CIENFUEGOS, Cuba – Cuban teacher Jose Alamo has been teaching children how to box at the Malecon de Punta Gorda in Cienfuegos. They hang punching bags from trees.
The children are students at the Ignacio Agramante and Gerrillero Heroico schools. They train from Monday through Friday after school and on Saturday they set up a ring at the Punta Cotica gym.
Alamo said he has discovered some talent and some of his boxers have been admitted to the prestigious Escuela de Iniciacion Deportiva Escolar in Havana. The school turns out Cuban Olympians, and boxing is a leading sport.
"In all of the national and international events, it is what gets us the Olympic medal," Alamo said.
Fidel Castro's revolution banned professional boxing. But the socialist regime couldn't stop the sport from turning boxers into national heroes. Castro praised Cuban boxing legend Teofilo Stevenson for not going pro.
"I didn't need the money, because it was going to mess up my life," Stevenson said during an interview with the Chicago Tribune in 2003. "For professional boxers, the money is a trap. You make a lot of money, but how many boxers in history do we know that died poor? The money always goes into other people's hands."
Stevenson retired from amateur boxing in 1987 and died of a heart attack in 2012. Today's Cuban star is Guillermo Rigondeaux, the man widely considered as the greatest boxer in the world. Unlike Stevenson, the 35-year-old southpaw, now known as "El Chacal," defected in Mexico. He has been living in Miami since 2009.
Cubans dominated the 2015 Amateur World Boxing Championship in October. But for now, Alamo's trainees are striving for gold medals, like one 6-year-old named Abraham, who may very well become a champion one day.
Far from the influence of the high paying professional fighting circuit, Alamo said he struggles to get the children the protective gear they need. Parents, neighbors and friends help with what they can.
"We don't have enough gloves," Alamo said. "But despite this problem, we do a good job in big tournaments."
INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: Cuba's rich boxing history