The Associated
Press, Tue 27 Feb 2001
MIAMI (AP) — A Cuban world champion boxer reportedly seeking to evade
German tax authorities is in Florida and probably will be allowed to remain in
the United States, immigration officials said Tuesday.
Juan Carlos Gomez, the unbeaten WBC cruiserweight champion, has been
fighting out of Germany since he defected during a Cuban national team tour of
Germany and demanded political asylum.
He arrived in Miami on Saturday and was processed by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service as a Cuban without proper travel documents, INS spokesman
Rodney Germain said.
The 27-year-old boxer was released Sunday after processing from Krome
Detention Center in South Miami and has been paroled into the United States,
Germain said.
Under immigration law, any Cuban who reaches U.S. soil is allowed to stay,
given a work permit and permitted to apply for permanent residency after a year.
Germain declined to comment on whether Gomez requested political asylum,
citing a policy not to discuss political asylum requests. He did not know
whether Gomez had any relatives waiting for him, as typically occurs in these
cases.
The Universum Box Promotion in Hamburg said Gomez came to Florida to evade
German tax authorities.
Gomez is undefeated in 32 fights and has held the WBC cruiserweight title
for three years. He was supposed to make his heavyweight debut Saturday in
Hamburg but never showed.
Universum said German tax authorities were seeking $280,000 from Gomez in
unpaid taxes from previous fight purses. The boxer's bank accounts have been
impounded, Universum said.
Klaus-Peter Kohl, chief of Universum, said he would seek damages from
promoters and a ban for Gomez if the boxer tried to fight elsewhere.
Gomez has a contract with Universum until December 2005.
``If we're not aware of any convictions from a foreign country or anything
like that we're going to continue to process this as normal,'' Germain said.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 