Guantanamo.- Two-time Olympic Champion and five-time world champion Julio Cesar La Cruz Peraza, in the over 90 kg category, leads the delegation of eight boxers who will attend the 45th Independence Cup Boxing Tournament, held in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, from the 15th to the 22nd of this month.
A total of four men and four women will represent the Cuban archipelago, competing against boxers from the Bahamas, Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, and Ukraine, along with two national teams from the host country and two from Santiago de los Caballeros.
In addition to Julio Cesar, the Cuban men’s team also includes the Olympic champion Erislandy Alvarez; in the 65 kg, Saidel Horta, the 2023 world silver medalist; and Nelson Williams, in the 90 kg.
The four female representatives are world championship competitors Dayira Mesa, in the 70 kg, and Yoana Rodríguez, in the 75kg, along with Yailena Palomo, in the 50kg, and Magda Masó, in the 57kg category.
This event serves as preparation for the Qualifying Tournament to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico, from March 11 to 16, where the Cuban team for the Central American and Caribbean Games next July in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, will be selected.
Other boxers from the national pre-selection team who remain at the Urbein Quesada School in Havana, continuing their training, may also attend the Qualifying Tournament in Mexico next month, on the road to the XXV Central American and Caribbean Games.
Among the candidates are Guantánamo natives Giovis Salfrán (51 kg), Rolando Martínez (55 kg), Maikel Denis (80 kg), and Xavier Fernández and Leonis Thomas (90 kg). The delegation will include Ivan Horta as head coach for the women’s team and Eulises Pouyot as head coach.
