Mario Kindelán

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Olympic medal record
Boxing
Gold	2000 Sydney	Men's Lightweight
Gold	2004 Athens	Men's Lightweight

Mario César Kindelán Mesa (born August 10, 1971 in Holguín) is a former amateur boxer from Cuba, who competed in the lightweight category.

[edit] Success

His most successful period came in a winning streak starting with the 1999 Pan American Games title, and covered every major event he entered including the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, three world championships (1999, 2001, 2003), and the 2003 Pan American Games. His most recent victory was at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, defeating Amir Khan in the final, and retaining his gold medal from four years earlier.

Kindelán was named among the top ten athletes in Cuba for 1999, as well as being selected 'Best Boxer in Cuba' in the same year.

[edit] Retirement

In May 2005, aged 34, he came out of retirement and travelled to Bolton, England for a third fight with Amir Khan. He had beaten Khan twice already the previous year, in the Pre-Olympic tournement and the Olympic Lightweight final, however Khan had become a popular attraction in the UK and a third fight was arranged to set up his professional debut. Khan beat a strangely passive Kindelan on points 19-13.

Having retired, he is generally considered as one of the greatest amateur boxers ever seen, leading to the comment during his final fight by the boxing commentator that he was "a professional in a vest".

Many critics of Kindelán and the Castro government claim that lavish state sponsorship allows him to live in luxury that amateurs elsewhere do not enjoy and that this is a form of cheating, but even by Cuban standards, he lives in poverty. Typical for athletes from Cuba, where professional sport is prohibited, his reward is pride in representing his people on the Olympic stage. He said, of being offered $1 million to compete professionally, "I thanked them, but money cannot buy what I have." [1]