Sagarra led the boxing team until 2001, when he decided to retire.
Photo taken from Prensa Latina

Havana, August 18 (RHC)-- Alcides Sagarra, considered the Father of the Cuban Boxing School, celebrated his 86th birthday on Thursday with the endorsement of an everlasting legacy to amateur boxing on the island and worldwide.

Born in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, on August 18, 1936, Sagarra -Doctor in Pedagogical Sciences- stood out as an athlete in the 50s of the last century.

Due to his bronchial asthma, he was unable to continue his career.    But this physical situation did not discourage him and after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1, 1959, possibilities opened up for him and he took a path towards teaching and became a sports coach in 1962.

Since 1963, he assumed the direction of the teachers' collective of the national team and from that year until 1964 he received valuable help from two colleagues, one coming from the then German Democratic Republic, Kurt Rosentil, and the other from the disappeared Soviet Union, Andrey Chernovenko.

From them he took all his knowledge and with such knowledge he took his steps towards a pedagogy of excellence in the pugilism of Cuba.

He trained several generations of world-renowned boxers such as Enrique Regüeiferos (63.5 kilograms), Rolando Garbey (71) and Roberto Caminero (60), Cuba's first Pan American champion in 1963.

Later on, he brought to stardom men like Teófilo Stevenson (81 and over 91 kilograms) and Félix Savón (91).

He never stopped studying and always aspired to grow, until he obtained a doctorate in Pedagogical Sciences in 1992.

Sagarra managed the boxing team until 2001, when he decided to retire.

In his excellent record of services rendered to the sports movement are the achievement of 32 gold medals in the Olympic Games, 63 in world events in senior categories and 64 among youth and cadets.