Whatchagonnado: Cuban Boxers and Their Unrealized Potential in the Professional Ranks

By Roy “Sharpshooter” Bennett

Yep. That Miami good life ruins a lot of those Cuban cats man. It’s understandable though. Brought up dirt poor and training like demons from a real young age with the dream of making the national team so they can get an extra free meal. SMH. Medal at the world championships or the Olympics, go back home and you’re still no better off than the ragged family next door. F*** THAT!!! DEFECT!!! You end up in Miami – via river canoe through Europe – and comparatively the streets are paved with MF GOLD! Nightlife. Women. Fast cars. For the first time in your life you’ve got money in your pocket. And lots of it. Man, suddenly you don’t want to train so hard anymore.

Training hard is all you’ve ever done. It’s time to enjoy life a little. You got 3 or 4 side chicks, a nice house, a fast car. American life got good to you real quick. Training? Whatever? Then you take your first loss in the ring to a guy you shoulda beat easy. Then you fade from the boxing public view. How many Cuban standouts who came to America went out that way over the years? Too many, man. Too many. Joel Casamayor is one of the only Cuban amateur Olympic medalists who realised his considerable potential in the professional ranks when he came stateside. So the next time a Cuban boxer drops off the map after a much ballyhooed start? You know why.

[si-contact-form form=’2′]