On Sunday night, Guillermo Rigondeaux and Vasyl Lomachenko compete for the WBO World Champion title in super featherweight (Sun, 3 o’ clock live on DAZN). It is a top-class duel in Madison Square Garden – and only possible because Rigondeaux made two daring attempts to escape from his native Cuba a few years ago. With the help of the “German Mafia” – and quite to the annoyance of the then dictator Fidel Castro.
What Brazil loves football and baseball in the USA, Cuba loves boxing. The man vs. man-to-man duel is a popular sport: the Caribbean state has won 37 gold medals at the Olympic Games so far, more than almost any other country. The fistfighters are celebrated on the streets of Havana and worshipped as heroes.
One of these heroes was Guillermo Rigondeaux:”El Chacal”, as his battle name suggests, was considered to be a superstar in his early days. At just 20 years of age, he won Olympic gold for the first time in 2000, and four years later in Athens for the second time. The 1.64-metre long right-hand boom has repeatedly been named Cuban champion in the bantam weight (up to 53.5 kilos). Of the legendary 463 amateur fights, he lost only twelve.
Yes, Rigondeaux was something like the flagship of Cuban sports culture. Someone who was admired not only by ordinary citizens, but who also had the full appreciation of President Fidel Castro.
Until this one night in July 2007.
This evening, which was supposed to change the life of the then 27-year-old – and which led to one of the biggest sports scandals in Cuba’s recent history.
But in turn, Rigondeaux took part in the Pan-American Games in Rio de Janeiro. With his 104. Victory in a row he fought his way through to the quarter-finals, there was no end in sight for the winning streak.
However, while the opposing team was preparing for the quarter-finals, Rigondeaux were missing a few minutes before the first chime. In the event hall? In the training room? In the locker room? Nowhere else was the 1.64-metre-long favourite to be found. As if swallowed up by the ground, he caused his first defeat in eternity with his non-appearance.
What nobody in the Cuban camp knew at that time: Rigondeaux and his team mate Erislandy Lara had gone underground on a disco trip to Rio. Instead of returning to their communist homeland as planned, the duo signed a professional contract with the Hamburg boxing stables Arena Box-Promotion. Instead of continuing to lead the life of a simple amateur boxer, the big money was now waving in Germany.
Spicy: The Hamburgers around their infamous owner Ahmet Öner had just recently signed three more Cuban amateur boxers. A business in which not only the young sportsmen and European promoters, but also escape assistants and tugboats in Central America earn money in what is thought to be the ideal case.
“I have the life philosophy of a rebel and wanted to help,”says Öner in an interview with SPOX:”I don’t have to justify myself because we wanted the right thing. The mistakes were made by Castro and his anti-democratic regime, which restricted people’s freedom.”
When Cuba got wind of the project, Castro spoke furiously of the “German Mafia”, which “takes care of the selection, purchase and promotion of Cuban boxers at international tournaments” and uses “sophisticated psychological methods and many millions of dollars” to attract them.
He called the Arena press spokesman Malte Müller-Michaelis a “capitalist piranha”, as he reported to SPOX:”I thought it was funny, I didn’t have to worry about it. It was “a wild and crazy time”, Müller-Michaelis continued:”At the time, it was said that Rigondeaux had signed more professional contracts than autographs”.
But the plan of the fugitives did not work: after their Brazilian visa expired, the police arrested Rigondeaux and Lara. Instead of applying for asylum, the boxing duo had themselves delivered to Cuba without resistance. Allegedly, the two reported, they had never intended to flee, but were kidnapped and drugged when buying a video game.
Either way, there was nothing left of Castro’s admiration for Rigondeaux. It is true that the dictator in the Juventud Rebelde promised to “not to receive these citizens with any kind of arrest”, but to give them “honourable tasks” that “will correspond to their abilities and experiences and benefit sport”.
Nevertheless, Castro imposed a life-long ban on the alleged offenders. In order to make ends meet, Rigondeaux sold his trophies and gold medals. A sad life that lasted for two years – until he regained his courage and made a second attempt to escape.
This time with success: In February 2009 he managed to escape to Mexico with a speedboat over the Gulf, from there he went on to Miami. Leaving his wife and two sons behind, a new chapter in the life of the jackal opened up a completely different chapter.
He was contracted with Caribe Promotions after Öner had sold his shares and graduated on the 22nd day. May of the same year his first professional fight. He won it by technical knockout. against the US-American Juan Noriega, his first of 17 victories so far in 17 professional fights. In 2010 he put on his first World Cup belt.
Now, on the night of the coming Sunday, the Superbantam World Champion will face the WBA and WBO duel number 18. Vasyl Lomachenko, another unbeaten champion, is expected to face a much more difficult task. But one thing is certain: Rigondeaux has already successfully completed his most difficult battle – the fight for his life and his freedom.