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Olympic Boxing Legend Felix Savon Accused of Raping Boy, 12, in Cuba

Three-time Olympic boxing champion Felix Savón is reportedly being held in custody in Cuba, accused of raping a 12-year-old boy. Savon became a huge hero in Cuba but never turned professional.
Sputnik

An article in the Cuban magazine Gatopardo says Savón, 51, was arrested on September 30 and has been held in police custody while an investigation is carried out into the allegations.

There have been no reports in the main Cuban newspaper, Granma, which has always referred to Savón in heroic terms.

Abraham Jiménez Enoa, a director of the independent magazine El Estornudo, said Savón was not being held in jail.

The website Cibercuba, which is based in Spain and run by Cuban expatriates, said similar allegations had been made against Savón "but the revolution had…forgiven him."

Cibercuba reported that Savón was very depressed because his relatives had not visited him but his friend Javier Sotomayor, a world record-holding high jumper, has visited him.

Professional Boxing Banned in Communist Cuba 

Savón — nicknamed Niñote (The Big Kid) — retired in 2001 after dominating Olympic boxing for two decades.

He won gold at three Olympic Games — Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000 in the super-heavyweight division. avón also won five World Cups and three Pan American Games.

His victory in Sydney meant Savón equalled the three Olympic golds of another Cuban boxing legend, Teofilio Stevenson.

Because communist Cuba disapproved of professional boxing, he remained an amateur and never turned pro.

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