Michel López Núñez ( Spanish: Michel López Núñez ; November 5, 1976 , Pinar del Rio ) - Cuban heavyweight boxer , played for the Cuban national team in the mid-2000s. The bronze medalist of the Athens Summer Olympics, the winner of the silver medal of the Pan American Games, the champion of the Games of Central America and the Caribbean, the winner of many international tournaments and national championships.
 Mikel Lopez Nunez | ||||||||||||||
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| general information | ||||||||||||||
| Citizenship |  Cuba | |||||||||||||
| Date of Birth | November 5, 1976 ( 42) | |||||||||||||
| Place of Birth | Pinar del rio | |||||||||||||
| Weight category | heavy (over 91 kg) | |||||||||||||
| Height | 189 cm | |||||||||||||
Medals
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Biography
Mikel Lopez Nunez was born on November 5, 1976 in the city of Pinar del Rio of the province of the same name. The first serious success at the international level was achieved in 1994, when he won a gold medal at the Junior World Championships in Istanbul, including in the finals he defeated Ukrainian Vladimir Klitschko , the future multiple world champion among professionals.
However, due to too high competition in the team, Lopez Nunes for a long time could not gain a foothold in the main team, in the standings of the national championship he often lost to such boxers as Alexis Rubalkaba and Odlanier Solis . In 2003, he finally earned the right to represent the country in major international tournaments and visited the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, from where he brought the silver dignity award - in the final heavyweight match he lost to the American Jason Estrada .
Thanks to a series of successful appearances, he was awarded the right to defend the country's honor at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens - in his tournament bracket with a score of 18:13 he defeated the Uzbek Rustam Saidov , then in the quarterfinal with a score of 21: 7 he took revenge from Estrada, but in the semifinal stage with 16:18 was defeated by the Egyptian Muhammad Ali .
After the Athens Olympics, Mikel Lopez Nunez remained in the main squad of the Cuban national team and continued to take part in major international tournaments. So, in 2006, he performed at the Games of Central America and the Caribbean, where he defeated all his rivals in the heavy weight category and thus became the champion. In the following years, he competed with the young Robert Alfonso and lost to him in the competition, losing twice in the final of the national championship. In 2008, he decided to end his sports career.
His younger brother, Michael, is a famous Greco-Roman wrestler, three-time Olympic champion and multiple world champion.
Links
- Mikel Lopez Nunez - Olympic statistics at Sports-Reference.com