Top Cuban boxers defect in Brazil.

Darthmage · Jul 23, 2007

Two more cuban prospects we will soon be talking about besides Solis and Gamboa.

By Emilio Rappold

Rio de Janeiro (dpa) - Cuba's star boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux "disappeared" while he was in Rio de Janeiro to take part in the Pan American Games.

The 2000 and 2004 bantamweight Olympic champion apparently defected along with fellow boxer Erislandy Lara over the weekend, media in Rio reported Monday.

"We gave them permission to go out last night and they did not return," Maximiliano Gonzalez Diaz, president of Cuba's National Boxing Commission, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in Rio. "It is very sad."

It has almost been ruled out that Rigondeaux and Lara may have been the victims of a crime in the violent Brazilian city.

Instead, it seems likely that they have increased to four the number of Cuban athletes who have defected during the Pan American Games, which began July 13 and are set to end Sunday.

Handball player Rafael Da Costa Capote and gymnastics trainer Lazaro Lamelas had earlier abandoned the communist island's delegation. Capote and Lamelas said last week that they plan to request asylum in Brazil.

However, Rigondeaux's defection is a particularly strong blow for Cuban sport. Boxing is one of the country's showcase sports. And Rigondeaux, 26, was the biggest star of the Cuban delegation in Rio. He won 142 consecutive fights from 1999-2003, and was seen as the last great boxer of his generation.

In December 2006, three other big stars - Yan Barthelemy, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Odlanier Solis - defected during a tournament in Caracas. They now box professionally in Germany.

With Rigondeaux's "disappearance," Cuba no longer has a reigning Olympic champion living on the island.

This situation is not that surprising, since many athletes take advantage of tournaments abroad to defect from Cuba. Only last month two footballers did so during the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States.

The defections of Cuban athletes only rarely appear in the island's state media, which criticize the "theft of talent" and opportunities for Third World stars to compete under the flags of developed countries.

"Rigondeaux (54 kilogrammes) and Lara (69 kilogrammes) did not show up to be weighed," the weekly Trabajadores reported Monday.

The 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada, set a record, when 13 Cubans - including a journalist - defected. The daily Winnipeg Sun joked that its readers should guess how many Cubans would have defected by the end of the games. The joked about "prize": a trip to Havana.
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brooklyn1550 · Jul 23, 2007

Brave kids! I hope to see good things out of them in the future.

rr94 · Jul 23, 2007

Rigondeaux is AMAZING! I've been waiting years hoping there was a way he'd turn pro, and it seemed too late and impossible, and it may now happen! Hopefully in the coming weeks we'll get a new scoop!

Bad_Intentions · Jul 23, 2007

never heard of him.

good luck to him anyways.

Beebs · Jul 23, 2007

Good for them, get the **** out of there.

And great for Brazil, which already has a Cuban boxing relationship, could lead to an increase in good young Brazilian boxers. I know some Brazilian MMA teams already train with Cuban boxers and the Cuban team sometimes.

sues2nd · Jul 23, 2007

Great for them and the sport. Cuba has long had possible ATGs on that island, if not for Castro's ban on pro sports.

Warfist · Jul 23, 2007

I have heard many good things about Rigondeaux in the past few years. If all the things I have heard about him are true and if he has the stamina for 12 AND a solid chin as well as the deisre to keep training hard once he has a taste of freedom, he will likely be a p4p fighter in the future. Time will tell.

WhataRock · Jul 23, 2007

Rigondeaux is damn good, one of the best cubans amatuers ever.
Not young though, should be interesting to see how far he makes it in the pros.

I love there are more Cubans coming into pro boxing.

micky · Jul 23, 2007

Rigondeaux is sensational cannot wait to see where he surfaces and with whom, you would think it has been all sorted out before hand.

With Brazils connections with Germany wonder if he will end up there with Gamboa and Solis, would be the smart place at this time and they could form a small community there for themselves amongst friends.

Anyone who has not seen this guy you are in for a treat, if he has stamina and a chin its a gimmee for a proper world title within two years as a pro if they want.

Micky

WhataRock · Jul 24, 2007

His record is something stupidly good like 245 wins in 250 fights or something around that.

jaycuban · Jul 24, 2007

Thats the best p4p fighter in the world right

Odo · Jul 24, 2007

Beebs said:

Good for them, get the **** out of there.

And great for Brazil, which already has a Cuban boxing relationship, could lead to an increase in good young Brazilian boxers. I know some Brazilian MMA teams already train with Cuban boxers and the Cuban team sometimes.
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Dont be that naive,mate!

Neither Rigondeaux nor his team mate will be staying in Brazil.The will probably join their old mates ' pro box team in Germany.

Spitfire7 · Jul 24, 2007

Why would they ever defect from Castro's little Commie paradise?!?:huh

Pimp C · Jul 24, 2007

Good news can't wait too see this guy in the ring soon.

jaycuban · Jul 24, 2007

Pimp C said:

Good news can't wait too see this guy in the ring soon.
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tell me about it, ive been a fan forever im him and solis lol

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