Fourth Panamerican Cross for Julio Cesar
Havana, October 27 (PL) -- Cuban boxer Julio Cesar La Cruz made history today by becoming the first boxer to win four Pan American Cross in the history of the Pan American Games. La Cruz, standard-bearer of the Cuban delegation in this year's Santiago 2023 Games, pulled out the extra of the greats in the third round of the final bout against Brazilian Keno Marley Machado and secured the golden medal at the Olympic Training Center of the Chilean city.
Throughout the 19 editions of these continental sports festivals, only five boxers, all Cubans, had been crowned champions on three occasions: Orestes Solano, Julio González, Rolando Garbey, Lázaro Álvarez -this time without medals- and La Cruz himself, now a tetramonarch.
In a dialogue with Prensa Latina, La Cruz confessed that this was one of his great challenges, in his eagerness to remain in history among the best fighters on the planet, something he already has for sure thanks to two Olympic crowns (Rio de Janeiro-2016 and Tokyo-2020) and five world crowns (Baku-2011, Almaty-2013, Doha-2015, Hamburg-2017 and Belgrade-2021).
La Cruz reiterated that he always respects all opponents, whether or not he has faced them before: "for me, all opponents are strong, they fight to get their medal and represent their country as best as possible".
"I win my competitions with the preparation I do and from there the results achieved, we are ready to fight against any opponent, and may the best one win", he pondered.
This triumph in Santiago 2023 also assured his ticket for the summer event of Paris-2024, where he could complete his Olympic golden trio.
Precisely with regard to his future, the 34-year-old fighter from the central-eastern province of Camagüey, confessed that he is already thinking about hanging up his gloves, although he still does not know exactly when.
Apparently, he dreams of doing it in style if Cuba is designated to host the World Championship next year, when it will be four decades since the first World Championship was held in Havana.
