LIVERPOOL – Olympic champion Erislandy Álvarez (65 kg) secured Cuba's sole victory today at the 2025 Liverpool World Boxing Championships, while teammates Rolando Martínez (55 kg) and Jorge Soto (80 kg) suffered defeats.

The Caribbean nation now totals three victories and five losses, with only three of its initial eight male boxers remaining in the competition.

Álvarez, the titlist at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, defeated Spain's Oier Ibarreche by a unanimous 5-0 decision, advancing his quest to improve upon the silver medal he earned at the 2023 World Championships in Tashkent.

Meanwhile, Martínez fell to Azerbaijan's Nijat Huseynov by a 4-1 split decision, and Soto lost a narrow 3-2 split decision to American Robby Gonzales, the 2021 world champion.

On Monday, star boxer Julio César La Cruz (+90 kg) will face Iran's Amir Esmaeili. Álvarez is scheduled to compete against Kyrgyzstan's Almaz Orozbekov on Tuesday. That same day, Alejandro Claro (50 kg) will make his debut in the UK-based tournament, which follows the Olympic format of three rounds.

The world championship is being held at Liverpool's M&S Bank Arena, a venue with a capacity for 12,000 spectators, through September 14th. The competition has brought together over 540 male and female fighters from 66 countries across all five continents.