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Cuba-The First Competition

We arrived at the stadium for our first round bouts in Guantanamo,with all of our boxers,full of nerves.Australia A and Australia B were placed in the draw and some drew each other for the first round of competition.
We got to the venue early due to the opening ceremonie where we witnessed some great entertainment by Cuban Dancers.All teams walked out and were introduced to the crowd.

On day one of competition we were fortunate enough to win 3 bouts mainly against Indian opponents.
The stand out fights of the first round were Aus "B" Zac Dunn v India 75kg,Cuba1 v Cuba 2 91+kg and Cuba 1 v Cuba 2 81kg.
Zac Dunn was a crowd favourite,he was strong,flamboyant and aggressive and the Cuban locals loved it.What a showmanDunn was, playing up to the crowd at the same time as doing an excellant job on his rival,he was doing dance moves along with statue like poses and entertaining the crowd with his youthfull aggression.
Our stand out on Finals day was without doubt Alexie Muhkin.He had the biggest task of all when he was up against the Cuban 91+ champion who was anything but a crowd favourite after his close yet controversial decision against his countryman in the semi final.
Alexi was a superstar! The crowd cheered him like he was born and bred in Cuba and every punch he threw,the crowd couldnt help but scream and shout for him.Even though Alexi lost the bout,the crowd conitnued to be on his side,this included at the medal presentation where the vocal locals were even louder than in the bout ,when he was awarded his silver medal.

A great effort by everyone involved and I would like to thank all the Cuban Boxing association for making us feel welcome and inviting Australia to this great competition.

www.theboxingshop.com.au

Cuba Boxing Camp 2010

Our first competition in Cuba was in Guantanamo and we also had the pleasure of working with one of the best gyms in Cuba, Thanks for the opportunity Rafealo.

This Club has produced 6 Olympic medals and 40+ world championships over the span of 28 years that it has been running.

We met and trained with some exceptional young athletes ranging between 14yrs to mid 20's.

This Gym is very limited in equipment but the athletes that train here are all dedicated 100% and train twice daily everyday exept 1 session on Sat and Sunday is a rest day. The boxers fight every week and still back up for training if the bouts are on friday night and still train on Sat Morning if the fights are on Saturday night.

My favourite boxer from this Gym was a 17 yr old Cuban youth Champion,he had great footwork and his skills were supreme. This Kid really emphasises the rule of "hit and not be hit".

In 3 Days of partner work I saw him delivering punches but his ability to move out of the way after an attack was where he was very impressive.

The attached Photo's are :
a.2 Cuban Boxers and Australia's Luke Jackson hitting a rubber boxing bag that was self made by the local boxers and coaches.

b.The weights Gym

c.Me with 2 young local Cuban Boxers.

More Pics and Videos to come.

http://www.theboxingshop.bigcartel.com/

Cuba 2010

The Gym where we trained and prepared for our first competition was at Rafealo's Gym in Guantanamo (16 hour bus ride from the aiport in Havana).

Cuba 2010 boxing Trip

I recently returned from a Boxing camp In Cuba where I had the opportunity to learn and talk tactics and training procedures with some of the worlds finest coaches.
The Main thing I learnt from the Cubans is how important c0-0rdination training is.
Everyday the Cuban clubs and National Teams practise co-ordinated hand and foot exercises to improve the overall boxer rather than just there attacking and defensive techniques.
I saw 2008 Olymic Games Siver Medalist, Correa doing amazing dance moves with his feet during his own individual time for footwork training. Truely a master of footwork.Then there was the 81kg Boxer, La Cruz (what an unbelievable athlete),He was moving around the ring better than any 51 kg boxer.He was so light on his feet and had punches coming from all angles and his defensive and evasive actions were out of this world.

Check out our Youtube station where there are a few videos (with many more to come!)
http://www.youtube.com/user/theboxingshop01
also our group on facebook is http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=18266659688&ref=ts