According to the census bureau, as of the year 2000, there were less than 1,250,000 people of Cuban ancestry in the United States. There are over eleven million people on the island. Sadly, the Cubans living under Castro are non-existent when it comes to the business of boxing. As a comparison, there are nearly four million Puerto Ricans living in the mainland US, and another four million, or so, living on the island.
Cuban boxers cannot, and will not, receive the kind of support that their Boricua peers enjoy. The numbers just don't support it. Also, consider the fact that Puerto Ricans have developed a culture of professional boxing that has had decades to evolve. Cuban professionals were very few from 1959 until the present day. Those that made a name for themselves got to the US (or Mexico, as in the case of Jose "Mantequilla" Napoles) before Castro took power. People need to be exposed to something before they can develop an interest in it.
I think that Miami would be a great place to stage an eventual fight between Lopez and Gamboa. It'll be well-attended by Puerto Ricans, and it'll have its share of Cubans. It would have the added benefit of cultivating a renewed interest in boxing by the Cuban-American community. Any good businessman understands the value of laying down the groundwork for future profits.
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