From a 42-Month Ban to European Bronze: The Rise of Ewart Andrés Marín

Boxer Ewart Andrés Marín endured a 240-minute car ride from the junior world championships in La Nucía to family members waiting in Granada on November 25, 2022, leaving Cuba behind for a new life in Spain.

That four-hour journey marked both his defection and the start of an unexpected 42-month ban from the ring, El Mundo reported. While Marín traveled toward Granada, the International Boxing Association summoned junior medalists for a surprise doping control in La Nucía and recorded his absence as a failure to appear.

Subsequent appeals through the Spanish Boxing Federation failed to overturn the sanction. The penalty barred him from competing or even training in public facilities for three and a half years.

Training in Exile in Granada

Marín maintained his conditioning at his uncle’s gym in Granada, Cubaboxing, despite the total ban on official bouts. “When I had been here for a year, I met a girl who is now my girlfriend, and every night I would look at the calendar with her to see how much time was left until the suspension ended,” Marín told El Mundo.

His girlfriend and his uncle provided vital support throughout the long wait. “She always told me to stay calm, to keep working, that the moment would come,” Marín said of his girlfriend. “She helped me a lot.”

Born in Camagüey, where friends gave him the nickname Kukito, the young fighter watched retired Cuban Olympic champions struggle financially or end up on the streets. He wanted a different trajectory for himself and his family.

Before his departure, Marín captured a gold medal at the 2021 Junior Pan American Games in Cali at just 17 years old. The silver medal he secured at the La Nucía world championships should have propelled his career forward instead of triggering a lengthy exile.

A Bronze Medal Comeback

The suspension lifted on August 8, allowing Spanish national team coach Rafa Lozano to welcome Marín into a training camp at the High-Performance Center in Sierra Nevada. He subsequently competed in the Mediterranean Games and the European Championships, where he claimed a continental bronze medal in the 60-kilogram division.

“It was an enormous happiness,” Marín told El Mundo of his return to the ring. “I was very nervous because I had spent a long time without competing and I did not know how I was going to respond.”

Within the Spanish national squad, Marín found a familiar community. Fellow Cuban-born fighters, including Olympic medalist Enmanuel Reyes Pla and Adrián Fresneda, share training sessions and childhood ties from the Caribbean.

Chasing the 2028 Olympic Games

With his eligibility restored, Marín sets his sights on the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The hardship of the past four years has only sharpened his ambition.

“I haven’t gone through all of this to just conform,” Marín told El Mundo. “I want to fight for a medal. I don’t plan to settle for what I’ve already achieved. I’m going for everything.”