Morilla’s Spit Bucket — Argilagos Defects, Trinidad’s Travails and More

The Spit Bucket is your weekly source of random thoughts, opinions and comments about the Manly Art, compiled by TSS boxing writer Diego Morilla. Follow us every week at #SBatTSS and @TSSboxingnews

Cuban two-time amateur champ Joahnys Argilagos defects to the US

The defection of young amateur star Joahnys Argilagos (pictured) and the sudden illness of his teammate Yosbany Veitia conspired against Cuba in their quest  to obtain the 10 places that they sought to obtain in the classification tournament that is taking place in Tijuana, Mexico, which will produce 22 berths for the XXIII Central American and Caribbean Games scheduled to take place between July 19 and August 3 in Barranquilla, Colombia. Hours before a scheduled weigh-in, the 21-year old Argilagos, a native of the province of Camagüey, escaped with the purpose of traveling to the US and starting his career as a professional, according to anonymous sources. “Argilagos abandoned the delegation, turning his back on the commitments he had with his country,” said JIT, the official sports news outlet of the Instituto Cubano de Deportes (INDER), in their explanation on the boxer’s disappearance.

In 2015, when he was only 18 years old and the youngest member of the team, Argilagos grabbed a gold medal in the World Amateur championships that took place in Doha, Qatar. Two years later he obtained the same result in Hamburg, Germany. He had to settle for the bronze medal in the Olympics in Rio 2016. “It is still too soon to speak about his plans, but because of his merits and his young age, we think he will have a great future as a professional,” said one of the sources linked to his escape. – J.J. Álvarez

“Tito” Trinidad wins the first round of his new personal struggle

It wasn’t long ago that Puerto Rican boxing icon Felix “Tito” Trinidad made headlines worldwide after it became known that almost his entire fortune was suddenly gone after a series of bad investments suggested by his confidant and former translator. Today, his name is back in the news due to a partial victory in his fight to recover some of that lost money.

According to a report by Carlos Gonzalez in Primera Hora, a newspaper in San Juan, judge Anthony Cuevas Ramos has just ruled in favor of Trinidad on the issue of interest payments overdue on the champ’s savings account in Banco Popular.

“When the Trinidad case started back in 2014 with a claim by Mr. Trinidad on the losses he sustained in both Popular Securities and Banco Popular, an agreement was reached to both freeze all collections by the bank and also to continue making adjustable monthly payments for the personal expenses of Mr. Trinidad until the case reached its conclusion”, said Eric Quetglas, a lawyer for Trinidad, to Primera Hora, adding that the judge determined just now that the agreement was not complied with and that this inaction generated a debt to the tune of $873,659 US dollars.

Trinidad’s complicated situation, however, is far from over. He is rumored to have lost most of the $65 million dollars he made in the ring in shady investments, and his bank is also claiming that he owes $21 million. Trinidad not only denies that debt, he also is counter-suing the bank for that amount and an extra five million in damages.

The sad part of the whole ordeal is that his former right-hand man and translator Jose “Pepe” Ramos is the person behind his massive losses. According to people with intimate knowledge of the case, Ramos was offered a job at a bank in spite of his total lack of experience in investments in order to lure Trinidad and his fortune into their portfolio, which was then squandered in junk bonds. Now, they will both be entwined in what looms a long-time battle that is just now seeing its first round reaching a temporarily positive conclusion for Trinidad. – Diego M. Morilla

Victoria Beckham goes to Kenya and supports female boxing

As part of her charity work in Africa, British singer and model Victoria Beckham visited the city of Nairobi, capital of Kenya, where she expressed her support for female boxing by appearing in a local gym, as posted in her Instagram account and reported by several media outlets in the African nation. The 43-year old wife of former soccer great David Beckham posted a picture in which she is seen training with several other Kenyan girls. The mother of four and fashion entrepreneur reminisced of her 2004 trip to Peru as part of the Sport Relief project, a charity event staged in Great Britain every two years in order to raise money for underprivileged athletes in other countries. “Fourteen years later, I am now in Kenya visiting some incredible community projects that protect, educate and empower women of all ages”, said the fashion designer and former member of the pop group Spice Girls, in a statement posted by local radio Capital FM. – J.J. Álvarez

“Chocorroncito” Buitrago runs into trouble with the law

After being accused, along with his mother, as the possible intellectual authors of the murder of a known lawyer, four times minimum-weight contender Carlos “Chocorroncito” Buitrago was withdrawn from the Rumble at the Rock boxing card, scheduled for March 23 at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Newspapers in Buitrago’s home country of Nicaragua indicate that both the fighter and his mother may be formally charged with the death of attorney Harold Contreras, who was shot in the back on March 17^th in a neighborhood of the capital Managua and was later declared dead on arrival at the local Hospital Militar.

Carlos Chavarría, a spokesperson for the deceased lawyer, said during an audience that there are no doubts of Buitrago’s participation in the “intellectual authorship of the murder”.  “We know where this person with the gun came from. He came out of the house of ´Chocorroncito´ Buitrago’s mother”, said the attorney. The fighter rejected the accusation and denied any participation in the death of Contreras. “I don’t want anyone to believe I am going to run away from the country, and that’s why I made the decision of not accepting the fight”, he said to Hoy newspaper. “I will miss out on this payday in order to let the people of Nicaragua know that I have nothing to do with (the murder).” Buitrago, 26, was stopped by Japan’s Hiroto Kyoguchi, on December 31st in Tokyo, where the local fighter was making his first defense of his IBF minimum weight title belt. – J.J. Álvarez

“Money” Mayweather is interested in investing in Cristiano Ronaldo

Floyd Maywether Jr., former multiple boxing champion now turned millionaire investor, is rumored to be interested in investing part of his fortune in bringing Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, currently the biggest star in an already star-studded Real Madrid team, to play with England’s Newcastle United of the Premier League. “If someone puts together a business plan, my people will revise it and if they tell me I can make some money off of it, then I will invest. Soccer is not my sport, but Ronaldo has been a follower and a friend for a long time,” said “Money” to the British tabloid The Star. In his surprising statement, Mayweather said that he had several meetings in 2016 with Newcastle players, and “since I have connections, I could put Ronaldo in the team so he can end his career there,” said the fighter, in reference to the team known locally as “The Magpies” and one of the twenty richest teams in the world. – J.J. Álvarez

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