Cuban Boxing History

Before the Revolution

• Cuba is one of those countries that proves that having a small pool of talent is no obstacle to producing great athletes in that country's most beloved sports. Even prior to the revolution and the creation of the state-sponsored boxing program, Cuba was producing some truly legendary fighters. First on that list is Eligio Sardinias Montalvo, aka "Kid Chocolate." This fighter was one of the greats of the late 1920s and early 1930s, and held both the featherweight (126 lbs) and junior lightweight (130 lbs) world titles. However, the best known pre-Communist Cuban fighter is probably Kid Gavilan. This fighter fought with the likes of Sugar Ray Robinson and Carmen Basilio and became the welterweight (147 lbs) champion when Robinson moved up to middleweight (160 lbs). Gavilan is also famed as the inventor of the showy "bolo punch," a hybrid of a hook and an uppercut.

The Revolution

• After Castro's revolution in 1959, Cuba instituted a socialist sports program based upon Soviet models. State-sponsored athletics were made available to the entire population, and even in recent years it is believed that roughly a quarter of the adult population regularly participates in one sport or another. This practice allows the Cuban state to identify talented athletes, who are encouraged to train for international competition. Athletes on the Cuban national boxing team became, in effect, professional amateurs. Their job was to train for and perform in international amateur tournaments for the purpose of enhancing the international prestige of Cuba. This program has created many excellent boxers over the years, with the Cuban team being an institutional powerhouse at the Olympics. However, two names in particular stand out among the ranks of Cuba's great Olympic boxers: heavyweights Teofilo Stevenson and Felix Savon.

Teofilo Stevenson

• One of only three boxers to win three Olympic gold medals (the other two are Felix Savon and Hungarian Lazlo Papp), Stevenson was the first truly legendary boxer produced by Cuba's socialist sports system. In addition to winning gold medals at the 1972, 1976, and 1980 Olympics, he also won three World Amateur Championships (1974, 1978 and 1986), as well as a bronze and two golds at the Pan-American Games. Stevenson might have won a fourth Olympic gold, but Cuba joined the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Games, thus blocking that opportunity. A number of the men who fell before him went on to become professional heavyweight contenders and titleholders. After his second Olympic win at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Stevenson was offered $5 million to defect and fight Muhammad Ali. He refused that as well as a later offer to defect and fight Mike Tyson.

Felix Savon

• It seemed that just as soon as Stevenson stepped away from his dominance of international amateur heavyweight boxing, Savon stepped into his shoes. He also won three Olympic golds (1992, 1996, and 2000), but captured far more laurels at other tournaments than Stevenson. Many consider Savon to be the greatest amateur heavyweight of all time. Between 1986 and 1999, he won an astounding six golds and one silver at the World Amateur Championships. He also held three Pan-American golds and four golds from the Central American and Caribbean Games. Along the way, he defeated an entire generation of top heavyweights.

Defections

• The Cuban national boxing team has been weakened by a rising tide of defections. The 2008 Beijing Olympics marked the first time in four decades that the team failed to secure berths in all 11 weight classes. However, these defectors do go on to become contenders and even prominent world champions as professional fighters. Good examples are former lightweight (135 lbs) champion and current contender Joel Casamayor and former cruiserweight champion (190 lbs) and current heavyweight contender Juan Carlos Gomez.