The Lost Jewels of Cuban Boxing: Ángel Espinosa

When you think amateur boxing, you think Cuba.

You’ll likely be familiar with the island’s status as a superpower in the unpaid ranks, with a staggering haul of 37 Olympic & 77 World Championship golds since 1968. You’ll also likely have heard of heavyweight greats Teófilo Stevenson and Félix Savón, who won three Olympic titles apiece, or bantamweight marvel Guillermo Rigondeaux who went on to become world champion in the pro’s after a stellar amateur career.

But what about Espinosa, Herrera and Horta? Or perhaps José Gómez, one of the greatest punchers of all time? All are master boxers in their own right, but have seen their achievements overshadowed by the towering legacies of icons such as Stevenson. It’s important that these names don’t fade into obscurity, yet the lack of literature makes that a very real possibility.

Which is why I felt compelled to write a piece on a handful of Cuba’s standouts, and take a deep dive into their remarkable careers. Kicking things off, we’ll be looking at one of the most fearsome knockout artists of all time - Ángel Espinosa.

“At his best, there’s no one in the world that can beat Espinosa” boasted Alcides Sagarra, the father of Cuban amateur boxing and head coach of the national team between 1964-2001.

He may very well have been right - Ángel Espinosa was, at his peak, simply frightening.

A converted southpaw, the Cuban was a perfect blend of technique and devastating power in both hands with a string of knockouts on his record. In the eyes of Russ Anber (former trainer of pound-for-pound star Oleksandr Usyk) Espinosa was the greatest amateur boxer he’d ever seen with the kind of talent comparable to Roy Jones Jr. His performances in the ring were unmissable, and so too was everything that took place outside of it. Espinosa is a cautionary tale of lost potential, a man with generational gifts who squandered them away all too soon. So, without further introduction, let’s dive straight into Espinosa’s story, and his rise and fall in the amateur ranks.

In 1981, a 14 year-old Espinosa competed in his first Cuban national championship at flyweight, where he was outpointed by Leonel Leyva. Espinosa would fall short again in 1982 and 1983, losing to Cuban veterans Adolfo Horta and Ángel Herrera Vera (more on those two later) at featherweight and lightweight respectively. But Espinosa’s first notable triumph came in the 1983 Junior World Championships, where the 17 year-old took gold at light-welterweight and announced himself to the world with a second round knockout of USA’s Meldrick Taylor (who would go on to become Olympic champion a year later) in the final. Cuba’s next amateur star had arrived.

Despite being denied the chance to compete in the Olympics due to Cuba’s boycott of the games, 1984 was a strong year for Espinosa. He captured his maiden national championship at 64kg, stopping 1982 light-welterweight world champion Carlos Garcia along the way in his most impressive display so far. Later on in the year Espinosa moved up to 71kg, where he lost a toe-to-toe war with 1980 light-middleweight Olympic champion Armando Martínez in the opening bout of Giraldo Córdova Cardín (widely considered the second most prestigious tournament on the Cuban boxing calendar).

Espinosa would not lose again for over two years.

In 1985 Espinosa won his second Cuban national title, defeating perennial rival Orestes Solano in the first of their eight contests in the amateurs. They met again in the final of Córdova Cardín a few months later, with Espinosa coming out on top to take his first Cardín crown. The 19 year-old Cuban then dominated in the Military Spartakiad of the Friendly Armies Tournament, stopping every opponent he faced in the first round.

If 1985 was impressive, 1986 was spectacular. In a rematch of the previous year’s national final, Espinosa left no doubt who was the better fighter with an emphatic KO of Solano in the second round. He followed this up with another title at Córdova Cardín, but now there was only one goal on Espinosa’s mind - establishing himself as the best light-middleweight in the world at the 1986 AIBA World Championships in Reno, USA. The Cuban underlined his claim with two stoppage victories in his opening bouts, before outpointing the USSR’s Manvel Avestiyan to set up a final with Enrico Richter of East Germany. Espinosa defeated Richter by decision to be declared world champion, in what would be the only major championship of his amateur career.

