Sons of Cuba

FIGHT CLUB The boxers show off their national pride.

Cuba produces more boxing champions than any other country. It’s a shock, then, to spend time at the Havana Boxing Academy, where Cuban boys live communally and train constantly. Forget your Olympics-fueled image of fancy facilities; the boys live in a crumbling building, sleep on iron bunk beds, and rarely have warm water for showers. Nevertheless, the Academy turns out boxers with a deep belief in their athletic accomplishments as an advance for the revolution. Lang profiles three of the boys, letting the link between athletic training and political indoctrination bubble up naturally as a topic. And implicitly he raises a question: How different is their rote mantra about boxing “for the Revolution” from an American athlete’s desire to win for “Team U.S.A.”?

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