In a historic event that marked the return of professional boxing to Cuba, local fighters dominated the so-called "Night of Champions" at the Coliseo de la Ciudad Deportiva in Havana, winning all six bouts.
Organized by the International Boxing Association (IBA), as part of the activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first amateur world championship in the discipline in 1974, held at the same venue, the event highlighted the successes of Julio César la Cruz, Arlen López, Roniel Iglesias, Lázaro Álvarez, Saidel Orta, and Erislandy Álvarez, Olympic champion of Paris 2024.
La Cruz (92 kilograms), double king under the five rings in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020, won the IBA heavyweight belt after defeating Uzbek Madiyar Saydrakhimov easily, by unanimous decision after 10 rounds.
López (80), also a two-time gold medalist in the Olympics, won the lightweight title after knocking out (TKO) the Dominican José Luis Tejeda in the third round.
According to the EFE agency, the fighter from Guantanamo was supposed to fight against the Belarusian Aliaksei Alfiorau, but the opponent was changed in the last hours without the IBA explaining why, and Tejeda's low quality was demonstrated in the ring.
Both - La Cruz and López - pocketed the not insignificant sum of 120 thousand dollars and now appear as the champions of their respective categories within the organization.
Likewise, Erislandy (63.5) easily surpassed the Colombian José Ignacio Muñoz, just like Saidel Horta (57) and Lázaro Álvarez (63.5) did against the Russian Ruslan Belousov and the Uzbek Mujibillo Tursonov, respectively.
The only bout that resulted in a split verdict was that of veteran Iglesias (69), Olympic champion in London 2012 and Tokyo 2020, as well as bronze medalist in Beijing 2008, against the Armenian Gurgen Madoyan.
After the arrival of the revolution to power in 1959, the deceased dictator Fidel Castro banned professional sports, and since then, the closest thing in the realm of the art of boxing were the posters of the defunct World Boxing Series, which consisted of only five rounds in each fight.
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