Luis Franco Vazquez (born January 14, 1982) is a Cuban pro boxer best known for participating at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in the featherweight division (– 57 kg).

Amateur

Franco won the junior world championships in 2000 at the age of 14. He lost the 2003 national bantamweight final to

Guillermo Rigondeaux Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz (; born 30 September 1980) is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the unified WBA (Super), WBO and ''Ring'' magazine super bantamweight titles between 2013 and ...

and went up to featherweight. In 2004 he lost the national featherweight final to Exer Rodriguez but was sent to the Olympics anyway where he lost to

Vitali Tajbert Vitali Tajbert (born 25 May 1982) is a German former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2013. He held the WBC super-featherweight title in 2010 (having held the interim title from 2009 to 2010) and the European Union title in 2008. As ...

. He qualified for the Olympic Games by ending up in first place at the

1st AIBA American 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament The 1st AIBA American 2004 Olympic Boxing Qualifying Tournament was held in Tijuana, Mexico from March 12 to March 20, 2004. It was the first chance for amateur boxers from North-, Central- and South America to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympi ...

Tijuana, Mexico Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

. Prior to the Athens Games he won the

2004 Acropolis Boxing Cup 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

by defeating Turkey's Sedat Tasci in the final of the featherweight division. In 2005 he became national featherweight champion, in 2006 he defeated a young Cuban boxer but lost the final to Yuriolkis Gamboa, in 2007 he lost early to Iván Onate. In 2008 he went up to lightweight where he lost the quarterfinal to world star

Yordenis Ugás Yordenis Ugás Hernández (born 14 July 1986) is a Cuban professional boxer. He held the WBA (Super) welterweight title from 2021 to April 2022, having previously held the WBA (Regular) title from 2020 until being elevated to Super champion. As ...

Pro

He defected in 2009 and has turned pro. His most recent win was on December 3, 2010, when he defeated Eric Hunter by disqualification to win the vacant

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

Inter-Continental Super Featherweight title.

References

External links

2000Yahoo
* 1986 births Living people Boxers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for Cuba Cuban male boxers Defecting sportspeople of Cuba Featherweight boxers 21st-century Cuban people {{Cuba-boxing-bio-stub