The Hard Rock Café and Casino Hollywood in Miami will have to wait a few more days to in their ring the Cuba Domadores in the quarter-final stage of the IV World Series. The expected match between the Cubans and the USA Knockouts, originally scheduled for Friday, has been postponed to April 11, as declared by the American organizers and the Cuban Boxing Federation (BPF).
Although the exact reasons for the decision are not known, only that FCB has released an official note which clarifies that the measure “responds to a decision of the management of this event.” The Cuban squad was readying the latest strategies in his headquarters at the National School of Boxing “Holvein Quesada” before making the trip to the US “when we were informed by that entity on the suspension and urged to stop waiting for a communication with the details, “reads the statement issued a few hours ago.
OnCuba tried to obtain a statement from the FCB over the phone but their managerial position was not to grant any assessment in this regard, due to the versions circulating in various media to the topic in a biased way. In its official statement reiterated “the will to make the relevant assessments once we have all the elements that tournament’s managers should send.”
This reversal in the calendar of the World Series undoubtedly harms the Cuban boxers who will now have to open the match at home (April 4) and close the last five fights in Miami (April 11). However, the Domadores are still the heavy favorites to access the semifinals against which is victorious at the match between Russians and Ukrainians.
Who would climb the ring for the Domadores in the first date?
The first novelty is the presence of the middleweight Emilio Correa, 2008 Beijing Olympic runner up who replaced Julio Cesar La Cruz in the 81 kg division. Correa was absent in official scenarios since May 2012 and his being called responds to his excellent competitive shape, contrary to what La Cruz has shown in the training sessions.
“He had absences to the gym for different reasons and he is not at the top of his potential,” Rolando Aceval , head of the technical group of the national team coaches, said . Alongside Correa have been registered so far Roniel Iglesias (69 kg ) , Lazaro Alvarez (60 kg) , Gerardo Cervantes ( 52 kg) and super heavyweight Yoandis Toirac .
The Domadores clearly won the Group B of the contest and harvested 9 successes out of 10 and accumulated in the qualifying stage 28 points. Meanwhile, the USA Knockouts only got 11 points to finish fourth in the group A.