Sarbelio Fuentes, one of the famous makers Cuban Boxing Schoolhe died this Saturday at 85 years of ageaccording to a statement from the National Sports and Recreation Institute (INDER).
Born on October 21, 1939 in Santiago de Cuba, Fuentes It was amateur and professional boxer And then, to the triumph of the Revolution, founder of the INDER and the Cuban Boxing School, in the early 60s.
His successes as a coach reached a higher dimension due to the modesty that always accompanied him.
Many and solid reasons make
from Sarbelio Fuentes Rodríguez a symbol of Cuban boxing and sport.
Impacted by his death, we accompany family and friends in his pain. pic.twitter.com/r3rdmd0cba– Osvaldo C. Vento Montiller (@cmontiller) April 19, 2025
Contributed, together with Alcides Sagarra, to the world and olympic prominence of the island’s fighters.
Started in sports since childhood with his participation in a Martian marathon in the section of Baire-countermaestre, Sarbelio won in 1957, as a professional boxer, the diamond belt, held in Washington where he left 19 successes (12 per ko) and nine setbacks.
After abandoning professionalism, he went to work in a Sports Volunteer Council in Contramaestre in 1959, according to biographical data registered in the Ecured.
In 1962 He participated as a professor in the first Playa Girón tournament and integrated the payroll as a boxing team trainer who traveled to the Kingston Central American and Caribbean GamesJamaica, in 1962.
His Argentine footprint
In 2000, being in Argentina at the head of the national team of the South American country, it is called to direct The National Boxing Team in Cuba, which in 2004, at the Athens Olympic Gameshe obtained five gold, two silver and one bronze medals.
“Although Sarbelio arrived in 95, the balance that was made from 94 to today gave a positive balance. Argentina intervened in 47 international competitions, in 15 different countries, in which he won 43 golden medals, 56 silver and 67 bronze,” said the Argentine newspaper in the year 2000 The nation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpuhz1y9sa8
In fact, the Cuban coach was behind the Olympic bronze medal won by Julio Pablo Chacón at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, in the featherweight category, which earned the Argentine fighter to break through on the professional stage.
“Sarbelio Fuentes leaves, the Cuban who had the mission of channeling Argentine amateur boxing. The injustice of some of labeling everything under the label of success or failure does not fit in this story. Serious work, demand and a marked evolution are factors that describe the cycle of the Great Sarbelio,” said the Argentine newspaper.
