Julio César De La Cruz Peraza (born 11 August 1989) is a Cuban

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. As an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

he won gold medals at the

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, and the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

and 2021 AIBA World Boxing Championships.

Amateur career

At the 2011 World Championships, he captained the Cuban national team, where he beat number 1 seeded

Egor Mekhontsev Egor Leonidovich Mekhontsev (Егор Леонидович Мехонцев, transliteration ''Egor Leonidovich Mechoncev''; born 14 November 1984), is a Russian professional boxer, who among other achievements, won gold at 2012 London Olympics ...

from Russia on points (21–15) in semi-final, and defeated Adilbek Niyazymbetov from Kazakhstan after 3 rounds by 17–13 finishing score in final, being the 4th World amateur boxing champion boxer from

Camagüey Camagüey () is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third-largest city with more than 321,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province. It was founded as Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe in 1514, by S ...

. He grasped the gold medal at

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

in which Cuba national team topped the medal table with 8 golds and 1 silver. He beat Carlos Gongora of Ecuador in the semi-finals and Yamaguchi Falcão Florentino of Brazil in the final on points (22–12). At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, he was upset by Falcão Florentino in the quarterfinals in a rematch from the 2011 Pan American Games. At the 2013 World Championships in Almaty, he beat

Serge Michel Serge Michel (born 10 September 1988) is a German professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined ...

, Oleksandr Ganzulia, Abdelhafid Benchabla and Joe Ward, before again beating Niyazymbetov in the final. On 4 January 2014, Julio Cesar la Cruz was hospitalized after being shot outside of a recreation center in his hometown of Camagüey. In 2015, he again won the gold at the

AIBA World Boxing Championships The IBA World Boxing Championships, and the IBA Women's World Boxing Championships (previously known as AIBA), are biennial amateur boxing competitions organised by the International Boxing Association (IBA), which is the sport governing body. ...

held in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

. He won the gold medal at the men's light heavyweight event at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. La Cruz sports a 21–3 record in the

World Series of Boxing 250px, LA Matadors vs. Moscow Dynamo in Hollywood, CA on 4 December 2011. Both amateur boxers compete without vests or head guards. The World Series of Boxing or WSB was an international boxing tournament that allowed amateur boxers to compete p ...

. In the

, he gained attention for expressing his support for the Cuban government by declaring after his quarterfinal win over a Cuban-born Spanish opponent, "

Patria y vida "Patria y Vida" ("Homeland and Life") is a slogan and song associated with the July 2021 Cuban protests. It is an inversion of the Cuban Revolution motto ''Patria o Muerte'' ("Homeland or Death"). The slogan was popularized by a reggaeton song r ...

, no. ¡ Patria o muerte, venceremos!". After returning to Cuba, La Cruz received a fish and two bottles of soft drink as rewards for his competition in the Olympics. In 2021, he again won the gold at the men's heavyweight held in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Professional boxing record

References

External links

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archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:La Cruz, Julio Cesar 1989 births Living people Boxers at the 2011 Pan American Games Boxers at the 2015 Pan American Games Boxers at the 2019 Pan American Games Light-heavyweight boxers Heavyweight boxers Pan American Games gold medalists for Cuba Boxers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of Cuba Cuban male boxers Sportspeople from Camagüey AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists Olympic gold medalists for Cuba Olympic medalists in boxing Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in boxing Shooting survivors Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Cuba Competitors at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in boxing Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Boxers at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century Cuban people