All 12 boxing stars went on the scale, in the presence of hundreds of fans in Havana’s Central Park and with former Panamanian star Roberto “Hands of Stone” Durán as a special guest.
A master class was held before with the participation of 150 pairs of children led by Cuban teachers.
I am very happy to be here and see so many children who practice this sport. Cuba is the best country in boxing. If you want to be happy, practice this sport, the president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), Umar Kremlev, from Russia, said.
After the weigh-in, everything was ready for the IBA Champions’ Night, with two professional fights at 19:00 hours (local time) at the emblematic Ciudad Deportiva (Sports City).
These two ten-round fights will feature two-time Olympic champions Arlen López (80 kilograms) and Julio César La Cruz (92) against José Luis Tejeda, from the Dominican Republic, and Madiyar Saydrakhimov, from Uzbekistan, respectively.
Erislandy Alvarez, the brand new gold medalist in Paris 2024 in 63.5-kg division, and two-time Olympic champion Roniel Iglesias (67) will fight in six rounds against Colombia’s José Ignacio Muñoz and Armenia’s Gurgen Mamoyan, in that order.
The other two six-round fights will involve Saidel Horta (57) and Ruslan Belousov, from Russia, and Lázaro Alvarez (63.5) against Mujibillo Tursonov, from Uzbekistan.
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