Cuban Olympic boxer Andy Cruz leaves for Dominican Republic

June 20, 2022

Olympic champion and major star of Cuban boxing Andy Cruz joins the list of athletes abandoning the Island. According to Cuban journalist Willie Suárez, resident in the USA, the boxer is in the Dominican Republic, where he was located after authorities noted that he did not show up at the Playa Girón National Boxing Championship.

"We can now confirm it. Andy Cruz, on his way to professional boxing. Andy was expected yesterday at the Playa Girón tournament and he didn't show up. Authorities immediately went out looking for him everywhere and couldn't find him. Andy is already out of Cuba and very soon, live with Willie Suarez", announced the specialist on his Facebook page Boxeo Cubano, from which he reviews current events in Island sports.

The official magazine Jit had announced hours earlier the beginning of the tournament in Playa Girón. "Two-time Olympic champions Roniel Iglesias, Arlen López and Julio César La Cruz lead the registered stars, a roster from which Andy Cruz is absent", the note indicated. According to commissioner Alberto Puig de la Barca, "he was absent from the last training sessions and traveled to the competition venue".

Andy was expected yesterday at the tournament and didn't show up. Authorities immediately went out looking for him everywhere and couldn't find him. Andy is already out of Cuba"

Since then, according to Willie Suárez, he was being searched for everywhere. Cruz was considered one of the major stars of national boxing, however, he was excluded from the Domadores de Cuba team, which participated this May in the Palenque at the San Marcos Fair, in Aguascalientes (Mexico).

The formation of that team was supposed to mark a return to professionalism in this sport after decades of amateurism, promoted by Fidel Castro, who described professional boxing as "inhumane and lacking in principles".

Rolando Acebal, his main trainer, attributed the Matanzas native's exclusion to "a decline in his performance and attitude in the gym". According to the expert, it was "a somewhat strategic decision". "Now it's not very healthy for him to go to that fight", he added. This exclusion may have been the trigger.

"Andy left Cuba the same way we all left it, those of us born in it, and one day we said goodbye, with sadness. He didn't betray anyone or abandon anything. Andy, being young, simply dreams of living in freedom and with the opportunity to fight for a better future where there are options without them being imposed", Suárez added in a Facebook post in which he notes that there are those responsible for departures like this.

"Cuba is the cradle of talent where on every corner a boxer is born with the possibility of being an Olympic and world champion. In Cuba they are forged but they cannot be forced to think one way or live in an old-fashioned manner based on ideologies that not even their parents share", he considers.

In his opinion, absurd situations occur such as not allowing boxers to have tattoos, and other more serious ones, such as trainers not defending their fighters from political charges.

An example of the latter, according to the reporter, are Cruz's own recent statements that, after being excluded from the professional competition, said he would continue focused on doing his work and denied "those false comments being made on social media" in reference to those who were already speculating about his departure. According to Suárez, the boxer was being pressured to stay.

"The Federation did everything possible including compromising him, by pressuring him to produce a video in front of 'Jit journalists' where Andy is seen expressing his gratitude for the opportunity to box in Cuba and denying rumors on social media (which were always true). Cuban sports administration did not count on Andy's cleverness, who (apparently) was already prepared to take the step he took", Suárez adds.

The boxer is one of the athletes who were rewarded by the Cuban Government after obtaining Olympic medals in Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021 due to the pandemic). The champions were given high-end Mercedes-Benz cars in January and most of them showed great gratitude to authorities and the late Fidel Castro. With the boxer's departure, there are now two award recipients leaving the vehicle on the Island, following the departure of canoeist Jorge Enríquez, who arrived in the USA in March.