Cuban La Cruz wins his bout in AIBA World Cup in Belgrade

HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 29 (ACN) With an excellent demonstration, four-time world champion and double Olympic champion Julio Cesar La Cruz (92 kgs) defeated Bulgarian Radoslav Pantaleev unanimously, and gave the eighth victory to Cuba in his debut today in the fifth round of the World Boxing Championship in Belgrade, capital of Serbia.

On the Stark Arena boxing ring, the captain of the Domadores de Cuba secured that long-awaited victory in his first international fight in the new 92-kilogram division, supported by his undisputed wit and his lethal left jab.

With his traditional style of low guard to provoke the failure in the opponent's offensive actions, La Cruz gave the European, world bronze 2019, countless straight punches and hooks, besides going to the direct attack with great precision.

The superiority of the Caribbean was so great during the nine minutes of the fight that the judges gave him a 5-0 vote (quadruple 30-25 and 30-26).

Next 31, La Cruz will face Iranian Toufan Sharifi in the round of 16. La Cruz, captain of the group, has four world titles, as well as the already retired Juan Hernandez Sierra, and is two behind national and world record holder Felix Savon.

So far, the Cuban national team has seven wins and two losses, with six fighters still in action out of the eight that made up the initial roster.

Cuba is now seeking to improve the performance of the previous world event in Ekaterinburg, where it reached fourth place by nations with one gold, one silver and one bronze medal.