Yankiel León

Yankiel León Alarcón (born April 26, 1982 in Jobabo ) is a Cuban boxer .

Career

León started boxing as a teenager and was very successful as a junior. In 2000 he became the Cuban junior light flyweight champion. He was then allowed to compete in the Junior World Championship in Budapest that same year , where he won the world championship with four wins. In the final he defeated Salim Salimow from Bulgaria on points (14: 7). He also took part in the pre-Olympic tournament of seniors in Havana in 2000 and reached the final fight in light flyweight, in which he was defeated on points against his compatriot Yuriorkis Gamboa .

From 2002 León started regularly at the Cuban championships and the international tournament of the Cuban boxing association Giraldo Córdova Cardín . At the Cuban championships, where he first started in flyweight and from 2003 in bantamweight, he did not get into the final fight in the years 2002 to 2004. The best Cuban boxer and also the best boxer in the world in the amateur bantamweight camp was his compatriot Guillermo Rigondeaux from 2001 to 2007 . He boxed eight times and lost eight times against Rigondeaux.

In the Cuban championship of 2005 León lost to Guillermo Rigondeaux in the semifinals on points, where his defeat with 5:17 goals was relatively clear. A year later, in 2006, he lost again in the semifinals against Rigondeaux, this time even closer, namely only 8:11. At the Cuban Championship in 2007 he met Yasnier Toledo in the semifinals and had to admit defeat to him on points (9:15). In 2008 he finally became Cuban champion. He defeated Arsenio Batista by breaking off in the 3rd round, Yasnier Toledo (11: 4), Lazaro Alvarez (15: 7) and Yurien Fabregas (17: 4) on points. Guillermo Rigondeaux was missing from this championship. He had been sidelined by the Cuban boxing association after a failed attempt to escape to Germany in 2007 in Rio de Janeiro on the highest instructions.

Due to the clear dominance of Guillermo Rigondeaux in Cuba in the bantamweight division, he came only to a few appearances at international championships or tournaments. In 2002 he started at the Giraldo Córdova Cardín tournament in flyweight and won there in the final fight against Yuriorkis Gamboa with 13:12 goals, against which he then lost on points at the 1st Cuban Olympics in Havana in 2002 in the final fight. In 2003 he was at the Giraldo Córdova Cardín tournament in Santiago de Cuba in bantamweight at the start, but lost in the semifinals against Rigondeaux on points (1:14). In 2004 he was defeated at the II. Cuban Olympiad again against Rigondeaux on points (2: 9) and with a defeat against Rigondeaux he was eliminated in 2005 at the Giraldo Córdova Cardín tournament in Cienfuegos after the first round. At the III. At the 2007 Cuban Olympics he lost in the round of 16 against the Venezuelan Héctor Manzanilla on points and at the 2007 Giraldo Córdova Cardín tournament in Santa Clara he lost in the final against Guillermo Rigondeaux for the last time. His point defeat was very close with 4: 6 hits.

In the absence of Guillermo Rigondeaux, León fought his way to the first place in bantamweight in Cuba in 2008 and also achieved some nice successes in international tournaments. After his victory at the Cuban championship, he also won the IV. Cuban Olympics in Havana. He defeated his compatriots Lazaro Alvarez a. Osnieris Hernandez and the Colombian Jose Carmona on points. In the final battle he came to a non-fighting victory over Yoandry Campos from Venezuela . Afterwards the Olympic qualification tournament of the America group took place in Port of Spain / Trinidad . In this extremely important tournament he was in top form and won the tournament and thus the ticket with wins over Igancio Perrin from Argentina (11: 1), Claudio Marrero from Venezuela (12: 1) and Oscar Valdez from Mexico (14: 5) to Beijing . Then he also won the Grand Prix tournament in Ústí nad Labem with victories over Luwsantserengiin Dsorigtbaatar from Mongolia (13: 4), Narjit Singh from India (22: 7) and Assylan Kabylchanow from Kazakhstan (21: 3). At the weakly occupied Pan American Championship in Cuenca / Ecuador he disappointed, because he lost there in bantamweight after a bye in the semifinals against Jonathan Romero from Colombia on points (6:11).

In 2008, León qualified for the Olympic Games at the American Olympic qualification tournament in Port of Spain . In these he reached after victories over Kanat Abutalipov, Kazakhstan (10: 3), Worapoj Petchkoom , Thailand (10: 2), and Bruno Julie , Mauritius (7: 5), the final, which he against the Mongolian Enchbatyn Badar-Uugan lost with 16: 5 points and thus won the Olympic silver medal.

