Arlen López Fights On as Cuba's Sole Semifinalist at IBA World Championships

Arlen López (80 kg) provided the only victory for Cuba in today's quarterfinal round of the 2025 International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships in Dubai.

A decade after reigning supreme in the Doha edition, the double Olympic champion secured at least a bronze medal on a challenging day for his teammates Giorvis Salfrán (51 kg), Fernando Arzola (+92 kg), and Julio César La Cruz (92 kg).

Arlen faced a well-prepared opponent in Tajikistan's Nekruz Salimov, advancing with a 4-3 decision resulting from an additional vote activated when the initial scorecard is 3-2.

His semifinal bout for a place in the gold medal contest will be this Thursday against Uzbekistan's Javokhir Ummataliev, who won the World Boxing-organized universal tournament in September and was the 2022 youth world leader.

The debuting Salfrán fell 0-5 to Armenia's Rudolf Garboyan. Arzola, the silver medalist at Tashkent 2023, also lost by unanimous decision (0-5) to Uzbekistan's Arman Makhanov.

Julio, a double Olympic gold medalist and owner of five world championship belts, was left without the opportunity to match the six titles of his compatriot Félix Savón. He lost 1-4 to another Uzbek boxer, Turabek Khabibullayev, the reigning World Boxing champion. This was his ninth appearance at this level of competition, a career complemented by two bronze medals. The outcome left divided opinions regarding the officials' scoring.