people in a thread (which i will post later) are talking about cuban boxers and going pro. then somone says the enevitble name joel casamayor... now what happens is everyone says he was a good am and did alright in the pro's but aint nothing but a cuban fighter. and im totally bemused on how low they recognise casa. he was a brilliant fighter, in 1992 the first non boycotted games for almost a decade. the cuban gold rush appeared with 7 gold medals (and 2 silvers to boot). now why people were looking where the action was with savon balado. there was a skinny kid who was the cubans cheer master which later i found out was joel.he was a good prospect just to big for the bantams for his size ,he was a great bantam with a strong southpaw left hand a stiff jab and all the inside abilty which is very rare for a amatuer especially who had a size and reach advantage. when they came home athletes are given prizes in exchange for money(as an amercian or any other non communist state) savon got a house vinent got a car...joel got a bike...not a motorbike but a pedel bike. joel later blamed this on the govermant to punishing him ,becuase he didnt attend the communist youth party. he sold the the bike and bought a pig which he killed and ate with his family. later on he fought in other am title being belittled by the newer preppy guys taking in his division. being a big man for the wieght he went up to feather (and would of fought mayweather for the olympic spot). when they went in joel made an executive dicision, snuck out of camp along with fellow cuban boxer ramon garbey and went pro with (unatturally nice) luis de cubas. he stacked up wins over decent level comp though not severely tested he came to david santos a good decent fighter with power speed and skills and a very hard to beat reputation. joel took him apart he counter jabbed ,he threw right leads with combo's on the inside,he shuffled past santos right shoulder like a matador does to a bull ,and totally shut him out. he fought the very padded champion jong baek, a korean who hadnt fought outside korea. but he was a powerpuncher(but the compition was rather weak) and was a lanky skinny guy fopr super feather. joel used his inside abilty to win every round till it was stopped on cuts. joel had won his first title.
Joel's not being lazy, he's just being screwed by the system. He got stripped of his title by the sanctioning body for THINKING about fighting Popo. They gave his title to David Diaz so they could make money on a Diaz/Morales fight. Without a title, Casa is too high a risk for other title holders or contenders to fight. He had a fight lined up with some dude in Panaman, but it fell through. The ABC then made him the "interim champ" for the belt they took from him and put him in line to fight the winner of Diaz/Morales. Maybe he should have found some bum to fight just to stay busy, but it's not like he has been sitting around not wanting to fight. At his age, I am sure he wants to get in as many fights and paydays as he can. The BS that was pulled on him by the sanctioning body after he beat Diego is criminal.
Who has legitmately called Casa out? I don't mean saying "I'll fight Casa, I'll fight anybody" type of thing. I mean actually pursuing a fight with him or contacting his people about fighting. Because I haven't read of anyone making overtures to Casa's camp or anyone responding to overtures his people have made. I have read about Casa calling out Ricky Hatton and the Diaz boys. I must have missed everyone and their momma calling him out and lining up to fight him. I have to disagree with you that being stripped of his title hasn't hurt him. Without it, there is no incentive for others to fight him. Being the ring champ is definitely recognized by the fans, but if it carried that much weight with the fighters, why didn't Popo fight Casa again instead of Diaz?
