Andy Cruz won an Olympic gold medal and defected from Cuba to chase his dream in Northeast Philly

Bozy Ennis received a call last year about a former Olympic boxing champion who defected from Cuba and was looking for a place to train before turning pro. The fighter was a three-time world amateur champion, won 140 of his 149 amateur fights, and was considered one of the best-ever amateur boxers.

“I said, ‘That doesn’t mean anything to me,’” said Ennis, who trains fighters in a Northeast Philadelphia gym he calls his dungeon. “I said, ‘Send him down here, and I’ll take a look at him.’ You know what I mean? They said four-time gold medalist or whatever. I said that’s all right, but I still have to take a look at him.”

It didn’t take a long look inside “Bozy’s Dungeon” for Ennis to agree that the Cuban had a chance. Ennis agreed last summer to train lightweight Andy Cruz, who defected from Cuba on his second try. Cruz, 28, was arrested in June 2022 and banned from boxing in Cuba after trying to leave the island illegally.

He flew later that year to the Dominican Republic, applied for a visa, and arrived in the U.S. to chase his dream of becoming a world champion. And that’s why an Olympic gold medalist from Cuba trains twice a day at a boxing gym on Grant Avenue.

“I couldn’t have chosen a better place to train,” Cruz said through an interpreter after finishing a training session at Philly’s Next Champ. “Philly has taken me in.”

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Cruz lives in Tampa, Fla., but travels to Philadelphia to train with Ennis for the two months leading into each fight. He said he wanted to work with Ennis after watching the success of Jaron Ennis, the trainer’s son, who defended his welterweight title last month at the Wells Fargo Center.

On Saturday, Cruz (3-0, 1 knockout) will fight Antonio Moran (30-6-1, 21 KOs) in Los Angeles on the undercard of Terence Crawford’s super welterweight debut against champion Israil Madrimov. Eddie Hearn — who promotes Cruz and Jaron Ennis — wants to make Cruz a world champion in 2025. A win on Saturday moves the fighter closer to making that happen. The Cuban soon could be in big-money matchups against boxers like Gervonta Davis and Vasyl Lomachenko.

Hearn, knowing Cruz turned pro late, has wasted little time matching his fighter against game opponents.

Instead of starting his professional career against untested foes, Cruz has fought veterans. He debuted against an opponent who was fighting for the 46th time. On Saturday, Moran is fighting for the 39th time as a pro, while Cruz steps in the ring for the fourth time.

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Cruz fought for years as an amateur, and that experience has translated to early success against tenured pros. The Cuban cruised through his first three fights.

Ennis helped Cruz with his defense — “He hardly gets touched, even when he’s sparring,” the trainer said — and puts him in the ring with his son and the stable of Philly fighters who train at his dungeon.

“He’s special,” Ennis said. “He’s one of those special-type guys. Everything you tell him, he picks it up. And he’s having fun. I always tell my fighters to have fun. If you’re not having fun doing this, then stop doing it. You have to have fun. He has fun. He’s one of those happy-go-lucky guys. He fit right in. He’s one of the family.”

It’s hard to question Cruz’s skills, but his fights often have lacked fireworks. The fighter is a tactician, winning with the nearly perfect style that helped him become an amateur legend. Ennis now wants Cruz to make his wins more exciting. If Cruz is going to fight someone like Davis — one of boxing’s biggest draws — he’ll have to become a fighter fans are clamoring to see.

“My job is to make him look good and make him be able to sell to the public,” Ennis said. “If you want to be great and have people come pay to see you, you have to fight. Every time he fights, he looks better and better. I told Eddie that every time you see him, he’ll look better and better.”

The fighter agrees.

“My first thought is to win, but it’s also important to give boxing fans a good show,” Cruz said. “In pro boxing, that’s important.”

Cruz returns home each afternoon from the gym and video chats with his 2-year-old son Anthony, who was just 6 months old when the fighter left Cuba. He has not seen him since he left Cuba as he works toward his dream in Philadelphia while his family remains 1,200 miles away.

“I’ve never been able to celebrate a birthday with him,” Cruz said. “Every time I see him, it’s hard. I’m doing this for him, and I want him to be proud of me as his dad. But it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do because every father wants to watch their son grow up. These are very important years, and it really crushes me to not be able to be there for him.”

Cruz keeps the gold medal he won in 2021 at the Olympics in Tokyo at his home in Tampa. He left Cuba a year after winning at the Olympics and plans to add a world championship belt to his trophy case. He also dreams of bringing his family to the U.S. If so, he could take his son to Northeast Philly and show him the dungeon he left home for.

“I’m able to do what I love, and I’m on my way to fulfilling my lifelong dream in the United States,” Cruz said. “But to be honest, it’s been really difficult. There’s times that you feel alone. What keeps me motivated is my dream.”