Cuban boxing to compete in professional rings, sports authorities announce

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 5 (ACN) The good news will have positive repercussions: Cuban boxing will enter professional circuits, as announced by its directors on the television program Mesa Redonda .

Ariel Sainz, vice president of the Cuban National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation, explained that this decision is the result of a deep analysis and is part of a development strategy whose main objective is to strengthen boxing's leading role in Olympic and world competitions.

Sainz stated that there are four key issues with this new step: it will provide greater demand and preparation; there will be a better study of the opponents; it will add another source of income that will benefit the athletes and members of the technical groups, and their families; and it will provide a significant contribution to the development of this sport.

The director insisted this decision considered the current international context of boxing, which, despite the fact that it has already admitted professional fighters to the Olympic Games, has been greatly humanized and offers guarantees to maintain the health of the Cuban athletes.

For his part, Alberto Puig de la Barca, president of the Cuban Boxing Federation, clarified that Cuban boxers have already had experience in semi-professional competitions from 2014 to 2018, when they made incursions in the so-called World Series of Boxing.

The contract we have signed with a company called Golden Ring, which will represent us in this new step, reflects that Cuba will compete as a Domadores team and will have its own trainers and doctors, he added.

The athlete will receive 80 % of the fee for the bout, while the Cuban federation will receive 20 %, which it will dispose of according to the sport, Puig concluded.

According to reports, the four Cuban fighters who will be paid for their fights are Olympic champions Julio Cesar La Cruz, Andy Cruz, Roniel Iglesias and Arlen Lopez, who are scheduled to make five professional bouts this year in May, June, September, November and December.