HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 2 (ACN) With very good performances, Cubans middleweight Yoenlis Hernandez and Herich Ruiz assured bronze medals today, both by unanimous decision, in the afternoon round of the World Boxing Championships held at the Stark Arena in Belgrade, Serbia.
Hernandez, beginner in these contests, won the 5-0 (quadruple 30-27, 29-28) against Croatian Gabrijel Veocic, supported by the good use of his straight punches and the speed of his legs and hands, besides showing good defense against the attacks of his opponent. Tomorrow, for silver, the young Cuban will face Italian Salvatore Cavallaro.
Meanwhile, Ruiz effectively hit his swinnes from long distance against the Turkish Burak Aksin, who barely moved in the ring and was an easy target of his attacks. The five votes were a triple 30-27 and double 30-26. For silver, tomorrow he will face Loren Alfonso Dominguez, Cuban nationalized Azeri.
In this afternoon bout, Cuban welterweight Kevin Brown lost by a 3-2 vote to Georgian Lasha Guruli.
So far, Cuba has a balance of 18 wins and two losses.
Today, there are still three more Cubans to fight, led by four-time world champion and double Olympic gold medalist Julio Cesar La Cruz (92), Osvel Caballero (57), and double world champion and Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz (63.5).
For the first time in the history of the World Boxing Championships, medals will be paid: 100,000 dollars for gold, 50,000 for silver and 25,000 for bronze medals.