Heirs of Gennady Golovkin Say Goodbye to Havana

(ATR) Despite the threat of COVID-19, Kazakhstan did not hesitate to send its best boxers to train in Miami and Havana.

They have just said goodbye to the Cuban capital and took the plane to Astana after completing almost two weeks of preparation with the Cuban preselection less than six months before the postponed Olympic Games in Tokyo.

When the Kazakhs arrived at the "José Martí" international airport 10 days ago, they found that the Cuban Institute of Sports had suspended all national and international sports activities until March due to the outbreak of coronavirus infections.

The only competition that was saved from the suspensions was the National Baseball Series, considered the main sporting event on the Caribbean island. But despite playing with the "bubble" format, the interruption of the "playoffs" has just been announced with the appearance of several cases of coronavirus in some teams.

January was the worst month of the pandemic in Cuba with a record of more than a thousand cases for one day, a situation that has forced the authorities to once again tighten restrictions, including reductions in international flights, especially from countries such as the United States, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Brazil.

"The presence of the Kazakh team in our facilities was very fruitful," the technical director of the Cubans, Rolando Acebal, told the local press.

The bilateral training base was also in a "bubble". So far, the emergence of contagions between Kazakh and Cuban fighters is not known.

During their stay in Cuba, the Kazakhs had to comply with strict sanitary protocols and the application of PCR tests frequently.

The joint training center was the traditional "headquarters" of Cuban boxers, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the center of Havana and very close to the airport.

Cuba is the only country capable of breaking the dominance of former Soviet republics such as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine on the Olympic and world podium.

"The sparrings looked like real matches. For the younger or less experienced of the Cuban preselection, it helped them to see, in some cases, fighters with a style that they had never faced before, "said Acebal.

Among the 16 boxers in the Kazakh delegation were four who have already qualified for the Olympic Games: Saken Bibossinov (52 kg), world bronze 2019; Serik Temirzhanov (57); Ablaikhan Zhussupov (69), 2019 world bronze, and Abilkhan Amankul (75), 2019 world runner-up.

The other four Olympic qualifiers, Zakir Safiullin (63), Bekzad Nurdauletov (81), Vassiliy Levit (91) and Kamshybek Kunkabayev (+91 kg), decided to train in Miami with professional boxers.

Several Cuban boxers with Olympic and world medals have defected to the south Florida city.. Several of them continue to prepare under the guidance of former coaches of the Cuban Olympic team in their new home.

In September 2018, Cuba and Kazakhstan starred in what would be the last event of the defunct World Series of Boxing. The stage was China and the Domaores won that final 7-3 over the Astana Arlans.

Cubans know their Kazakh colleagues very well since the time of the Soviet Union when they crossed gloves with figures such as Victor Demyanenko and Serik Konakbayev who were silver medalists of the Moscow Olympic Games -80, a time when the Cuban squad was commanded by the superstar Teofilo Stevenson, an idol among the Soviets.

Kazakhstan was recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 1993 and the 1996 Atlanta Games were the Olympic premiere of Kazakh boxers and stars such as Vassiliy Jirov (light heavyweight gold) and Bekzat Sattarkhanov (featherweight) and Yermakhan Ibraimov (light middleweight) at the Sydney 2000 Games.

Welterweight champions Bakhtiyar Artayev (Athens 2004), Bakhyt Sarsekbayev (Beijing 2008), Serik Sapiyev (London 2012) and Daniyar Yeleussionov (Rio 2016) solidified Kazakh dominance in that division, all well known to Cubans until they reached Gennady Golovkin ("GGG"), silver medalist in Athens 04, and one of the great professional figures at the beginning of this century.

Some former Cuban boxers who are now part of the coaching team on the island fought more than once with Golovkin.

Golovkin is arguably the best-known Kazakh in the world and he is a magnet to attract more and more boxers from his country towards professionalism.

Cuban boxing barely had international contact last year. Coincidentally, the last contact outside Cuba was a joint training session in Kazakhstan that also included the national teams of Japan and Hungary.

After bidding farewell to the Kazakhs in Havana, the Cubans plan, if the pandemic permits, to head for Moscow to continue their preparation for a Pre-Olympic of the Americas in May.

Uncertainty surrounding the pandemic has meant the IOC Task Force has yet to decide on a venue for the Americas qualifying tournament. The task force was forced to suspend the European Qualifier in London, a possibility that Around the Rings had anticipated earlier in January.

Homepage photo:JIT - CUBADEPORTES

Written and reported by Miguel Hernandez

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