No longer able to trim down to 71kg, Espinosa moved up to middleweight in December and took on Darin Allen—the reigning world champion—in the USA-Cuba duals.

In what was his first fight at 75kg, the Cuban stunned onlookers by stopping Allen in the opening round; this was Espinosa at the peak of his powers, handling world-class opponents in imperious fashion. His undefeated streak ended just five days later after dropping a disputed split decision to home fighter Bomani Parker, but by the end of the year Espinosa had proven himself as arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in amateur boxing.

Espinosa’s fine form carried over to 1987, where he won his fourth consecutive national championship and third Cordova Cardín (beating Julio Quintana in both finals). The Cuban middleweight then took gold at the Pan-American Games, and once again iced Allen with a spectacular first round knockout that remains the most memorable performance of Espinosa’s career.

In October, Espinosa met East Germany’s Henry Maske in the final of the Boxing World Cup. Maske, who would go on to become an all-time great in amateur boxing, was already a world championship silver medallist at middleweight when he fought Espinosa and was coming into his prime. But in a dazzling tactical display that highlighted the Cuban’s technical aptitude and skill, Espinosa comfortably defeated Maske on points and was named the outstanding boxer of the tournament. He would square off against Maske two more times in 1988, both in Maske’s native Germany, and won both bouts by unanimous decision. Whilst Espinosa’s demolition of Allen was more iconic, his greatest wins were over the East German, who finished his amateur career with a spectacular record of 172 wins and 15 losses.

Espinosa’s exploits had also began to attract attention outside of the amateur ranks, in particular from a one Sugar Ray Leonard. During the US-Cuba duels, Leonard would visit the Cuban training camp solely to watch Espinosa train and was allegedly in awe of the Cuban middleweight in sparring practice. Similarly impressed was Mike Katz of the New York Daily News, who declared that Espinosa could challenge Leonard for the WBC super-middleweight title that month. Hyperbole, perhaps, but such lofty praise is indicative of just how special he was.

However, problems started to surface after Espinosa’s Olympic dream was once again denied when Cuba opted to boycott the 1988 games in Seoul. Maske, who Espinosa had comprehensively beaten no less than three times in a year, went on to win the gold medal at middleweight. The Cuban felt robbed of his chance at glory on the biggest stage, and became disillusioned with boxing. Worse still, difficulties with his second marriage led to the world champion looking for answers at the bottom of the bottle. Espinosa’s reputation as something of a womaniser was well-known throughout his career, as was his penchant for drinking, but by the end of 1988 his personal life began to spiral out of control. He stopped seriously training, and never reached such spectacular heights again.

In spite of this, Espinosa’s domestic dominance continued as he beat future light-middleweight world champion Alfredo Duvergel to win a sixth national title before triumphing over Duvergel again in the Cardín final. With the 1989 AIBA World Championships in Moscow fast approaching, Espinosa was heavily favoured to take gold at middleweight - especially considering Olympic champion Henry Maske had recently moved up to light-heavyweight. After blasting Poland’s Wojciech Misiak in his opening bout, Espinosa bested former opponent Enricho Richter to reach the semi-finals where he cruised to a 13-3 points win over Sven Ottke of West Germany (who would later go on to become a world champion in the professional ranks).

In the final Espinosa faced home favourite Andrei Kurniavka of the USSR, whose record stood at an impressive 107-15. Despite a strong start, Espinosa began to tire by the end of the first round and struggled to impose himself on his opponent. He was burnt out, with a lack of discipline in training costing him at the worst possible time. Espinosa later reflected in an interview that there was “nothing in the tank at all”. He lost by a controversial 13-3 decision, in a fight that was far more competitive than the scoreline would indicate; many even felt that Espinosa deserved to get the nod over his Soviet opponent. But regardless of the result, one thing was clear - at just shy of 23 years old, Espinosa was no longer at his formidable best.

