GERMANY/ FILE: BOXING - German boxing promoter at the center of Cuban boxer defection controversy
- 00:00:39
- ITN Source
GERMANY/ FILE: BOXING - German boxing promoter at the center of Cuban boxer defection controversy
A German boxing promoter is becoming the focus of controversy in the boxing world after questions recently arose regarding his involvement with two Cuban boxers who abandoned their team during the Pan American Games in Brazil. Guillermo Rigondeaux, two-time bantamweight Olympic champion, and welterweight world champion Erislandy Lara were arrested in Brazil on Thursday (August 2) for not having travel documents. They were since deported home to Cuba. But despite a newspaper editorial written by Fidel Castro saying the athletes would not be arrested, questions continued to swirl regarding the circumstances of their disappearances. After leaving their team, they had apparently wanted to defect to Europe but made no request for asylum in Brazil. Upon their arrest, they claimed they had been duped, drugged and kidnapped by individuals working for the German boxing promoter Arena and wanted to return to Cuba. However, Arena told the Brazilian media that the company had not forced the boxers to defect and that they had signed contracts and then changed their minds out of fear for the safety of their families in Cuba. Arena has a long history with Cuban boxers and is a lightening rod for criticism by the Cuban government. In December, Cuban boxers Yan Barthelemy, Yuriolkis Gamboa and Odlanier Solis deserted while training in Caracas for the Pan American Games. They traveled to Colombia, where they were denied U.S. visas and are now in Germany. All three have three-year contracts with Arena Box Promotions that pay them at least $1 million each and require them to live and train in Germany. Following the apparent defection of Rigondeaux and Lara, ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro attacked what he called a "mafia" in Germany which is luring athletes away from Cuba with the promise of professional contracts, but Castro's comments do not worry Oener. "He called me a mafiosi, and said I was the devil or Satan, and that I was turning his boxers into mercenaries of capitalism. I mean in the end he is a mercenary himself, he sold Guantanamo to the Americans, he does deals himself," he said. "He should give his boxers more money, then they don't need to defect. I personally am not very worried about Castro." Another Cuban, Juan Carlos Gomez has been boxing in Germany since the mid-1990s and when he arrived he was only 21 and could not speak any German. He is with Arena as well, and said that leaving Cuba was the best decision that Lara and Rigondeaux could have made. Gomez criticised Fidel Castro's regime for not allowing Cuban sportsmen to try a new career abroad. "People have to take their own decisions and I think if Castro was a little more intelligent, if he could give more opportunities to Cuban sportsmen, not only boxers, to allow them to pursue their careers in other countries, they would not be in Cuba," he said. For years, top Cuban baseball players have defected to the United States, drawn by million-dollar deals in the major leagues. At the 1999 Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, 13 Cubans defected.
ITN Source | August 6, 2007
