AWOL Cuban boxers to be unveiled in New York
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| Published on Friday, March 2, 2007 |
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BERLIN, German (AFP): Three Cuban Olympic champion boxers who disappeared from a training camp in Venezuela in December are to be unveiled at a press conference in New York next week.
Cuba reacted angrily in December when the three joined a long list of Cuban sports stars who have gone missing while competing or training abroad.
State newspaper Granma described the phenomenon as a "theft of talent" and firmly pointed the finger of blame at the United States.
However, although Odlanier Solis Fonte (heavyweight), Yan Barthelemy (light-flyweight) and Yuriorkis Gamboa (flyweight) will be unveiled in New York, their new promoters are German group Arena.
They have all signed three-year deals with the group created in Hamburg by former boxer Ahmet Oner.
"These three Olympic champions are an international sensation, the whole world is waiting to see them in action, so it makes sense to unveil them in New York," said Oner.
He added the three, all gold medallists at the 2004 Athens Games, would arrive in Hamburg no later than March 9.
The news is certain to anger Cuban authorities who announced a new plan in December to try to keep it's talent from escaping the impoverished Communist island nation, where they are forced to remain amateurs, to seek the big money on offer in capitalist West.
"In various Olympic forums, such as the National Assembly of Olympic Committees and the Pan-American Sports Organisation, Cuba has denounced the harassment that its sports suffer at the hands of unscrupulous dealers, which it describes as a theft of talents," said Granma last year.
"In most cases, the traffickers illegally transfer sportsmen to the United States whose authorities show indifference."
It is not just boxing which has been hit by desertions, such as current WBC lightweight champion and 1992 Olympic gold medalist Joel Casamayor.
Baseball has been badly hit with Jose Contreras, in 2002, and before that Orlando 'El Duque' Hernandez, in 1997, being lured by the millions of dollars on offer in Major League Baseball.
Volleyball has also lost several top players to the professional league in Italy while judo has been badly hit in recent years, despite the deserters not holding much hope of making money out of the martial art after defection. | | | | Reads : 22 |
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