2024-02-17 22:17:47
Text: Raúl del Pino      Â
Foto: RL Hevia
Without a doubt, Julio César La Cruz is one of the best boxers that the Cuban boxing school has produced in its history. For example, we would only have to take a look at the two Olympic gold medals and the five world titles that adorn the top of his extensive showcase of titles, but if we look at his record within national borders we can also be surprised.
“The Shadow,†as he is known for his characteristic fighting style, has just written another brilliant chapter in the books of Antillean boxing by winning his thirteenth crown in the domestic classics of the Playa Girón Tournament. This milestone had only been achieved before by the Olympic trimonarch Félix Savón, however, La Cruz equals it by adding laurels in three different divisions.
After reigning nine times in the 81 kilograms, the first of them in a distant year 2008 when he was only 18 years old, he rose to 91 kg before the Tokyo Olympic Games and in that category he conquered three belts. Now, he had to gain another kilo to be in line with the new international divisions, which is why his last title came last Sunday in the 92’s.
Santiago’s Freddy Pérez could do very little against a La Cruz overflowing with confidence, knowing that he was superior in all lines of combat, something that the judges also ratified by granting him the victory by a unanimous vote of 5- 0, the same result as the fight between both boxers a year ago.
The 13th crown of the captain of the Tamers of Cuba was the most popular news left by the 60th edition of the Playa Girón in Sancti Spíritus that ended this Sunday, but not the only one. In fact, the representative squad of the host province also made headlines by winning for the first time in the team competition and breaking the years-long hegemony held by Camagüey.
On an individual level, another monarch under the five rings was also the protagonist, in this case Arlen López from Guantanamo, with his ninth gold award in these competitions, and the fourth in the 81 kilos. It was also striking that the 2023 world runner-up Sabdiel Horta dethroned the local Yosbany Veitía, four-time title holder and defender of the belt at 57 kg, before his audience.
Initially this contest was scheduled for the first days of December, but the Cuban Federation of the discipline postponed it to the current year citing “strategic reasons”, which responded to both economic and sporting reasons. After the announcement of the new call between January 9 and 14, the president of the organization Alberto Puig de la Barca highlighted that the event would have crucial importance when choosing the boxers aspiring to participate in the upcoming qualifying tournament for Paris 2024 , to be held in Busto Arsizio, Italy, between February 29 and March 12.
Cuba already counts the places that Arlen López (80 kg), Julio César La Cruz (92 kg) and Saidel Horta (57 kg) won in the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile, so now it would go in search of the remaining tickets in the other four divisions called for the French capital.
However, boxing has a very difficult barrier to overcome compared to the last Tokyo 2021 Games, where the so-called “flagship†achieved a formidable harvest of four golds and a bronze to win the competition by nations and contribute to me. That’s half of the titles of the Cuban delegation in general.
Two and a half years after that feat, the reality of the sport of fists on the island is very different, since some of its main figures left the country, such as the monarch of Tokyo Andy Cruz, considered the most s complete from Cuba at the time, or Yoenlis Hernández from Camagüey, who just hours after becoming two-time world champion last May, decided to take another direction.
Likewise, other award-winning fighters such as La Cruz and Arlen López will arrive much more seasoned, while other experienced fighters such as Roniel Iglesias and Lázaro Álvarez still have to earn their passport to Paris.