Roberto Balado
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Template:Infobox boxer (amateur)
Roberto Balado Méndez (15 February 1969 – 2 July 1994) was a Cuban amateur boxer, who competed from 1986 to 1994. At the 1992 Summer Olympics he won a Gold medal in the men's super heavyweight (+91 kg).
A natural heavyweight, he was Olympic champion (Barcelona 1992), three times world champion (Moscow 1989, Sydney 1991, and Tampere 1993), and five times Cuban national champion. He was also the winner of the Val Barker Trophy for Outstanding Boxer at the 1992 Olympic Games.
Balado was at his prime, looking forward to win many forthcoming events, considered by some boxing experts to be the world's second-best fighter after Félix Savón (who competed one weight division below),[1] and being one of the favourites of the 1995 Pan American Games and 1996 Olympics, but died in a car accident.
At the time of his death, age 25, he had 250 fights, with a record of 238 victories, and 12 losses.
Early years
Balado was born in Jovellanos, Matanzas, on 15 February 1969. Before his first birthday, the family came to live in Old Havana and shortly thereafter they moved to the El Palenque neighborhood (La Lisa), next to the La Lisa bridge.
He was 14 when he took up boxing, and soon participated in the National School Games.
Career
In 1984, Cuba's long-time Olympic heavyweight Teófilo Stevenson, although retaining physical strength and staying in shape, and even aspiring to win the fourth gold medal in the 1984 Olympic Games (which Cuba ultimately boycotted,) already needed to pass the torch and find a suitable alternate for the Cuban National Boxing Team.
Raúl Fernández's promotional transfer to the Orbeín Quesada training center, headquarters of the National Athletic Selection, played a decisive role in the formation and subsequent consecration of Balado.
Regarding the Balado's ascent to the national team, Alcides Sagarra pointed out: "Raúl spoke with me of the boy and without any hesitation I agreed to get him trained in the 'Finca.' He began to show progress and very soon his was something more than just learning. He was always willing to help in the sparrings, and he didn't care about the name of the opponent in front of him."
Cuban sport officials questioned the decision to include Balado as the Cuban representative in the superheavyweight class to compete at the 1989 World Championships in Moscow, but he proved the critics wrong and won the event.
Highlights
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Template:Silver2 XXV Playa Girón National Championships (91 kg), San Jose de las Lajas, Cuba, January 1986:
Template:Gold1 Golden Belt Tournament (91 kg), Bucharest, Romania, 1986:
Template:Gold1 XXII Friendship Games (+81 kg), Szolnok, Hungary, August 1986:
Template:Silver2 XXVI Playa Girón National Championships (91 kg), Holguín, Cuba, January 1987:
Gee-Bee Tournament (91 kg), Helsinki, Finland, April 1987:
Template:Gold1 Intercup (91 kg), Hemsbach, West Germany, April 1987:
Template:Gold1 Golden Belt Tournament (91 kg), Bucharest, Romania, 1987:
Template:Gold1 IV Youth World Championships (91 kg), Havana, Cuba, June 1987:
Template:Gold1 Simón Bolivar Cup (+81 kg), Caracas, Venezuela, September 1987:
Template:Gold1 XVIII Central America and the Caribbean Championships (91 kg), San José, Costa Rica, November 1987:
Template:Silver2 XXVII Playa Girón National Championships (91 kg), Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, January 1988:
Template:Silver2 XXXIX Strandzha Cup (91 kg), Sofia, Bulgaria, February 1988:
Template:Silver2 XXVIII Playa Girón National Championships (91 kg), Guantánamo, Cuba, January 1989:
Template:Gold1 XXII Giraldo Córdova Cardín Tournament (+91 kg), Pinar del Río, Cuba, June 1989:
Template:Gold1 VII Military Spartakiad of the Friendly Armies of the Socialist Countries (+91 kg), Sliven, Bulgaria, June 1989:
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Template:Gold1 World Championships (+91 kg), Moscow, Soviet Union, September 1989:
Template:Gold1 XXIX Playa Girón National Championships (+91 kg), Cienfuegos, Cuba, January 1990:
AIBA World Championships Challenge (+91 kg), Berlin, Germany, March 1990:
XXIII Giraldo Córdova Cardín Tournament (+91 kg), Manzanillo, Cuba, May 1990:
U.S. Olympic Cup, North America–Europe Duals (+91 kg), Exhibition Hall, Salt Lake City, Utah, June 1990:
II Goodwill Games (+91 kg), Seattle, Washington, July 1990:
Template:Silver2 TSC Tournament (+91 kg), Berlin, East Germany, October 1990:
Template:Gold1 IV World Cup (+91 kg), Bombay, India, November 1990:
Template:Gold1 XXX Playa Girón National Championships (+91 kg), Camagüey, Cuba, January 1991:
AIBA World Championships Challenge (+91 kg), Bangkok, Thailand, February 1991:
Template:Gold1 King's Cup (+91 kg), Bangkok, Thailand, April 1991
Template:Gold1 XXIV Giraldo Córdova Cardín Tournament (+91 kg), Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, June 1991:
Template:Gold1 XI Pan American Games (+91 kg), Havana, Cuba, August 1991:
Template:Gold1 World Championships (+91 kg), Sydney, Australia, November 1991:
XXXI Playa Girón National Championships (+91 kg), Pinar del Río, Cuba, January 1992:
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Template:Gold1 BOXAM Cup (+91 kg), Barcelona, Spain, February 1992:
AIBA World Championships Challenge (+91 kg), Tampa, Florida, March 1992:
Template:Gold1 XXV Giraldo Córdova Cardín Tournament (+91 kg), Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, May 1992:
Template:Gold1 XXV Summer Olympics (+91 kg), Barcelona, Spain, July 1992:
Template:Gold1 XXXII Playa Girón National Championships (+91 kg), Matanzas, Cuba, January 1993:
AIBA World Championships Challenge (+91 kg), Istanbul, Turkey, February 1993:
Europe–North America Duals (+91 kg), Berlin, Germany, March 1993:
Template:Gold1 XXVI Giraldo Córdova Cardín Tournament (+91 kg), Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, May 1993:
Template:Gold1 VII World Championships (+91 kg), Tampere, Finland, June 1993:
Cuba–USA Duals (+91 kg), Mississippi Coast Coliseum, Biloxi, Mississippi, September 1993:
Template:Gold1 XVII Central American and Caribbean Games (+91 kg), Ponce, Puerto Rico, November 1993:
XXXIII Playa Girón National Championships (+91 kg), Ciego de Avila, Cuba, January 1994:
AIBA World Championships Challenge (+91 kg), Dublin, Ireland, March 1994:
Template:Gold1 XXVII Giraldo Córdova Cardín Tournament (+91 kg), Cienfuegos, Cuba, May 1994:
Template:Gold1 VIII World Cup (+91 kg), Bangkok, Thailand, June 1994:
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Death
On 2 July 1994, Roberto Balado was driving to train at the headquarters of the Cuban team at the Holveín Quesada National School of Boxing (Escuela Nacional de Boxeo “Holveín Quesada,”) but didn't make it as he died in a crash at a train crossing in Havana.
References
External links
- Template:BoxRec
- Roberto Balado Partial Record (Amateur Boxing Results)
- Amateur career of Roberto Balado (in Spanish) compiled by Pedro Cabrera Isidrón of the Cuban Olympics Committee. Last updated: 17 September 2008
- Template:SR/Olympics profile
Template:Val Barker Trophy winners Template:Footer Olympic Champions Boxing Super Heavyweight Template:Footer World Amateur Champions Super Heavyweight Template:Footer Pan American Champions Super Heavyweight
- ↑ CUBAN AMATEUR BOXING STAR KILLED IN ACCIDENT Deseret News.
- Pages with script errors
- 1969 births
- 1994 deaths
- Olympic boxers for Cuba
- Super-heavyweight boxers
- Olympic gold medalists for Cuba
- Boxers at the 1991 Pan American Games
- Boxers at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Road incident deaths in Cuba
- Olympic medalists in boxing
- Cuban male boxers
- AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists
- Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Pan American Games gold medalists for Cuba
- Pan American Games gold medalists in boxing
- Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Cuba
- Competitors at the 1993 Central American and Caribbean Games
- Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in boxing
- Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games
- Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games
- Sportspeople from Matanzas Province
- 20th-century Cuban sportsmen