The 168-pound champion of the World Boxing Association is Cuban Osvary David Morell

August 9, 2020

The Cuban boxer Osvary David Morrell claimed the World Boxing Association (WBA) crown in the 168-pound category by defeating his rival last Saturday night, Guyanese Lennox Allen, who had an undefeated professional record.

Morrell, 22 years old and a native of Villa Clara, is already the interim WBA champion with only three fights as a professional, something only comparable to the stories of extraordinary boxers such as Ukrainian Vasiliy Lomachenko and Thai Saensak Muangsurin.

In his third fight against Allen, the judges saw him win by unanimous decision, although he had to strain until the end of the fight, scheduled for 12 rounds. According to statistics from the website 15 rounds, the Cuban connected 207 of the 631 punches he threw while Allen could only land 90 times out of 522 attempts, so the fight was rated as "entertaining."

The Villa Clara native had his first fight as a professional in August 2019, a few months after leaving Cuba, where he had achieved a record (in the amateur world) of 130 victories and only two losses. In 2016 he was a junior world champion and a year later he was the national champion of Cuba in the light heavyweight division.

The two previous rivals defeated by Morrell were Yendris Rodríguez and Quinton Rankin, both by knockout in the first and second round respectively.

Morrell advances to 3-0 (2 KOs) with the victory, obtaining an interim version of a super middleweight title whose true contender is Englishman Callum Smith. With more performances like this, there is no reason to suggest that Morrell, who weighs 164.6 pounds and has his residence and training base in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is not well on his way to fight in the near future with elite boxers in the division.