By Mark Uliano: With the untimely and unfortunate passing of Teófilo Stevenson, one of the greatest amateur and Olympic fighters in boxing history, we in the boxing community have not to look far to recognize the influx of Cuban born fighters that are beginning to break into the world rankings; Olympic medallists, who had to defect from their homeland in order to have to opportunity to become boxing greats.

Many of these fighters leave behind everything in order to follow their dream of becoming a champion, hoping that one day they will be reunited with their families.

The first Cuban that comes to mind after this past weekend fights is WBA Super Bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (10-0, 8KO). Nicknamed ‘El Chacal’ or ‘The Jackal’, the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Gold Medallist and hard punching Cuban southpaw made his first big step onto the boxing scene, with a hard fought split-decision victory over Ricardo Cordoba for the interim WBA Super Bantamweight title on the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito under card. Since then we have seen brutal beat downs of his opponents in the overmatched Willie Casey, Rico Ramos and his most recent opponent, Teon Kennedy on Saturday night’s Pacquiao-Bradley under card. With power in both hands, the 31-year old Cuban defector has great opportunities to make a name for himself with other exciting Super Bantamweight fighters like WBO Champion Nonito ‘The Filipino Flash’ Donaire and WBA Champion Abner Mares. With a talent laden weight class, the Super Bantamweight division will be fun to watch develop over the next year.

With a controversial decision once again gracing boxing headlines, we can’t help but think of interim WBA Lightweight champion Richard Abril (17-3-1, 8KO). Abril broke into the mainstream boxing media when he crashed Brandon Rios’ press conference about Cuban fighter Yuriorkis Gamboa backing out of their highly anticipated fight. Words were exchanged and a physical altercation ensued between the two fighters. With the Gamboa fight now off, Abril became his obvious replacement. Coming into the fight as the odds on favorite, Rios once again failed to make weight coming in two pounds over the limit and after being completely dominated by the Cuban, Abril was on the losing end of a controversial split-decision by scores of 116-112 and 115-113 for Rios and 117-111 for Abril. Many boxing writers and analysts still believe that Abril pitched a shutout effort against the Top Rank promoted fighter on April 14th in Las Vegas, while Rios’ team believe Abril should have been penalized for his clinching. With his awkward fighting style and newly found fan base, Abril has two options at this time. He can move up in weight to a talent stacked Jr. Welterweight division or he can stay at Lightweight and try to unify the alphabet titles. Was Abril’s domination of Rios just an off night for Rios or is Abril ready to take the next big step of his career to establish himself as a force in the Lightweight division?

Jr. Middleweight Erislandy Lara (16-1-1, 11KO), a 2005 World Amateur Gold Medallist, is back in the gym fresh off his first round-three knockdown annihilation of Ronald Hearns on Showtime this past April. After a surprising draw with Carlos Molina, Lara returned to the ring four month’s later to end up on the losing side of a majority decision against former Welterweight and Junior Middleweight champion Paul ‘The Punisher’ Williams, a decision that still has boxing fans wondering what the judges were watching that night. With nine of his eleven knockouts coming in the first round, Lara is the complete boxer, using both power and boxing ability to take out his opponents. Trained by Ronnie Shields, the Cuban, now living in Miami, Florida, is currently in preparation for a June 30th stay busy fight against Freddy Hernandez on the Cornelius Bundrage-Cory Spinks under card. With another first found knockout a possibility for June 30th, Lara will most likely be looking to end the year with a bang with big name opposition. With names like Vanes Martirosyan, Anthony Mundine and Carlos Quintana being mentioned as possible opponents, Lara will be looking to make big strides in at the end of the year.

A 2004 Olympic Gold Medallist, Featherweight fighter Yuriorkis Gamboa (21-0, 16KO) has been in the media in recent months with his alleged split with promotional powerhouse Top Rank Promotions. With notable victories over Jorge Solis, current WBO Featherweight champion Orlando Salido, journeyman Daniel Ponce De Leon and stepping stone Rogers Mtagwa, Gamboa is reportedly trying to make amends with Bob Arum after being seen training at Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s Mayweather Gym in Las Vegas. Gamboa, known for his all action power punching style has yet to fight in 2012 and after backing out of his fight with Brandon Rios in April, Gamboa doesn’t have the time to be inactive. A reconciliation with Top Rank would be in Gamboa’s best interest so he doesn’t take the entire year off. A stay busy fight this summer and an under card appearance at the end of the year could help Gamboa’s chance of getting a showdown with WBO Super Featherweight champion Adrien Broner in what would prove to be an all action fight in a battle of the little guys.

With the great amateur and Olympic boxing background that comes out of Cuba, we are beginning to see more and more great fighters coming out of the tiny island in the Caribbean; Fighters that are not only risking it all in life, but are willing to risk it all in the ring. The boxing world may never see a fighter like Teófilo Stevenson again, but these Cuban fighters, young and old, do their best to make their mark on boxing history in their own special way.