Cuban Defeats Cuban in Olympics Boxing
HAVANA TIMES — The emigrating of Cuban athletes to other countries has increased in frequency over the years making possible events such as yesterday with a Cuban facing a Cuban in a Rio Olympics bout.
Light welterweight Yasniel Toledo for Cuba met Lorenzo Sotomayor Collazo, a Havana native and cousin of Cuba’s Olympic high jump champ Javier Sotomayor (1992). Sotomayor Collazo was representing Azerbaijan his adopted country.
With a unanimous decision from the judges, the 31-year-old Sotomayor, a Cuban national champion in 2009, ended the hopes of Toledo, 26, to battle for his second Olympic Medal.
“These things happen. I wish him all the best and that things work out well,” Toledo, a lightweight bronze medalist four years ago told Reuters. “He was better, he did his work well and in the end he deserved the win.”
For those who don’t have much knowledge of Cuban sport, Javier Sotomayor was the first man in history to clear 8′ 0″ in the high jump. He achieved that world record in Casablanca and it remains the world record.
It would be interesting to know why this cousin of Javier left Cuba?