Robert Alfonso

Robert Leodan Alfonso Acea (born November 11, 1986 in Havana ) is a Cuban boxer .

Career

Robert Alfonso started boxing as a teenager. He has been a member of the Havana performance center since 2004 and was Cuban junior champion in the heavyweight class (up to 91 kg body weight) in 2004. In 2004 he also took part in the Junior World Championships in Jeju / South Korea in the heavyweight division. He won there over Murat Karatajew, Kazakhstan and Newfel Ouatah from France each on points, but lost in the semifinals against Evgeni Romanov from Russia because he had to be taken out of the fight due to an injury. In 2004 he also took part in the Cuban senior championship and finished 3rd in the heavyweight division after a semi-final defeat against world champion Odlanier Solís .

In 2005 he started again at the Cuban Senior Championship. He came there in the heavyweight division in the quarterfinals to a point victory over José M. López. Further results from him at this championship are not known. At the Cuban Championship 2006 Robert Alfonso lost in the heavyweight division in the quarterfinals against Reinier Hernández and came in 5th place. The winner of this championship was world champion Odlanier Solís , who left for Germany shortly afterwards .

In 2007 Robert Alfonso switched to the super heavyweight division. In January of this year, he became Cuban champion in this weight class for the first time with a points win (12: 5) over the experienced Michel López . Next up was the first qualification for the Pan American Championships in 2007, which took place in Barquisimeto / Venezuela . He won there over Amilcar Cabrera from the cathedral. Rep. By breaking off in the 3rd round and over Oscar Rivas from Colombia on points (21:12) and came to a non-fighting victory over Johnny Molina from Venezuela, with which he won this tournament.

In April 2007 there were challenge fights between the Cuban boxers of the national team in Havana. Robert Alfonso won over Luis Felipe Debrot by breaking off in the 3rd round and over José Miguel López on points (18: 1). He also took part in the famous "Giraldo Cordova Cardín" tournament in Santa Clara , where he won the super heavyweight division with victories over Jardo Sebastião, ANG, Luis Felipe Debrot and Michel López.

Robert Alfonso won the super heavyweight division at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro over Johnny Molina (18: 6), Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Brazil and Oscar Rivas (8: 4). At these competitions, the multiple world champions Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara defeated the Cuban team , but were arrested by the Brazilian police after the communist regime had influenced them in Cuba and given the fact that their visas had expired and they did not want to apply for asylum, transported back to Cuba, where they were immediately banned from competition for life. As a punishment for the behavior of their teammates, the Cuban boxers were then not allowed to participate in the World Cup in Chicago in September 2007 on the instructions of the Cuban political leadership . This meant that Robert Alfonso also got a start at the 2007 World Cup.

Instead of participating in the World Cup, a large team tournament between the Cuban performance centers took place in Havana, which lasted from November 22nd to November 28th, 2007. Robert Alfonso had to box five times this week. He won over Luis Felipe Debrot, Santiago de Cuba , on points (10: 2), over Isbey Rodríguez, Sancti Spíritus , by breaking off in the 2nd round, Luis Pons, Guantánamo , on points (8: 1), lost to Luis Ortiz , Camagüey , on points (5:10) and again won over Michel López, Pinar del Río , on points (7: 1). For Robert Alfonso, this tournament may not have been a substitute for the lost World Cup participation. In tournaments like this, which are extremely strenuous, the Cuban boxers get not only the hard training, but also the toughness and assertiveness for their many international successes.

The year 2008 began with the Cuban championship, in which Alfonso again won the super heavyweight title with a victory in the final over Michel López. He then qualified in March 2008 in Port of Spain on Trinidad for participation in the Olympic Games in Beijing . He was there with a victory in the final over Michael Hunter from the USA tournament winner. In April 2004 the 4th Cuban "Olympiad" took place, a major international boxing tournament. Robert Alfonso won the super heavyweight division over his compatriots Luis Pons and Noel Hernández on points and clearly defeated Ilya Faydschulin from Russia on points in the final battle (15: 2). The last test before the 2008 Olympic Games was participation in the Pan-American Championship in Cuenca / Ecuador . Alfonso won there against Gleirson Abreu from Brazil on points (6-0), but then surprisingly suffered a narrow point defeat in the final battle against Oscar Rivas, whom he had defeated twice in 2007, and only came in second.

At the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 Robert Alfonso disappointed, because he lost his first fight there against Vyacheslav Hlaskow from Ukraine on points (3: 5), was eliminated and only reached 9th place. In December 2008 he was able to rehabilitate himself at the World Cup in Moscow for this poor performance with a heavyweight victory. He beat the Chinese Olympic silver medalist Zhang Zhilei on points (4: 1), defeated Nijaz Faydschulin from Russia on points (11: 4) and remained in the final without a fight over Marko Tomasovic from Croatia .

In January 2009 Alfonso became Cuban super heavyweight champion for the third time in a row. In the international match against Italy in May 2009, Alfonso lost to world and Olympic champion Roberto Cammarelle by knockout in the first round and was unable to compete for the rematch a few days later. He then lost his place in the Cuban national relay to junior world champion Erislandy Savón , nephew of Cuban boxing legend Félix Savón .

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, heavyweight, up to 91 kg, super heavyweight, over 91 kg body weight)

year	space	competition	Weight class
2004	3.	Junior World Championships in Jeju / South Korea	Heavy	behind Ewgeni Romanow , Russia a . Azizjon Rachmanow, Uzbekistan , together with Elchin Alizada, Azerbaijan
2007	1.	Qualifying tournament for the Panamerica. Games in Barquisimeto / Venezuela	Super heavy	before Johnny Molina , Venezuela a . Oscar Rivas , Colombia
2007	1.	"Giraldo Cordova Cardín" tournament in Santa Clara / Cuba	Super heavy	before Michel López u. Luis Felipe Debrot, bde. Cuba
2007	1.	Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro	Super heavy	in front of Oscar Rivas, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Brazil a. Didier Bence, Canada
2008	1.	Olympic qualification tournament of the America group in Port of Spain in Trinidad	Super heavy	before Michael Hunter , USA
2008	2.	Strandjata tournament in Plovdiv	Super heavy	after losing to Kubrat Pulew , Bulgaria
2008	1.	4. Cuban "Olympics" in Havana	Super heavy	in front of Ilja Faydschulin , Russia a. Noel Hernández, Cuba
2008	2.	Pan American Championship in Cuenca / Ecuador	Super heavy	behind Oscar Rivas u. in front of Gleirson Abreu, Brazil
2008	9.	OS in Beijing	Super heavy	after a point defeat (3: 5) against Vyacheslav Hlaskow , Ukraine
2008	1.	World Cup in Moscow	Super heavy	with point wins over Zhang Zhilei , China a . Nijaz Faydschulin , Russia a . a non-fighting victory over Marko Tomasovic , Croatia

Cuban championships

• 2004, 3rd place, S, behind Odlanier Solís u. Noel Pérez,
• 2005, 3rd place, S, behind Yoan Pablo Hernández and Luis Ortiz ,
• 2006, 5th place, S, winner: Odlanier Solís ahead of Leonardo Enrich,
• 2007, 1st place, SS, in front of Michel López ,
• 2008, 1st place, SS, in front of Michel López and Luis Ortiz,
• 2009, 1st place, SS, ahead of Orlando Rabí

swell

• Box Sport trade journal from 2004 to 2008
• Website "www.amateur-boxing.strefa.pl"
• "Sports123.com" website

Web links

• Robert Alfonso in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )