Ángel Espinosa Capó (2 October 1966 – 12 April 2017) was a Cuban amateur boxer who dominated the 1980s at junior middleweight and middleweight and captured the 1986 World Amateur Boxing Championships. He never won an Olympic medal due to Cuba's boycott of the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics (as well as the 1985 Boxing World Cup boycott.) A hard-hitting Cuban with a southpaw stance one of the most feared in his era was known to have about 300 amateur fights.[2]

Angel Espinosa
Personal information
Full nameAngel Espinosa Capó
Nationality Cuba
Born(1966-10-02)2 October 1966
Holguín, Cuba
Died12 April 2017(2017-04-12) (aged 50)
Miami, Florida, US
Height1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)[1]
Weight75 kg (165 lb)
Sport
SportBoxing
Weight classMiddleweight
Medal record
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1986 Reno Light Middleweight
Silver medal – second place 1989 Moscow Middleweight
World Cup
Gold medal – first place 1987 Belgrade Middleweight
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 1987 Indianapolis Middleweight
Central American and Caribbean Games
Gold medal – first place 1986 Santiago Light Middleweight
Friendship Games
Gold medal – first place 1984 Havana Light Middleweight

Career

edit

In 1983 the hard-hitting southpaw won the junior world championships at junior welterweight by knocking out Meldrick Taylor in round 2. Cuba boycotted the 1984 Olympic Games.

He became 1986 world champion at junior middleweight. Espinosa then added the Panamerican title 1987 at middleweight.

On two occasions when Cuban government boycotted the Boxing World Cup in 1985, and the Summer Olympics in 1988, gold winner in the middleweight class was East German Henry Maske, whom Espinosa defeated three times unanimously in 1987–88.

At the 1989 world championships he defeated Sven Ottke but lost to local hero Andrey Kurnyavka. At Espinosa's first Olympics in Barcelona 1992 he competed at light-heavy and lost to Wojciech Bartnik . Angel trained amateurs in a boxing gym in Hialeah, Fl named "Hialeah School of Boxing" before his passing.

Angel was found dead at a gym in Miami. Cause of death is still undetermined.

References

edit
  • Record (Archived 2009-10-25)
  • Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Angel Espinosa". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.