If not for the "Politics" of Cuba, Would Cuba surpass Mexico & Puerto Rico...

the silence is deafening.....

 

What! Are you serious bro? Before Castro, Cuba had many great professional fighters and World Champions like Chocolate, Gavilan, Black Bill, Valdes, etc...

The problem started when Fidel took over in 1959, then all the Cubans had no choice but to turn " amateur "...

You are totally wrong, the Cubans have always been " fascinated " with boxing and it does'nt matter if the Communists gave Cuba a boost with their special schools because the Cubans already were a " major boxing powerhouse " before Castro. The Cubans win Gold medals easily with or without Communist schools or politics...

 

Very true but not as much Gold as the Cubans have won so far...

 

There is absolutely " no doubt " that if the Cuban fighters were allowed to fight pro, that the Cubans at this point would have more World Titles than PR and Mexico. Why? Because the Cubans are " fascinated " with Boxing and Baseball. Boxing is in almost every Cuban kid and their talent is unparalleled. Before Castro, Cuba had 2-3 major World professional Champions and a major top 10 ranked contender in almost every weight class, ( when there was just 1 World Champ per weight ), Cuba was ahead of PR and Mex...By now, the Cubans would be following very closely in second place ( or maybe tied ) the USA in boxing professional Champions.

Boxing in Cuba is not just another sport, it's a lifestyle, it's a tradition just like Cuban cigars, the Son and a Guayabera...

Good article, it's nice to see someone bringing back these great forgotten Cuban greats like Ariel, Stevenson, Savon, Vinent etc but that's only like 1 percent, you forgot the rest...

Ariel was a middleweight " Beast ", he would had " teared through the middleweight division like a tornado ", same goes for Stevenson, Savon and Vinent...

 

its a double edged sword basically. The reason why Cuba produces military like olympic gold quality boxers IS BECAUSE of their political system. They have killer motivation to use boxing as a medium to escape their hell. If they did not have that motivation, would they be training as hard as they do? Possibly...But would it decrease the amount of fighters who would be training that hard? Possibly....

 

Ricky, before Castro boxing was a " fever in Cuba ". Castro did'nt change or produced more love for boxing, it was already there!!!

 

Joel Casamayor was one of the best junior lightweight Champions...
Juan Carlos Gomez dominated the cruiserweight division for 6-7 years...
Diosbelys Hurtado was a World pro Champion...

Do you know why so many past Cuban defectors have failed? I guess you don't know but I will tell you...

The Cubans are very " undisciplined " and are " party people " by nature. When they are in Cuba and selected for the sports teams they are literally like in a " sports prison ". There, they don't get exposed to the temptations of life as when they get to a free Country. Most of those defectors were " sucked " into Miami's temptations, including women, parties, drinking and specially " good eating "...

You need to understand that in Cuba they don't have anything and when they defect, it's a whole new World for them. It's just like what Teddy Atlas said, " when the Cuban boxers defect here is like they are a kid in a candy store for the first time "...

Example, the Boricua's and the Mexicans all have Burger King, McDonald's, and any other good Restaurant in their Countries, they are used to seeing " good cars " and " good houses ". In cuba that's non-existent, so when they get here they go crazy!!! There are some minorities like Casamayor, Hurtado and Gomez that were able to " overcome " those temptations and be successful at the pros! :good

 

And if you want, I can give you a big list of " young Cuban boxers " winning Gold when they were 18, 19, 20 and 21 years old, just tell me and I will post the list...

 

Here it is...

Joel Casamayor was one of the best junior lightweight Champions...
Juan Carlos Gomez dominated the cruiserweight division for 6-7 years straight...
Diosbelys Hurtado was World pro Champion too...

Read my other posts and you will understand why a lot of the Cuban defectors have failed...

But don't worry, Gamboa, Lara, Rigondeaux and others will " erase " those other defectors and will bring Cuban boxing to a whole new level, specially to our " Latin " brothers who love us so much...:hey

 

1. Happy Birthday!! I assume you just turned 13 or 14?

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No simply because those guys are forced to train very hard just to survive, most of them are obligated to do that, but if Cuba where more of a free land I'm sure that talent would be almost not existent. They are good because they are forced to do that and most of them are 25- 28 guys fighting 18-21 years kids in the amateurs so of course they will have a lot of medals.

 

Oldanier Solis that's enough, that's along is enough to still not take Cuba's boxing seriously

 

They would've been no different than Mexico and Puerto Rico. Some fighters would do great, some would get fat and/or lazy and do poorly.

Your flag doesn't automatically make you great ya know. I think they'd be ON the same level but definitely not above either Mexico or Puerto Rico.

 

If Cuba's amatuers were allowed to go pro, YES.