Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Havana, September 8 - The Cuban two-time Olympic champion Julio César La Cruz will face the Iranian Amir Esmaeili, junior world bronze medalist in 2024, today in the heavyweight (+90 kg) round of 16 at the World Boxing Championship in Liverpool, United Kingdom.
The captain of the Cuban Trainers team is seeking his sixth world championship title after winning gold in Baku 2011, Almaty 2013, Doha 2015, Hamburg 2017, and Belgrade 2021.
If he wins the gold medal again, the star from the Caribbean country would equal the record held by his countryman Felix Savón, the leading gold medalist among men, and by India's Mangte Chungneijang "Mary" Kom, the most successful gold medalist among women, both of whom are now retired.
La Cruz (+90 kg) won his first fight last Friday by a unanimous decision of the five judges against Azerbaijani Mahammad Abdullayev in his opening match at the World Championship.
On Sunday, the Cuban fighters had one victory, Olympic champion Erislandy Álvarez (65 kg), but suffered two defeats from Rolando Martínez (55 kg) and Jorge Soto (80 kg).
Álvarez won 5-0 against the Spaniard Oier Ibarreche, aiming to surpass his previous world championship runner-up title from Tashkent 2023, while Martínez lost in the bantamweight division to Azeri Nijat Huseynov by 4-1, and Soto lost by a narrow 3-2 decision in the super middleweight against American Robby Gonzales, 2021 world champion.
As of Monday, the Caribbean island has three victories and five defeats, maintaining only three of the eight boxers sent to the competition still in the tournament.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, Erislandy Álvarez will face Kyrgyz Almaz Orozbekov, and flyweight Alejandro Claro (50 kg) will make his debut after receiving a bye in the first round due to being the leader of his division.
The world championship will be held until September 14 at Liverpool's M&S Bank Arena, which seats 12,000 spectators.
At its opening, the competition brought together more than 540 fighters of both sexes from 66 countries across five continents. (Text and photo: ACN)
