Yudel Johnson


Yudel Johnson Cedeno is a Cuban welterweight professional boxer, who is best known for winning an Olympic Light-Welterweight silver 2004 as an amateur. Some sources write the family name Jhonson.

Amateur career

Southpaw Johnson won the gold medal in the men's featherweight division at the 1999 Pan American Games. He moved up afterwards but skipped lightweight as the dominant Mario Kindelán was the Cuban champ.
Johnson added a silver at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the Light-Welterweight Boxing division Dilshod Mahmudov and Boris Georgiev but lost to Manus Boonjumnong in the final. He qualified for the Olympic Games by ending up in first place at the 2nd AIBA American [2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament] in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Before the Athens Games, he won the 2004 Acropolis Cup International [Boxing Tournament|Acropolis Boxing Cup] in Athens, Greece by defeating Turkey's Mustafa Karagollu in the final of the light welterweight division.
Johnson also won at the 2006 Central American Games but had strong domestic competition in Inocente Fiss. In 2008 he fought at welter losing to Carlos Banteaux in the final of the national championships.

Olympic results

Johnson defected along with Guillermo Rigondeaux and Yordanis Despaigne to the United States and made his pro debut on May 22, 2009, in Miami. As of September 2011 he is undefeated with 11 wins, 7 of which were by way of knockout.

Professional boxing record

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