Fidel Castro has decreed Guillermo Rigondeaux will never fight for Cuba again, but the island's top boxer says he is continuing to train in hopes he may still compete in next year's Olympics in Beijing.

During an interview at his apartment Friday, the two-time Olympic bantamweight champion said he still hopes Cuba's government will give him a second chance, but added that no top officials have visited him since he was deported to Cuba from Brazil on Aug. 5.

Rigondeaux and 2005 welterweight world champion Erislandy Lara abandoned their teammates during last month's Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, only to be arrested by local police for overstaying their visas and sent home.

When they returned, they briefly were held in government guest houses, but then released to their families while officials determine their future.

Both insist they never intended to defect, but a German promoter says they signed five-year contracts and the German embassy in Brazil reported the pair had applied for visas.

Only three fighters " Cubans Teofilo Stevenson and Felix Savon, and Hugary's Lazlo Papp " have won three Olympic titles. Rigondeaux said he not only wants to become the fourth fighter to do so, but that at 26 he could even have a shot at becoming the first fighter to win four straight Olympic golds.

"I'm thinking positive. I'm calmly waiting for the decision of my superiors," he said. "If they give me the opportunity to box, that's what I do and I will do it as well as always."

Rigondeaux said he is jogging, lifting weights, jumping rope and perfecting punching techniques until he is allowed back into a formal training ring. He said years of working out " as well as his excellent technical skill " will allow him to quickly recover his fighting prowess, even after a long layoff.

Rigondeaux has repeatedly called his disappearance a moment of "great indiscipline."

"What happened, happened," he said Friday. "What's important is what is going to happen from now on."

He again denied signing a contract with German promoters, saying "every day they make something up. I'm not going to give them an answer."

"I don't like to talk," he said, shaking his head. "I've never liked it."

With 370 wins and 12 defeats in his career, Rigondeaux said he dreams of climbing into the ring again so Cuban fans can see him and "know that I never let myself fall."

"I'm here," he said, "ready to fight and win."

Source: International Herald Tribune