In 2009 León won the Pan American Championships and the bronze medal of the World Championships , in which he lost 5-0 to eventual world champion Detelin Dalakliew in the semi- finals. At the Cuban Championships 2010, León was eliminated in the first fight, after which he ended his career.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, light flyweight, flyweight, bantamweight and lightweight, up to 48 kg, 51 kg, 54 kg and 60 kg body weight)

year	space	competition	Weight class
2000	1.	Junior World Championships in Budapest	Half flying	before Salim Salimow, Bulgaria , Gerogi Tschigajew, Ukraine a . Berik Serikbayev, Kazakhstan
2002	1.	Giraldo Córdova Cardín tournament in Havana	To fly	in front of Yuriorkis Gamboa , Cuba
2002	2.	I. cuban. Olympics in Havana	To fly	behind Yuriorkis Gamboa
2003	3.	Giraldo Córdova Cardín tournament in Havana	Bantam	behind Guillermo Rigondeaux u. Luis Franco , bde. Cuba, together with Otgontschuluuny Batchüü , Mongolia
2005	3.	Giraldo Córdova Cardín tournament in Cienfuegos	Bantam	behind Guillermo Rigondeaux u. Yeldos Saidulin, Kazakhstan, together with Osnieris Hernandez, Cuba
2007	2.	Giraldo Córdova Cardín tournament in Santa Clara	Bantam	behind Guillermo Rigondeaux u. in front of Ramiro Rojas, Columbia a . Claudio Marrero, cathedral. Rep.
2008	1.	IV. Cuban. Olympics in Havana	Bantam	before Yoandry Campos, Venezuela a . Osnieris Hernandez
2008	1.	Olympic qualification tournament in Port of Spain / Trinidad	Bantam	before Oscar Valdez, Mexico a . Claudio Marrero Dominican Republic
2008	1.	Grand Prix tournament in Ústí nad Labem	Bantam	before Assylan Kabylchanow, Kazakhstan a. Narjit Singh, India
2008	3.	Pan American Championship in Cuenca / Ecuador	Bantam	behind Jonathan Romero, Columbia a. Yoandry Campos
2008,	silver	OS in Beijing	Bantam	with victories over Kanat Abutalipow, Kazakhstan (10: 3), Worapoj Petchkoom, Thailand (10: 2) and Bruno Julie , Mauritius (7: 5) and a point defeat in the final battle against Enchbatyn Badar-Uugan , Mongolia (5:16)
2008	1.	World Cup in Moscow	Bantam	with victories over Khumiso Ikgopoleng, Botswana (7: 0), Akhil Kumar , India (+4: 4) and Vyacheslav Gojan, Moldova (10: 1)
2009	1.	Giraldo Córdova Cardín tournament in Sancti Spíritus	Bantam	in front of Claudio Marrero , Dominican Republic
2009	5.	Batalla de Carabobo in Valencia / Venezuela	Bantam	after a point loss to Juan Carlos Payano , Dominican Republic
2009	1.	Pan American Championship in Mexico City	Light	with points wins over Angel Rodriguez, Venezuela, Roberto Navarro, Dom. Rep. U. Francisco Vargas, Mexico (6: 2)
2009	3.	World Cup in Milan	Bantam	mi points wins over Lee Jin-yung, South Korea (11: 2), Razvan Andreiana, Romania (12: 9) and Kanat Abutalipow , Kazakhstan (2: 0) u. a point defeat against Detelin Dalakliew , Bulgaria (0: 5)

International battles

year	place	encounter	Weight class	Result
2002	Astana	Cuba versus Australia (World Cup)	To fly	winner without a fight over Bradley Hore
2002	Astana	Cuba vs. Turkey (World Cup)	To fly	Points winner over Ramazan Ballioglu (27:12)
2002	Astana	Cuba vs. Thailand (World Cup)	To fly	Point defeat against Somjit Jongjohor
2002	Astana	Cuba vs. Kazakhstan (World Cup)	To fly	Point defeat against Berik Serikbayev
2006	Havana	Cuba versus China	Bantam	Points winner over Jun Tun
2008	Havana	Cuba versus France	Bantam	Demolition winner over Ali Hallab
2009	Milan	Cuba versus Italy	Bantam	Draw against Vittorio Parrinello
2009	Modena	Cuba versus Italy	Bantam	Point defeat against Vittorio Parrinello
2009	Paris	Cuba versus France	Bantam	Points winner over Brahim Zendaoui
2009	La Teste-de-Buch	Cuba versus France	Bantam	Point defeat against Hicham Ziouti
2009	Levallois	Cuba versus France	Bantam	Points victory over Brahim Zendaoui

Cuban Championships (from 2005)

year	space	Weight class	Result
2005	3.	Bantam	after losing points to Guillermo Rigondeaux in the semi-finals
2006	3.	Bantam	after losing points to Guillermo Rigondeaux in the semi-finals
2007	3.	Bantam	after losing points to Yasnier Toledo in the semi-finals
2008	1.	Bantam	after winning points over Yurien Fabregas in the final
2009	1.	Bantam	after winning points over Yoandri Salinas in the final

swell

• Box Sport trade journal from 2000 to 2008,
• Website "www.amateur-boxing.strefa.pl"

Web links

• Yankiel León in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )