Focused on the fights, and wearing his typical smile, Gabriel Maestre has closely followed the FUTURE CHAMPIONS camp carried out by the World Boxing Association: “This has been excellent. I want to thank God first of all and of course the President of the organization Gilberto Mendoza for making me be part of it and especially for making this possible before the 2020 qualifying rounds.” Maestre was very committed during the training with the Venezuelan team. This team has promising quality boxers with regard to the Olympic Games.

The Captain, who has participated in two professional fights, has won several medals within the amateurism, and he’s valued and recognized by his homeland and the world. For this reason, he has also become a special reference for those young people dreaming with success. That’s why the participation of the native of Barcelona was so important during this magnanimous event: “I have seen very good athletes who are very well trained. Gilberto is supporting greatly the amateur boxers, a support that sometimes is very difficult to find.”

When talking about the situation between the two boxing modalities that have begun to be combined in the Olympic Games since Rio 2016, there’s no other person better than Maestre. He has not only been a Pan American and World Cup medal winner, but he has also been the Captain of the Venezuelan team named Los Caciques. This team was part of the World Series of Boxing which used a semi-professional format when boxers had to compete without a headgear, in five rounds, among other rules.

Thanks to all his experience he is now a professional boxer who has a great impact: “It is the first time this type of event is carried out. We all know that the WBA is a professional organization, that’s why this is so important for having more exchanges and events. A while ago I read a message written by Gilberto in which he expressed that this was a dream for him because he wanted to see and experience what would happened between the two kind of boxers. And the truth is that there are evident differences: the amateur boxer is faster, more technical, uses more his legs. On the other hand, the professional boxer has a more firm posture and is more deductive. And we achieved to do it.”

BOXING AND FAMILY is a motto that has identified this athlete from La Aduana neighborhood and has shown him as a real person inside the Association. He has committed intensely to this work plan for the future and has been what we all could see for ten days with more than 100 athletes involved from 12 different countries. All these athletes could enrich from all the experiences they shared. “I hope this kind of events will continue to support the amateurism,” Maestre concluded being happy for having participated in this event.