Julio César La Cruz Leads Cuban Boxing Team for 2025 World Boxing Championships

Cuba is determined to reclaim its dominance in Olympic-style boxing, and to that end has assembled a strong squad for the 2025 World Boxing Championships, which will be held in Liverpool, England, from September 4 to 14.

When it comes to Cuban boxing on the Olympic stage, the name that shines the brightest today is Julio César La Cruz.

An Olympic champion at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, the fighter from Camagüey suffered a surprising early exit in his opening bout at Paris 2024, falling short of his bid for a third Olympic gold medal.

La Cruz, however, thrives on challenges. Rethinking his plans to step away from the Olympic cycle, he has now set his sights on competing at the World Boxing Championships, the first major international event in the lead-up to Los Angeles 2028.

Raising the stakes even further, La Cruz, captain of the Cuban team known as the Domadores de Cuba (Cuba Tamers), will move up to the highest weight class, over 90 kilograms. It is a division in which he has little prior experience and limited knowledge of his rivals, among them Uzbekistan’s two-time Olympic champion Bakhodir Jalolov and Spain’s Ayoub Ghadfa, the Paris 2024 silver medalist. Adjusting to this new weight class will be a key test for La Cruz, who remains in excellent form.

He will not be the only Olympic champion representing Cuba in Liverpool. Erislandy Álvarez, the nation’s sole gold medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, is another boxer to watch closely in the tournament.

The roster also includes Alejandro Claro Fizz, who came within reach of the podium in his Olympic debut, falling in the quarterfinals in Paris.

Other seasoned competitors in the squad are Jorge Cuéllar, who fought throughout the last Olympic cycle, and Nelson Williams, both of whom already have experience at world championship level.

Rounding out the lineup are three young prospects with their eyes on the future: Rolando Martínez, Luis Enrique Vinent, and Jorge Manuel Soto.