We are just over a year away from the Paris Olympic Games and one of the disciplines that arouses the most interest is boxing, an Olympic sport since 1904. Boxing is in vogue in France and its champions, after the losing streak in Tokyo, They hope to return to the medal table strong now that they are fighting at home. France has produced many champions in recent years thanks to the arrival as national coach of Cuban Luis Mariano González, our guest at this edition of Escala in Paris.
“Boxing is like medicine for people. For me it is not only a pleasure to practice and teach boxing, but it is also healthy because it develops physical and mental work, works breathing, helps lower blood pressure, it is very important for people’s health”, González affirms for explain the boom that boxing is experiencing in France, in whose capital in recent times a multitude of rings and courses have been opened for amateurs. But surely his performance training the French champions has had something to do with making boxing fashionable.
González was born in the province of Pinar del Río, in Cuba, to a Cuban mother and a Spanish father, from the Canary Islands. He was a boxer until the junior category and then very quickly at the age of 19 he obtained the trainer’s diploma. He dealt with Cuban promises for a long time, worked with the famous Pedro Roque Onato and then left looking for other horizons that led him to Azerbaijan, the United States or Algeria. During his career he has trained more than 1,000 boxers.
Since 2007 he has lived in France, where he has trained champions such as Souleymane Cissokho, Elie Konki, Sofiane Oumiha and of course Tony Yoka, gold medalist in the JJ. oo. from Rio de Janeiro.
“The first ambition that we have for these Olympic Games in Paris is to classify between 5 to 6 boxers in the seven categories and get between two and three medals”, he affirms in Escala in Paris, after the fiasco in Tokyo, due to a controversial arbitration, Good results have been achieved like in Uzbekistan this year with a gold for Sofiane Oumiha. And before that with Billal Bennama, three medals in the World Amateur Boxing Championship between 2019 and 2023, and a gold medal in the European Amateur Boxing Championship in 2022.
“When I arrived I contributed to boxing what was missing, the jump and the rhythm”
González changed boxing in France forever. “When I arrived I adapted to the French school and contributed what it lacked. A work of vivacity was missing, like salsa, that rhythm that the boxer has to have because in boxing he hits himself with his hands; but if he doesn’t have a good leg, it doesn’t work”, he affirms.
When we ask him about the secret to becoming a champion, González explains that it is a matter of effort. “In the ring, talent does not win, what wins is work. If a boxer concentrates and goes through the entire preparation system, he can achieve his goal ”. And that is what the French boxers are doing who, according to him, are not under more pressure to play at home, quite the contrary. “I think that we as a country are a little easier than the others”, he affirms.
We have wanted to know your opinion on allowing professional boxers to participate in the Olympic Games since 2016. According to the French national coach, it has not had much effect on the Olympic medal table. “In Rio there were three medals for professionals, but all three medals were bronze. At the Tokyo Olympics, there was a medal for an Uzbek boxer who had been a professional, but for a very short time,” he reminds us.
Olympic boxing, pending by a thread due to disagreements between IOC and IBA
Currently, there are many disagreements between the International Olympic Committee and the IBA, International Boxing Association, for various reasons ranging from management to geopolitics over the war in Ukraine. So much so that boxing is going to be managed by the IOC in Paris and for the moment it has been removed from the program of the 2028 Olympic event in Los Angeles. If this is confirmed, we would be witnessing an Olympic boxing suicide.
Although González does not like to get involved in politics, he believes that the IOC and the IBA should reach an agreement for the good of boxing. “Removing boxing from the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 would be a disappointment for boxers who spend so many years working, plus it is one of the sports that practically launched the modern Olympics.”
Collaboration between Cuban and French boxers is strengthened
Women’s boxing was introduced as an Olympic discipline at the 2012 London Games, however, Cuba did not allow women to compete until now, as there has been a recent change in legislation. Good news for women’s boxing that González values positively. In fact, for the preparation of the Rio Games, the national coach took his boxers to train in Cuba and also the French boxer and Olympic and world champion, Estelle Mossely, whom he also trained.
“Cuba already had women who practiced boxing, who came from taekwondo and judo, and they were the ones who helped me prepare. When I heard the news, I was very happy, ”acknowledges the coach and adds that this year he is going to invite Cuban boxers to train in September in France to prepare for the Pan American Games in Chile.
The United States is by far the king of boxing medals, they have 114, 50 of them gold. Cuba follows with 73 medals, 37 gold, and then England with 58 medals, 18 of them gold. What boxers are French athletes afraid of? González recalls that in 2007 in France there was fear of boxers from certain countries such as Russia and Cuba.
“Sofiane Oumiha won two World Championship finals against Cubans, she has beaten them all, Lázaro Álvarez and Andy Cruz. I think that now we are not afraid of anyone because if you are afraid, you do not win ”, she concludes.
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