‘It hurts to know that Orlando Martinez Romero, our beloved Orlandito, the fighter, the first Olympic champion of revolutionary sports in Munich 1972, died,’ Osvaldo Vento Montelier, president of the Cuban Sports Institute (INDER), wrote on his Twitter account.

‘He shone in other struggles and was an undefeated champion regarding his fidelity to his people, condolences from #InderCuba to the family and friends,’ the sports official said in honor of one of Cuba’s greatest boxers of all times.

Orlandito was born on September 2, 1946, in the Havana neighborhood of Juanelo, his beginnings in boxing date back to 1963 in the Luyano Moderno gym.

He competed in the Olympic events in Mexico 1968, Munich 1972 and Montreal 1976. He was the Pan-American champion in Mexico 1975 and a bronze medalist in the Central American Games in Santo Domingo in 1974, in all cases in the 54-kg division.

He won the Giraldo Cordova Cardin International Tournament three times and was the national champion several times.

After retiring from active sport, he devoted to the noble task of teaching the younger generations, for which he too deserved praise.

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