My name is Héctor Vinent Charón. Since 2005, I have worked as a trainer at the Rafael Trejo boxing gym in Habana Vieja. I train athletes in 13-14 and 15-16 categories. I come from Santiago de Cuba, from the Los Songos gym. I’ve been involved in boxing from a very early age.
I had to retire from actively practicing boxing in 2000 after an operation for a detached retina, a result of the blows involved in this sport. For five years, I worked in gastronomy. I didn’t want to hear anything about boxing, I was frustrated. Ángel Moya, my current training partner, was the one who insisted that I go back to the gym, to give the best of myself to these kids. Ever since then, my students have finished among the top three in all of their competitions.
The most difficult thing about my profession is training systematically and maintaining a stable body weight. On the national team, they gave you three kilograms [6.6 pounds] of tolerance when you weren’t in competition. But leading up to a tournament, you had to gradually come down until you reached your regulation weight. When you don’t stick to these two things, the consequences are serious. Before every fight they weigh you to see whether you’re at the right weight. If you’re over, you’re disqualified. During a Playa Girón championship, I lost a fight because of [being disqualified for] my weight and I was penalized for a year. It is very hard to be at a buffet with lots of tasty things and only take an orange and two boiled eggs while other athletes stuff themselves. That was always hard for me. In Denmark, after the Atlanta Olympics, I almost went through the same thing again. After a very heated argument with my trainers, I had to lose 4 kilograms [8.8 pounds] in a single day, wrapping myself up in newspapers, plastic bags and coats, training hard and eating almost nothing.
I was an Olympic champion in the ’96 Atlanta Games and in the ’92 Barcelona Games and I won several world and Central American championships. One dream that remains unfulfilled is winning the Pan-American championship. I was in the ’95 Mar del Plata Games, and they stole the fight from me in an obvious case of match-fixing for an Argentine athlete. When something like that happens, you wish that you were somebody else, that you could disappear. I locked myself in my room and thought a lot about my family and about the people, who always expect you to give your best.
I’m 40 years old and I have five children, four girls and one boy, who is seven and not interested in boxing yet. I have always had offers to work as a trainer outside of Cuba, but any decision about whether or not to accept that does not just depend on me. If I could choose which foreign athletes I would train, I would pick Mexicans, who are very powerful fighters. My boxing idol is Pernell Whitaker of the United States, who is now retired.
If I were to come back in another life, I would be a boxer again. Boxing is my life. If I had a second opportunity, I would be more disciplined about my weight; I wouldn’t want to repeat those negative experiences. I’m retired from active boxing, but I still feel like a boxer, even though I can’t do what I used to do. Boxing is everything to me.
Author
Alain L. Gutiérrez Almeida
May 2015 the 2d, I visited Rafael Trejo Boxing Gym. There I had the opportunity to see Héctor Vinent training his young guys. It was quite impressive to me to be near such an athlete, a champion, transing his art, in this famous and ascetic club, due to the country’s economic situation. All these people have lessons to gave to us. I have a photo of us together, that I may transmit. Hello and respect to Héctor Vinent and his club, from a French passer-by!
May 2015 the 2d, I visited Rafael Trejo Boxing Gym. There I had the opportunity to see Héctor Vinent training his young guys. It was quite impressive to me to be near such an athlete, a champion, transmiting his art, in this famous and ascetic club, due to the country’s economic situation. All these people have lessons to gave to us. I have a photo of us together, that I may transmit. Hello and respect to Héctor Vinent and his club, from a French passer-by!