Cuba Readjusts Its Boxing Divisions

HAVANA TIMES — Cuban Boxing Federation executives on the island have decided to realign their divisions with an eye on the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the reported newspaper Juventud Rebelde.

Robeysi Ramirez and Roniel Iglesias, champions in the 2012 London games, as well as Olympic bronze-medalist Yasniel Toledo, will be moved to higher divisions because of the “tough” conditions they would have to endure to maintain their previous weights.

“We’ll have to wait,” added the report, to see them in the ring in the new divisions to “confirm that they still have speed behind their punches after the reassignment.” Now they will be facing “much stronger” opponents, and as of January 2013 they’ll “no longer be fighting with headgear.”