www.kubaforum.info - Das deutsche Kubaforum

Comandante · Verfasst am: 18.11.2005 10:33 Titel: Cuba draw first blood in boxing

Cuba draw first blood in boxing

MIANYANG, China: Cuba drew first blood against world champions Russia yesterday in an explosive first clash by the two teams tipped to scoop up most of the gold medals at the world amateur boxing championships here.

With three-time heavyweight Olympic champion Teofilo Stevenson bellowing instructions to his countryman from the stands, classy southpaw Erislandi Lara outgunned Andrey Balanov of Russia in the battle of welterweights.

Lara's win helped Cuba put 10 out their 11 fighters into today's quarter-finals.

But for two fleeting moments yesterday, unheralded Canadian lightweight Ibrahim Kamal showed the world that the Cubans, arguably the number-one force in amateur boxing, may have jaws of glass after all.

The University of Toronto student knocked down Yordanis Ugas in the first and second rounds with two sledgehammer lefts to the side of the chin.

But then the Canadian southpaw hurt one knee as he and Ugas wrestled each other to the floor on the third round, leaving him effectively fighting on one leg.

MORE:
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=127216&Sn=SPOR&IssueID=28243