For boxers Erislandy Lara and Luis Ortiz, leaving Cuba was their toughest fight, briancmahoney writes.
FILE - In this Dec. 1, 2018, file photo, Luis Ortiz, left, hits Travis Kauffman with a knockdown punch during the sixth round of a heavyweight boxing match in Los Angeles. Ortiz and fellow boxing star Erislandy Lara left behind their lives in Cuba for the ones they wanted for themselves and their families in the United States. With the heavyweight punching power he possesses in his left hand, “King Kong” doesn’t worry too much about getting beat up.
The route to the Barclays Center ring they’ll be in was a perilous one for both fighters, who defected a year apart. Both left behind families, with Ortiz then living separately for 2½ years from the daughter whose health needs were the driving force behind his departure. And the emotional aspect is only part of it.
Lara was caught when he first tried to defect in 2007, along with teammate Guillermo Rigondeaux, while at a tournament in Brazil. He was banned from boxing upon his return to Cuba, but successfully made it out the following year. That required walking about 15 miles to the boat that brought him to Mexico, from where he eventually headed to Germany and finally to the U.S., leaving his two sons, his mother and more in his homeland.
Ortiz, now living in Miami, returns more often and might never have been as motivated to leave the island if not for his daughter, Lismercedes. She suffers from epidermolysis bullosa, a life-threatening genetic skin disease, and sufficient care wasn’t available in Cuba.
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