Angel Espinosa

Angel Espinosa

Personal information
Full name	Angel Espinosa Capó
Nationality	Cuba
Born	(1966-10-02)2 October 1966 Holguín, Cuba
Died	12 April 2017(2017-04-12) (aged 50) Miami, Florida, US
Height	1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Sport
Sport	Boxing
Weight class	Middleweight
Medal record World Championships 1986 Reno Light Middleweight 1989 Moscow Middleweight World Cup 1987 Belgrade Middleweight Pan American Games 1987 Indianapolis Middleweight Central American and Caribbean Games 1986 Santiago Light Middleweight Friendship Games 1984 Havana Light Middleweight

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, Espinosa was one of the most feared in his era and was known to have about 300 amateur fights.

Career

In 1983, Espinosa 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, Espinosa defeated Sven Ottke, but lost to Andrey Kurnyavka. At Espinosa's first Olympics in Barcelona 1992, he competed at light-heavy and lost to Wojciech Bartnik. Espinosa trained amateurs in a boxing gym in Hialeah, Florida named "Hialeah School of Boxing" before his death.

Espinosa was found dead at a gym in Miami. His cause of death is still undetermined.

References

• 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.