AGON Sports makes boxing history: The Berlin boxing stable has signed four Cuban Olympic stars for a historic boxing event in Varadero.
Following the undisputed deal for AGON’s IBF world champion William Scull, who will face WBA, WBC and WBO world champion Canelo Alvarez in May, AGON Sports has pulled off another spectacular coup. The Berlin-based promotion led by Ingo Volckmann has signed four Cuban Olympic medal winners, making a huge statement on the international boxing scene!
With Arlen Lopez (2x Olympic gold, 1x Olympic bronze, 1x World Championship gold), Julio Cesar La Cruz (2x Olympic gold, 5x World Championship gold, 1x World Championship bronze), Erislandy Alvarez (1x Olympic gold, 1x World Championship silver) and Lazaro Alvarez (3x Olympic bronze, 3x World Championship gold, 2x World Championship silver), AGON Sports is strengthening its squad with four absolute world-class boxers who already achieved legendary status as amateurs and are now continuing their professional careers under the AGON banner. The four exceptional Cuban athletes, who have already had their first professional fights, were also courted by other internationally renowned boxing teams, but in the end they decided to go their own way with AGON.
AGON Sports writes boxing history
But this is just the beginning: in a groundbreaking first, AGON Sports will organize a professional boxing event in Cuba for the first time in modern boxing history. The exclusive event will take place at the luxurious 5-star Melia Internacional Hotel in Varadero and marks a historic turning point in Cuban boxing. Since the Cuban revolution and Fidel Castro’s seizure of power, professional boxing had disappeared from Cuba. Now AGON Sports wants to write boxing history with this unique event. This represents a monumental step – both for Cuban boxing and for AGON Sports, which is establishing itself as one of the leading boxing promotions in Europe and beyond with this commitment. In addition to the four Cuban stars, AGON’s new signing Moussa Gholam will also step into the ring at this spectacle. WBA title fights are also planned for all five fighters.
“With this sensational coup, AGON Sports once again proves its international ambition and underlines its role as one of the most innovative and influential boxing stables in the global boxing landscape,” says internationally active matchmaker Flavio Oleaga Mirabal, who initiated the Cuba deal for AGON. But the project was not an easy one, explains the matchmaker, who only recently joined the AGON team and has maintained excellent relations with Cuba for years: “I’ve had a good relationship with the Olympic team and sports officials in Cuba for many years. We have been negotiating with the Cuban authorities for many months to get this great agreement in place. Many promoters have tried to do what we have done – without success. Now we have reached an exclusive agreement that not only provides for two events in Cuba per year and one in another country, but also writes boxing history with the first professional event in Cuba for years.”
Establishing professional boxing in Cuba
“This is a historic moment for boxing. Never before has there been such an event on Cuban soil and it is a great honor for us to work with these absolute elite boxers. AGON Sports is sending out a clear signal for international professional boxing,” explains promoter Ingo Volckmann. “We believe in the potential of Cuban boxing and want to build a sustainable future together with the athletes. Cuba’s Boxing President Alberto Puig is enthusiastic about our project and supports us. He had already commissioned Karim Bouzidi from the Cuban Boxing Federation to find a cooperation partner to integrate the Cuban Olympic boxers into professional boxing. In the end, we were awarded the contract.”
Ingo Volckmann continues: “Many Cuban boxers have had to leave their homeland in the past in order to become active as professionals. We want to change that, because our goal is to establish professional boxing in Cuba. Nevertheless, the Cuban Boxing Federation also has an interest in the athletes representing Cuba as professionals abroad, which is why we will not only be organizing events with them in Cuba. We have the exclusive rights to these exceptional boxers in the professional arena and want to establish a long-term cooperation with the Cuban side. The first event is planned for April, followed by another later in the year. If everything goes well, we will expand the cooperation further. It’s a big project with huge potential and we’re looking forward to creating something unique together with Cuba.”
Text: Press release / AGON Sports