Arlen López (80 kg) provided the only victory for Cuba in today's quarterfinal round of the 2025 International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships in Dubai.

A decade after reigning supreme in the Doha edition, the double Olympic champion secured at least a bronze medal on a challenging day for his teammates Giorvis Salfrán (51 kg), Fernando Arzola (+92 kg), and Julio César La Cruz (92 kg).

Arlen faced a well-prepared opponent in Tajikistan's Nekruz Salimov, advancing with a 4-3 decision resulting from an additional vote activated when the initial scorecard is 3-2.

His semifinal bout for a place in the gold medal contest will be this Thursday against Uzbekistan's Javokhir Ummataliev, who won the World Boxing-organized universal tournament in September and was the 2022 youth world leader.

The debuting Salfrán fell 0-5 to Armenia's Rudolf Garboyan. Arzola, the silver medalist at Tashkent 2023, also lost by unanimous decision (0-5) to Uzbekistan's Arman Makhanov.

Julio, a double Olympic gold medalist and owner of five world championship belts, was left without the opportunity to match the six titles of his compatriot Félix Savón. He lost 1-4 to another Uzbek boxer, Turabek Khabibullayev, the reigning World Boxing champion. This was his ninth appearance at this level of competition, a career complemented by two bronze medals. The outcome left divided opinions regarding the officials' scoring.