Havana - Cuban boxing officials were surprised Thursday by the news that boxer Erislandy Lara has defected from the communist island to become a professional in Germany. Lara, 25, left Cuba weeks ago in a speedboat that took him to Mexico. On Wednesday he arrived in Hamburg and was presented Thursday by the boxing promotion firm Arena Box Promotion, which already has in its ranks Cuban boxers Odlanier Solis, Yan Barthelemy and Yuriorkis Gamboa.
In July 2007, Lara defected alongside fellow-Cuban boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux during the Pan-American Games in Rio de Janeiro.
However, the attempt failed when they were found at a beach some 100 kilometres away from the Brazilian city. They were returned to Cuba and said they were "repentant" over the affair.
Cuban officials were surprised by the successful defection Thursday.
"It is the first we hear about it. As a federation we have no reaction, positive or negative, because we did not know about it," Alberto Limonta, of the Cuban Boxing Federation, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
He said Lara had been "leading a normal sportsman's life in his province," although he was "awaiting a sanction" over the attempt to defect.
