When the lights came up, Ultiminio "Sugar" Ramos dabbed a tear fom his eye. He had spent the last hour watching a film that documented the journey of Cuban fighters. It was a journey that he made 50 years earlier. For him, the emotion of leaving home is never far from the surface.

 

It has been 51 years since Fidel Castro took over Cuba and banned professional sports from the island. In that time span, Cuba's athletes have continually risked their lives to pursue their dreams. Ramos, a former world featherweight champion, took the risk and reaped the rewards of professional boxing. He was at Victor's Cafe, in Manhattan, to watch a private screening of the documentary film, "A Fighting Chance," produced by David A. Schuster, Fred Rosenberg and Bobby Cassidy Jr.

 

Two nights later, Ramos was at the Theater in Madison Square Garden to watch a featherweight who traveled the same path to freedom -- Yuriorkis Gamboa. Both fighters, as well as Florentino Fernandez, Frankie Otero, Teofilio Stevenson, Antonio "Puppy" Garcia and Guillermo Rigondeaux are featured in the film.

 

And while Gamboa and Ramos met for the first time at Gamboa's weigh-in, Ramos was reunited with Florentino Fernandez after 40 years. They left Cuba together in 1959 and settled in Miami. But after a brief stay, Ramos relocated to Mexico City has been there ever since.

 

"They are acting just like they were when they were 19 years old," said Florida State Athletic Commissioner, Ramiro Ortiz, also in New York for the screening. "To see them together after all these years is beautiful."