On July 12, 1971, one of the many exquisite talents that the island of Cuba has given to the world of boxing in the last century was born in Guantanamo: the rebellious southpaw Joel “El Cepillo” Casamayor. An Olympic champion in Barcelona in 1992, he fled his country on the eve of the next games in Atlanta to pursue a professional career full of successes and memorable challenges. On his birthday, we retrace the most significant battles of this athlete with prodigious technique and indomitable spirit.
All for a Bicycle: From Gold Medal to Voluntary Exile
Casamayor’s amateur career numbers, as is often the case with top-level Cuban boxers, are impressive. In his amateur career, El Cepillo fought 393 bouts, winning 363 of them, and he made a name for himself in all the most important international tournaments. His most brilliant triumph came at the age of 21, when he dominated the strong Irish puncher Wayne McCullough in the Barcelona Olympic final, who would later become a world champion as a professional, even scoring a knockdown. That night of glory, however, also marked the break between Casamayor and his country’s government: expecting a cash prize or at least a car for his achievement, the boxer was stunned to receive only a bicycle. It was the point of no return: from that moment on, the thought of fleeing to the United States to turn professional became a fixed idea in his mind and materialized just before Atlanta 1996, during a training camp with his national team in Mexico. With a formidable defense and surgical precision, especially in the use of his counter left hand, the Cuban was perfectly suited for professional boxing and quickly demonstrated his prowess.
The Dominant Years Until the Missed Unification
With his impressive amateur experience, Casamayor easily managed the opponents put in front of him and had no trouble earning his first world title shot in the super featherweight division after 20 fights. The WBA world champion at the time, South Korean Jong Kwon Baek, was dominated for four rounds and stopped in the fifth due to a small cut that didn’t seem too dangerous. Casamayor’s overwhelming superiority was evident and continued in his subsequent four defenses, with only Roberto Garcia, now a respected trainer, giving him some trouble before being swept away by the champion’s decisive accelerations. The time was ripe for a historic and epochal world unification with the undefeated WBO champion, Brazilian Acelino Freitas, who had 30 victories, 29 of them by KO. Casamayor was caught off guard by his rival’s sparkling start, tried to regain ground in the middle rounds but didn’t have enough energy for a dominant finish and was narrowly but rightly given the loss, a decision he always refused to acknowledge as fair.
The Fantastic Trilogy against Diego Corrales
After a brief foray into the lightweight division with three wins inside the distance, Casamayor returned to the super featherweights to start a beautiful trilogy with the long-limbed, terrifying puncher Diego “Chico” Corrales. The first fight between the two, valid for the minor IBA title, was an authentic war with the fighters exchanging ferocious blows without much attention to defense. After this “slugfest” lasted six rounds, with both athletes having been down, Corrales was stopped due to bleeding cuts, leaving the audience eager for a rematch. The rematch took place five months later, this time also for the more prestigious WBO world title, and was decidedly more tactical than the first fight. Casamayor acted as a pure elusive boxer while Corrales tried to exploit his reach, staying in the center of the ring and relying mainly on straight punches. After an extremely balanced contest, which could have gone either way without scandal, the judges awarded “Chico” despite a knockdown in the tenth round. Casamayor would ultimately emerge as the trilogy winner with a deserved points victory two years later.
From Castillo to Raiymkulov to Santa Cruz: The Many Dubious Decisions
With his conservative and “scientific” boxing style, Casamayor was involved in many fights whose decisions generated deep debates among experts and fans. Fans of defensive boxing, inclined to reward precision and cleanliness of punches, always saw him as the winner; on the contrary, fans of aggressive boxing, used to valuing work rate and pressure, penalized him, denying him close rounds. Against the strong Mexican Jose Luis Castillo, Casamayor started well but was then smothered by the constant clinches imposed by his rival and convinced only one of the three judges. He fared slightly better against the undefeated Raiymkulov, known as “Kid Diamond”: again, the Cuban started strong, scoring a knockdown in the opening round before struggling with the pressure, but this time he recovered in the final rounds to secure a draw. The judging panel was decidedly benevolent towards “El Cepillo” in his bout with the not-so-formidable Jose Armando Santa Cruz: Casamayor showed the toll of many battles, offering a decidedly lackluster performance and was saved with a controversial Split Decision.
From Katsidis to Marquez: The Last Trumpet Call and Last Display of Pride
When the WBC ordered him to grant a rematch to Santa Cruz to clear up doubts about the controversial decision, Casamayor preferred to vacate his interim belt and instead fight the aggressive Australian puncher Michael Katsidis. Many thought that the Cuban, nearly at the end of his sports career, would be overwhelmed by his rival’s powerful punches, but the former Olympic gold medalist pulled out his last masterpiece. Katsidis was down twice in the first round alone, continued to fight courageously, even knocking down Casamayor in the sixth round, but finally succumbed in the tenth with the scorecards still close. The unexpected triumph earned Casamayor a shot at the great Juan Manuel Marquez, and the Cuban gave it his all: once again he shone in the early rounds but faded down the stretch and was ultimately overpowered, succumbing to his rival’s punches in the eleventh round. The following years saw “El Cepillo’s” condition deteriorate progressively until his last inglorious defeat at the hands of Timothy Bradley, who knocked him down repeatedly before knocking him out.
While he did not manage to become the absolute dominator of his era, Joel Casamayor remained at the top of the world for many years, giving us countless high-level technical challenges and dividing the audience between those who adored him and those who did not appreciate his style. However, everyone recognizes and will forever recognize his value and his crystalline class.