Champion Julio César La Cruz Lost and Says Goodbye to Paris 2024

July 28, 2024

Two-time Olympic champion Julio César La Cruz, better known as La Sombra, lost his fight this Sunday against Cuban-Azerbaijani Loren Berto Alfonso Domínguez, thus cutting short his path toward the third boxing title he aspired to win at Paris 2024.

Loren Berto, who competes in Paris under the flag of Azerbaijan, the country with which he won Olympic bronze in Tokyo 2020, in the light heavyweight category (75-81 kilograms), eliminated his compatriot by judges' decision (3-2).

"Unfortunate defeat of two-time Olympic champion Julio César La Cruz against Loren Berto Alfonso, a Cuban naturalized as Azerbaijani. Cuba loses one of its clearest medal options in boxing. Four other boxers remain in competition," indicated on its social networks the official portal Cubadebate.

At just 29 years old, the Cuban boxer naturalized as Azerbaijani eliminated La Sombra, a fighter who sees dictator Fidel Castro as an idol and who shouted "Homeland and Life no, Homeland or Death, We Shall Overcome!" after defeating his compatriot Enmanuel Reyes Pla, who competed for Spain in Tokyo 2020.

The three-year age advantage in his favor and seven centimeters in height, added to the pugilistic technique of the Cuban school of boxing and the training regimen followed with his new federation, gave Loren Berto an advantage that La Cruz did not know how to counter.

The flag bearer of the Cuban delegation in Paris displayed a poor performance in the ring, with little initiative and retreating too much. Three judges saw the Cuban-Azerbaijani win 29-28 and two judged the Cuban's performance superior (29-28 and 30-27).

This Saturday, the victory of Erislandy Álvarez over the Papua New Guinea boxer, John Ume, meant Cuba's first triumph in boxing at these Paris 2024 Olympics.

On the other hand, the debut of the Cuban selection's flag bearer meant the first defeat in this discipline in which Cuba maintains four athletes in its national team.

Two other Cubans, the Azerbaijani Loren Berto Alfonso Domínguez and the Spanish Enmanuel Reyes Pla, also remain in the fight for medals. To the surprise of many followers in Cuba, the renowned boxer Julio César La Cruz fell this morning (3-2) in a closely contested bout against fellow Cuban Loren Berto Alfonso.

Three judges saw Alfonso win 29-28 and two judged Julio César's performance superior (29-28 and 30-27).

Thus, the flag bearer of our delegation said goodbye early to Paris 2024, slipping away from us one of the surest golds we thought we would obtain.

Before stepping into the ring, Julio César was seeking his third gold in competitions under the five rings.

Nevertheless, the greatness of "La Sombra" La Cruz is not measured by a single fight and all Cuba continues to admire those fists that have given us two Olympic titles and five world titles. Chin up, champion, we stay with your achievements and with that hug you gave Lorembeto, a boxer trained in your same school, at the end of the bout.

"Everything I have achieved in boxing I owe to Cuba. Julio C. La Cruz has always been my idol since I started in the sport, I have always wanted to be like him. Today the victory was mine, for me Julio is the best of all time," said Loren Berto Alfonso to Radio Rebelde, after defeating the captain of the Tamers in Paris 2024.

Following the triumph, Loren Berto Alfonso explained to the press that he had approached the bout as a final "because I knew I was fighting against the best in the world and, ultimately, the result was in my favor.

"It was a good fight. In the ring I wasn't thinking about whether I was winning or losing, I was just doing my job," he said.

Meanwhile, his trainer Pedro Roque commented that they came up with a tactic focused on defense. "It was necessary to neutralize Julio's right hand, if we achieved this, with the series of counterattack punches that Berto throws we knew we could win.

"I recognize that it was an even bout. We should congratulate both of them, they landed good punches from various angles," Roque concluded.

"It was a difficult fight, it was something known beforehand. Loren Berto had been European and world champion, Olympic medalist; he was our student, the two come from the same school and know each other. The second round was the decisive one, in a very even bout.

"Fights are decided by details, there is a lot of skill here and whoever manages to overcome them takes it. We must recognize that it was a very tactical fight and that Loren is a tremendous boxer," assured Rolando Acebal, technical chief of the Cuban boxing squad, to the press.