Anything beats $20 per month
Cuba is breaking a five-decade ban on professional boxing and joining an international semipro league. Fighters will compete for sponsored teams, box without protective headgear and earn $1,000 to $3,000 a month.
The country has a long and storied boxing tradition and is usually a force at international amateur tournaments. This move represents a big step for the island’s communist authorities, who long ago decided pro sports were not in keeping with Marxist social ideals.
The new format, the World Series of Boxing, consists of 12 squads from across the globe that square off in a series of five fights using a point system similar to the pros.
The World Series of Boxing is organized by the international boxing association known as AIBA. The competition begins in November.
In addition to the salaries, boxers in the series can make $500 to $2,000 bonuses, although it’s not immediately clear how, or how much, the Cubans will be paid.
They still stand to receive a big raise from their current salaries, which are close to the $20 a month that most Cuban workers earn. The best boxers, those who win medals at major tournaments, are granted lifetime stipends of up to $300 a month.
Fidel Castro banned professional sports in 1961, two years after the Cuban Revolution.
Tough job
The Atlanta Falcons beefed up their defensive line by signing former New York Giants star Osi Umenyiora.
“Everyone in Atlanta went bonkers,” wrote Dwight Perry of The Seattle Times, “except for the unfortunate soul who sews the letters on the back of Falcons jerseys.”Whistle blower
Former Notre Dame All-American, NBA Hall of Famer and 1976 U.S. Olympian Adrian Dantley, 58,now works in Maryland as a school crossing guard.
“Not really a surprise,” wrote RJ Currie of sportsdeke.
com. “Adrian was always good in traffic.”Not heeding his own advice
Stephen Strasburg is refusing to take his own advice. The Washington Nationals pitcher is 1-4 this season and has lost his past four starts, largely in part to the fact he has given up eight first-inning runs in those games.
“I was trying to throw the perfect pitch,” Strasburg said. “I tell myself going into the game, ‘Don’t do that.’ And I go out there and I do it.”Quote of the day “Sure enough the phone rings and you’re
high-fiving a bunch of
strangers in Wal-Mart.
I’m glad I could be
here around town with friends and family.” Former Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson, on receiving the news he’d been drafted by the Oakland Raiders while shopping at Wal-Mart
Sports, Pages 24 on 04/28/2013