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 he won gold medals at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, and the 2011,

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 ...

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 April ...

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 The 2021 AIBA World Boxing Championships were held in Belgrade, Serbia from 25 October to 6 November. Belgrade was picked to host the championships for the second time; the original 2021 contract with New Delhi was cancelled due to a disagreeme ...

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 Adilbek Sabituly Niyazymbetov ( kz, Әділбек Сәбитұлы Ниязымбетов; born 19 May 1989) is an Uzbekistani-born amateur light-heavyweight boxer who competes for Kazakhstan. He won silver medals at the world championships in ...

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 Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhe ...

of Ecuador in the semi-finals and Yamaguchi Falcão Florentino of Brazil in the final on points (22–12). At the 2012 Summer Olympics, 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, Oleksandr Ganzulia,

Abdelhafid Benchabla Abdelhafid Benchabla ( ar, عبد الحفيظ بن شبلة; born 26 September 1986, in Zemmouri) is an Algerian amateur boxer. He represented Algeria at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, and the 2012 Summer Olympics and is the curren ...

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. Al ...

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 c ...

. He won the gold medal at the men's light heavyweight event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. 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 2020 Summer Olympics, 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, no. ¡

Patria o muerte, venceremos Patria o Muerte, Venceremos is an official national motto of Cuba, adopted in 1960. The origin of the motto was derived from a speech by revolutionary leader Fidel Castro to commemorate the workers and soldiers who died in the La Coubre explosion ...

!". 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 List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* *
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