MADRID, Spain.- One of the few boxers who was able to fight in this sport at a professional level in Cuba is Felicia Mesa, and she did so before Fidel Castro came to power.
Felicia was born in Santa Isabel de las Lajas, Cienfuegos, in 1918, but when she was only six months old her family moved to Sagua la Grande, Villa Clara, where she is known as “Fela Mesa”.
In the 1950s, the boxer competed around 15 times in professional boxing. She was known as “the bloody panther” and highly praised for her powerful jab that allowed her to win several fights.
In interview with On Cuba, Felicia Mesa explained her beginnings in this sport. When she was in her 20s and with few financial resources, she read a call to box in the newspaper. Sports America. She, who had never boxed, was the only one who showed up from Sagua la Grande.
From that moment he had Manolo Yánez as his coach. He also trained her by the nickname “Panterita”, and from this he derived her nickname “the panther sagüera”.
About his first fight, in which he fell against Silvia Hernández, he recounts that he only lost one fight against her, “because when I didn’t know that.”
“Later I learned and I didn’t lose any more. In the first one I was knocked down by a tooth from the shot. Of course, the tooth was already sick! The rematch came and I had seven fights against her afterwards, and I didn’t lose any more. But Silvia was not easy, her husband was a professional boxer, the well-known Lino García, and she trained her well, ”said the long-lived woman.
In addition, he faced Eladia Tondike, Gilda Meli, the “Ebony Goddess” and “the Chilean tarzana”.
After 1959, with the prohibition From women’s boxing and professional sports on the Island, many athletes decided to emigrate and others became amateurs. Felicia Mesa decided to dedicate herself to agriculture, where she had already worked at a very young age.
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