, with all the necessary attention. In my opinion, freestyle wrestling has generally always had a higher level, although the Greco-Roman wrestlers have been more accomplished.

It also affects that there is no longer the strength, speed, or reflexes in freestyle that there used to be, nothing compared to the spectacularity of the past; all these differences mark results and athletes.

And weren't the ones from Libre given conditions for Paris?

They were taken to prepare in China, but in reality, they only went to the Grand Prix of Spain, where they arrived without enough time to cut weight for their competition, finishing all their preparation at Cerro Pelado without even the consistency of an adequate main dish or a balanced diet.

That influences, but Rigo Delgado's girls also had nothing, and yet, they won two medals in Paris.

Indeed, under those same conditions, they won silver, Yusneylis Guzmán in the 50 kilos and bronze for Milaimys Marín in the 76.

What do you think of current Cuban sports? If we came in 32nd place in Paris, what about Los Angeles 2028?

I believe that although many, for political reasons, do not want to see or say the truth, the certain fact is that with the lack of attention given to both active athletes and all those glories who now look at their past and lack a present, Cuban sports will die; that great legacy that many of us have maintained in the world will disappear.

There will always be individualities and brilliant athletes, but that does not make up the Cuban sports movement; the truth is that little remains of that massive base that once existed, and without it, there is no superstructure that can be sustained. Do you want a better example than the slanting of the ESPAS of the sports system on the Island, fundamentally the national ESPA, which was where all sports selections derived from? Analyze and tell me.