Niños de Cuba

Erisdanis, 11, is a typical Cuban kid. Skinny with a mohawk, he acts older than his age. He has been boxing since he was 6. In a country that has produced more boxing champions than any other, he dreams of being up there, alongside the legend Kid Chocolate.
Every day after school, he heads down to Calle San Jose in Centro Habana, to an empty where a house once stood. The ring is rusty and the wood could collapse at any moment. Under a massive floodlight, Daniel, his coach takes him through the routine, drills him, teaches him the moves, the steps, the punches… Over and over again until he is exhausted.
Night falls, it is time to call it a day. Everything has greenish-yellow tint. “He’s good,” Daniel tells me. “One day, he’ll be a campeon. Remember his name: Erisdanis.”