Back at home, Espinosa’s troubles only got worse. Unable to dedicate himself to boxing, the Cuban took a year out of the sport and stopped training entirely. He returned as a light-heavyweight in 1991, once again winning the national championship and Córdova Cardín in what would be his final victory over old adversary Orestes Solano, before suffering a ligament injury two weeks before the Pan-American Games. A spat with the Cuban boxing federation regarding his dedication followed, and Espinosa quit boxing once again in anger.

But when Cuba announced that they would compete at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Espinosa saw an opportunity to win the one title that he had coveted throughout his career. The only way for him to regain a place on the Cuban team was to win at the national championships, and Espinosa decided the week before the tournament that he wanted to try and earn the 81kg spot. Despite only a few days of training, he finished runner-up at the nationals after being well-beaten by Solano in the final and lost to him again at Córdova Cardín. Luckily for Espinosa, he had one last chance - the Cuban boxing federation set up a tournament to determine team selection for the Olympics. Espinosa advanced to the final, where he beat Solano’s conqueror Yosvany Vega to make the national team.

Although Espinosa finally appeared at the Olympics, his dream of gold was not meant to be. He was small for a light-heavyweight, often coming into the ring looking a whole weight class below his opponents. Additionally, the Cuban had sacrificed his vaunted power in favour of superior speed - an attribute that was never part of his style. Espinosa beat Mehmet Gurgen of Turkey & Roberto Castelli of Italy, both by stoppage, but fell short against Wojciech Bartnik of Poland in the quarter finals. It was an opponent that Espinosa later admitted he would have easily beat when at his best, but years of little to no training and alcohol abuse had caught up with him.

Espinosa knew that his time was up, and retired for good following his exit in Barcelona.

Espinosa’s style - namely the upright stance, bouncy footwork and dexterous lead hand - was indicative of the Soviet school that heavily influenced Cuban amateur boxing. His relative lack of hand-speed was compensated by a strong grasp of distance and timing, and Espinosa’s manipulation of rhythm was superb, often lulling opponents with a pawing jab before exploding into his southpaw left.

In the video below, note Espinosa’s level changes as he feints high with his lead hand before firing a sharp jab to William’s midsection. With the threat of a body attack established, Williams lowers his guard in response to Espinosa’s feints which creates opportunities for the Cuban to land upstairs. As Williams circles away from the power hand, Espinosa pivots to line up his lethal straight left and knocks the American down. Whilst the Williams fight doesn’t necessarily highlight this, Espinosa was also a prolific finisher. In his prime he remained patient and rarely smothered his punches, working the head & body and splitting an opponent’s high guard with his lead hand. Of course, Espinosa benefited from having terrifying power; knocking fighters out cold in the amateurs was somewhat rare, but the consistency with which Espinosa did so was practically unheard of.

It feels strange to ask what if about a world champion with a reported amateur record of 294 wins and 16 losses. But Espinosa was simply that good, and it’s impossible not to ponder what he could have achieved if he remained dedicated to boxing. We could very well be talking about Espinosa as a two-weight Olympic champion if Cuba had participated in the 1984 and 1988 games and in truth, I would have favoured him to beat gold medallists Frank Tate and Henry Maske if he did compete. Hell, he could have had three golds to his name if he was at his best in the 1992 Olympics, in what could have been a fantastic matchup against reigning light-heavyweight world champion Torsten May.

We never saw Espinosa switch over to the professional ranks either, a decision that he later regretted for the rest of his life. One can only imagine the incredible fights he could have had against the likes of Jones, McCallum, Toney, Nunn, Kalambay, Eubank, Benn and Barkley.

Sadly those hypotheticals remain exactly that, and whilst Espinosa’s wasn’t quite as successful as once promised, he was truly brilliant to watch.