Once Castro took over the island of Cuba in 1961, he banned professional boxing, some such as 3-time Olympic Heavyweight gold medalists Teofilo Stevenson, 108-12, and Felix Savon, 258-10, in 1992, 1996 and 2000 , never got the 1972, 1976 and 1980 event
to become professional.
Three who eventually left the island and became world champions in the professional ranks were two-time WBA and WBC world welterweight champion Jose ‘Mantequilla’ Napoles, 81-7 with 54 stoppages, who fled Cuba and started fighting out of Mexico. He was either 113-1 or 114-1 in the amateurs.
Napoles was 19-1 as a pro in Cuba when he fled to Mexico. He was 59-4 when he the
WBA and WBC world titles in April 1969, stopping champion Curtis Cokes, 55-9-3, who could not answer the bell for the fourteenth round at the Inglewood Forum in California.
In the rematch, he stopped Cokes in ten rounds in Mexico. Then defeated former champion Emile Griffith, 60-10, and Ernie ‘Indian Red’ Lopez, 39-5-1, both in Inglewood.
Then, after two non-title victories, he lost to the cousin of former world champion Carmen Weens a bad cut, Basilio, Billy Backus, 29-10-4, in Syracuse, New York. Turns out he didn’t bring his cut husband with him, and he felt he didn’t need him—big mistake.
Napoles regained the title two fights later, stopping Backus in eight rounds in Inglewood. He defended his title seven times before trying to win the WBC and WBA middleweight titles from Argentina’s Carlos Monzon 81-3-9, who was stopped in 6 rounds. He would go on to defend his title in his next
four fights, all in Mexico, over Hedgemon Lewis, 51-4, Horacio Saldano, 51-4-9, twice over
Armando Muniz, 36-8-1, before losing his last fight to John H. Stracey of the United Kingdom, 42-3-1, by cut in Mexico.
Another who escaped Cuba was a two-time WBC featherweight champion, Jose ‘Pocket Cassius Clay’ Legra, 129-11-4, who moved to Spain. He won the title in July 1968, stopping Howard Winstone, 61-5, in five rounds in Wales.
Legra lost his title to Johnny Famechon, 47-4-6, in the UK in December 1962. He got it back in December 1972, stopping Clemente Sanchez 39-8-2 in Mexico.
Then, in his next fight in Brazil, he lost by majority decision to Eder Jofre, 61-2-4. The third Cuban to leave the island and win a world title was Joel ‘El Cepillo’ Casamayor, 38-6-1. He was 363-30 in the amateurs. In 1992 he won the gold medal in the Olympic Games in Barcelona. He fought out of Miramar, Florida after leaving Cuba. In September 1986 he turned pro in Florida.
Casamayor won the WBA interim world super featherweight title, defeating Antonio Hernandez, 50-22, in June 1999 and improved to 18-0. In May 2000 he won the WBA
World Super Featherweight title, stopping Jong Kwon Baek, 21-0-1, in five rounds in Kansas
City, MO.
Casamayor defended his title four times before losing to WBO world champion Acelino Freitas, 30-0, in Las Vegas, NV in January 2002. He lost twice to regain the world
title to WBO super featherweight champion Diego Corrales, 37-2, by split decision in March 2004, and to WBC lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo, 50-6-1, by split decision.
In October 2006, Casamayor won the WBC world lightweight title from Corrales by split decision. Then, for some reason, in his next fight, he defends the WBC interim title by split decision over Jose Santa Cruz, 25-2, wins the WBO interim title, stops Michael Katsidis, 23-0, and then lost to Juan Manuel Marquez, 48- 4-1, and went 2-2 before retiring.
