Yankiel León Alarcón (born 26 April 1982 in Jobabo) is a

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n amateur

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

best known to win Silver at the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

at bantamweight.

Career

Leon won gold at the World Junior Championships in Budapest, Hungary in 2000 as a light flyweight. became senior national champion 2002 at flyweight then moved up. At bantam he stood in the shadows of near-invincible two-time Olympic champion

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 ...

who beat him eight times. When Rigondeaux was out injured in 2007 Leon lost at the national championships to

Yasniel Toledo Yasnier Toledo López (born 15 September 1989 in Camagüey) is a Cuban amateur boxer from Pinar del Río who won the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the PanAm lightweight title in 2011. He is a southpaw. Career After winning the 5 ...

. After it became clear that the banned Rigondeaux would not be sent to Beijing Leon trained harder and beat archrival Toledo and Yurien Fabregas at the nationals 2008. He lost to local Dominican

Claudio Marrero Claudio Marrero Guzman (born 6 March 1989) is a Dominican professional boxer who held the WBA interim, and IBO featherweight titles in 2017. Amateur career Marrero was the silver medalist at the 2007 Pan American Games in the bantamweight di ...

in the first round of the ''Copa Independencia'' but breezed through his qualifier easily beating everybody including Marrero and fellow qualifier

Oscar Valdez Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

to easily make it to the Olympics. He holds wins over

Yan Bartelemí Yan Barthelemy Varela (born March 5, 1980, Matanzas) is a Cuban-American amateur boxer, who won the gold medal in the light flyweight division (– 48 kg) at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Amateur career * 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens ...

Yuriorkis Gamboa Yuriorkis Gamboa Toledano (born 23 December 1981) is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a former unified featherweight world champion, having held the WBA and IBF titles between 2009 and 2011, as well as the WBA interim championship in both th ...

and Iván Calderón (PUR) among others.

Olympic Games results

*1st round bye *Defeated

Kanat Abutalipov Kanat Kalizhanovich Abutalipov ( kk, Қанат Қалижанұлы Әбутәліпов; born March 22, 1983, in Barshino) is a Kazakhstani boxer who competed at the 2008 Olympics at bantamweight but lost his only fight to eventual silver med ...

(Kazakhstan) 10-3 *Defeated

Worapoj Petchkoom Worapoj Petchkoom ( th, วรพจน์ เพชรขุ้ม; ; born May 18, 1981) is a Thai boxer who competed in the bantamweight (54 kg) at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the silver medal losing to Cuban superstar Guillermo Rigo ...

(Thailand) 10-2 *Defeated

Bruno Julie Louis Richard Bruno Julie (born July 11, 1978), known as Bruno Julie, is a Mauritian bantamweight boxer who won a number of medals in international tournaments and competed in the 2008 Olympics when he won the first-ever Olympic medal for the isl ...

(Mauritius) 7-5 *Lost final to

Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan ( mn, Энхбатын Бадар-Ууган; born 3 June 1985, in Ulaanbaatar) is a retired boxer from Mongolia who became the first Olympic boxing champion from his country when he won the gold medal in the Bantamweight ...

5-16

External links

*
Nationals 2008

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Yankiel 1982 births Living people Bantamweight boxers Boxers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for Cuba Olympic silver medalists for Cuba Olympic medalists in boxing Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Cuban male boxers People from Jobabo AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists 21st-century Cuban people