One of the greatest Cuban boxers in history, Roberto Caminero Pérez, “Chocolatico Pérez”, was buried yesterday in the Pantheon of Sport Stars in Santiago de Cuba. Chocolatico Perez, as he was known in Cuba in homage to another great Cuba boxer, “Kid Chocolate,” was born in Santiago de Cuba on April 27, 1945. In the Sao Paolo 1963 Pan American Games Chocolatico won Cuba’s first boxing gold medal. Pérez was one of three boxers (with Rolando Garbey and Félix Betancourt) responsible for making Cuban boxers a dominant force in international sports.
He represented Cuba in the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games and the 1962 Central American and the Caribbean Games. Chocolatico, a humble person despite his achievements, devoted the rest of his life to teach and train the new generations of Cuban boxers.