By Nelson Acosta
HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba announced this week that its top fighters would join the professional boxing circuit following decades of shying away from the sport after former leader Fidel Castro banned sports for pay following his leftist 1959 revolution.
The “Domadores de Cuba” team will participate this year in several professional leagues after signing a contract with the Mexican company Golden Ring Promotions, state television reported on Monday.
“Our boxers are going to be professional and Olympic champions,” said national team coach Rolando Acebal.
The president of the Cuban Boxing Federation, Alberto Puig, said that several Cuban boxers will debut in a professional programme in Mexico in May.
“In a first stage, a team of five or six boxers will participate,” Puig said, adding that four Cubans had already signed their contracts for three years.
Cuban sports officials said boxers would receive 80% of the compensation for winning fights, while 15% will go to trainers and 5% to their medical staff.
In a gym in Old Havana, boxers drenched in sweat celebrated the news while throwing punches.
“This is a ray of hope for Cuban boxing,” trainer Alberto González told Reuters on Tuesday.
“It would be very beneficial for Cubans … because the country’s economic situation is dire and it is a way to help (the boxers’) families financially,” he said.
The “Domadores de Cuba” team had competed since 2014 in the World Series of Boxing (WSB), a semi-professional tournament where athletes box without head protectors. Cuba won three of the five events in which it participated until 2018.
Cuba has won 41 gold medals in amateur boxing at the Olympic Games since 1972, although several of its top tier boxers have defected in recent years to participate in professional events in the United States.
(Reporting by Nelson Acosta and Reuters TV, writing by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Ken Ferris)
