Two boxers deported by Brazil were back in Cuba on Sunday after they disappeared during the Pan American Games last month and were arrested at a resort where officials said they partied and ran up an exorbitant bill. Convalescing leader Fidel Castro said in comments published Sunday that the boxers would be confined to guest houses upon their return, although he promised not to punish them harshly.Guillermo Rigondeaux, Cuba's top boxer and a two-time Olympic bantamweight champion, and Erislandy Lara, an amateur welterweight world champion, arrived in Cuba early Sunday after being deported from Brazil, Cuban state radio and TV reported without offering any specifics.
The boxers had failed to show up for their scheduled bouts during the Pan American Games last month, prompting their disqualifications. Brazilian police arrested them Thursday for overstaying their visas in the coastal resort city of Cabo Frio, near Rio de Janeiro, where authorities said they had been partying and had run up an exorbitant tab at a hotel.
Last month, German boxing promoter Arena said it had signed Lara and Rigondeaux to five-year contracts. Details of that deal are not clear. The two boxers told Brazilian police they had been contacted by a German businessman, and they had given their uniforms and passports to him.
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