Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel conveyed his country’s embrace to two-time Olympic boxing champion Arlen López, who won the bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

In his profile on the social network X, the president expressed Cuba’s desire for the boxer to win his third crown at this event, but – he said – he had a very difficult opponent.

López, a starter at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, won the bronze medal after losing by a 2-3 vote in his semi-final bout against Ukrainian Oleksandr Khyzhniak, in the 80kg category.

After the first round, four of the five judges had Lopez ahead, but three of them saw him lose the second and all five the third, which defined the fight.

Ultimately, two judges gave him a 29-28 advantage, two others voted against him 29-28 and one saw him lose 10-9 all three rounds, for the final 30-27.