Cuba dominated Olympic boxing for decades. But the team was on the ropes in Paris Games

PARIS (AP) — Erislandy Álvarez didn’t expect to carry the weight of a proud boxing nation on his shoulders when he takes the ring Wednesday night in an arena packed with fans rooting for his opponent.

Yet that’s where Álvarez finds himself after a miserable Paris Olympic tournament for Cuba. The gifted 24-year-old lightweight is the only boxer with a chance to win a gold medal at these Olympics for the most consistently successful team in the sport for decades. After earning four of Cuba’s seven total victories in Paris, Álvarez fights Sofiane Oumiha of France in the 63.5-kilogram final at Roland Garros. Win or lose, he will take home one of only two Cuban medals — its smallest haul from an Olympics in 56 years.

“There is one left,” Álvarez said through an interpreter. “We are going to give it our all. This is the last one, and it is the most important.” Only the U.S. team has won more boxing gold medals and total medals than Cuba, and the Americans’ haul dramatically decreased over the past two decades while Cuba remained formidable. Packed with tremendous fighters who could aspire to nothing higher than the Olympics unless they defected, Cuba produced a long line of dominant champions, topped by two of the three members of the boxing triple gold club: Teófilo Stevenson and Félix Savón.