Boxing, women in the ring in Cuba: one of the latest restrictions has been dropped

Forty-one Olympic gold medals, boxing appreciated all over the world. Only on a male level though… In Cuba women couldn’t enter the ring, or rather they did it contrary to what was indicated by the state, cultivating a dream like that of Namibia Flores, who even fought against males in order to emerge. Today a totally anachronistic taboo has finally fallen: for the first time since Fidel Castro’s 1959 Revolution, women have entered the ring. Seven matches that, regardless of the technical level expressed and the career that the athletes will have, have already made history.

“I feel super proud. Winning an official competition is a dream come true for me. We women have been waiting for this possibility for a long time,” said Eliani de la Caridad Garcia, 27, mother of a 2-year-old girl. It was the first to win, probably also the first to dream of going to the Central American and Caribbean Games, scheduled for San Salvador, in June 2023. Cuba therefore aligned itself, It had remained one of the few countries that did not practice women’s boxing among the 202 member federations of the International Boxing Association. Trainer Julio Cesar Morales, who trained male boxers for decades, has now started working with women and he has no doubts. Perhaps not immediately, but in the medium term Cuba will honor its extraordinary boxing tradition also in the women’s field.